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Readers’ Letters is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. 

This letter followed news of the Liberal Democrats winning the Stray, Woodlands & Hookstone by-election in Harrogate earlier this month.

It is not surprising that the Lib Dems won the local by-election.

Their candidate was the only person dressed smartly, despite being a bit inarticulate when thanking everyone. The shock I suppose.

The Conservative candidate looked very sour. Who would want to vote for someone like that?

Let the lesson be learnt by everyone: dress smartly with a tie if you want to be seen as a good candidate, no matter which party you represent.

Who wants to vote for someone who looks as if they are just going down to the pub?

Valerie Cooke, Harrogate

Could Harrogate’s Conference Centre house spa facilities instead?

This letter responds to uncertainty over the future of Harrogate’s Convention Centre. In an exclusive, the Stray Ferret recently revealed North Yorkshire Council spent £1.9 million on consultants for now-scrapped plans for the site. 

The fate of the conference centre is too important for there to be any discord.

What do you think of the idea of Harrogate having spa facilities based in the conference centre? We were once so important as a spa town.

In 2024 we are losing our way – what are we now? What do we have to offer visitors?

In 1984 I set up Friends of the Valley Gardens to save the Sun Pavilion and Colonnade from being demolished. I knew Geoffrey Smith, James Herriot and David Bellamy and asked them to be presidents, to which they agreed.

We have the Valley Gardens and all it contains, as well as the Royal Hall, the Turkish Baths and the Royal Baths. Could the conference centre be used to house spa facilities, plus hairdressers, beauticians, physiotherapists, chiropractors and osteopaths etc? Essentially, everything to do with wellbeing all under the one roof, with easy parking too.

I am a golfer and walker and have often heard ladies saying it would be nice to have somewhere easy to park to go and be “pampered”. Not forgetting the gentlemen and all their needs.

It could also have a nice tea rooms with staff in uniform. I have lived here 60 years and can remember how genteel Harrogate was. As I said, now what is it?

It has really lost its way with thousands of houses being built – it seems that’s all the “powers that be” can think of.  They may as well hand it over to the developers and just build with no infrastructure.

Please no one give them the idea of turning the conference centre into flats – they would love that.

Anne Smith, Pannal

It’s ‘potluck’ if a Knaresborough bus actually turns up

This letter is in response to a story about North Yorkshire Council accepting £3.5 million of additional funding from the Department of Transport. The money, which is being used to support a one-year pilot scheme, will go towards expanding timetables, £1 bus fares for young people and improvements to bus shelters.

I read with interest your article about money to improve bus services in the Harrogate district, especially about the number 1 service from Harrogate to Knaresborough via Starbeck.

You mentioned buses to Aspin, Carmires and the Pastures, but there was no mention of the 1B to Aldi and Eastfield.

Sadly, since the X1B Connections bus ceased running, it is now potluck if – and when – a bus turns up at the Eastfield stop.

Are there any plans to improve the 1B service?

Paul Smith, Knaresborough

Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.

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Editor’s Pick of the Week: Costly consultants, a bad tempered by-election and Brian Deane

Some stories seem to go on forever, achieving little beyond years of work for consultants and council officers.

Take the Harrogate Convention Centre refurbishment. A response to a Stray Ferret freedom of information request asking how much has been spent on consultants discovered the sum was £1.9 million since 2016.

The vast majority went on a firm whose plans were recently scrapped. The solution? Hire new consultants to come up with a fresh vision!

An in-depth article by my colleague John Grainger this weekend looks at the refurbishment options. Convention centre director Paula Lorimer, who was named in the annual Taxpayers’ Alliance Town Hall Rich List this year for her £121,828 salary, declined to speak to us for the article.

It’s been a big political week with the Liberal Democrats winning the Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone by-election. The ill-feeling between local Lib Dems and Conservatives was palpable at Thursday night’s count. On the previous night, the Stray Ferret chaired a mayoral hustings event in York.

Brew York announced it was coming to Knaresborough but my personal highlight this week was news of a Beatles exhibition coming to Harrogate. Not so much because it’s the Fab Four but because sharp elbowed former footballer Brian Deane, who often pops up in Harrogate, retweeted our post on X about it.

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By-election suggests tactical voting may topple Tories in Harrogate and Knaresborough

It may only have been a council by-election but this week’s Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone vote in Harrogate provided some fascinating insights into the local political landscape at a crucial time.

Andrew Timothy won the seat vacated by the resignation of fellow Liberal Democrat Pat Marsh.

His 44% share of the vote was down on the 52% achieved by Ms Marsh in 2022 after a bruising campaign in which the Lib Dems were reported to the police for wrongly stating the Green Party was not fielding a candidate.

But the 326-vote margin of victory over Conservative runner-up John Ennis was comfortable enough and brought relief to the Lib Dems, who were in danger of losing control of the council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee in a difficult by-election triggered by Ms Marsh’s anti-semitic comments.

Cllr Timothy left the count at Woodlands Methodist Church without giving interviews but Tom Gordon, the Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Harrogate and Knaresborough, said in a statement afterwards the result “proves elections here in Harrogate and Knaresborough are a two-horse race between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives”.

He added:

“We will take the new members, new deliverers, new activists, new councillor and momentum forward into the general election to win back the parliamentary seat from the Conservatives.”

‘Labour supporters voted tactically’

Labour candidate Geoff Foxall did little to challenge Mr Gordon’s view that Harrogate and Knaresborough was shaping up to be a straight fight between the Tories and Labour — and hinted tactical voting was the way to go.

Despite his party riding high in the national polls, Mr Foxhall finished last with just 116 votes yet he appeared far from downbeat.

He said:

“The Liberal Democrats should be thankful for the many Labour voters who have voted tactically. I hope Lib Dem voters reciprocate in the mayoral election.”

Mr Foxall said “voters in Harrogate are sophisticated” and frequently voted tactically. He highlighted how Labour did “particularly badly” in Harrogate and Knaresborough in 1997 when Barbara Boyce polled just 9% despite Tony Blair securing a national landslide, paving the way for Phil Willis to win locally for the Lib Dems.

Mr Foxall said Labour was “used to getting squeezed” locally and even suggested it would be open to a coalition with the Lib Dems and Greens at county level, where he said the parties were “akin on most issues”, and together could end the Conservatives’ dominance.

Asked what voting advice he would give Labour supporters in Harrogate and Knaresborough at the next general election, he said:

“Vote according to your conscience.”

For the Conservatives, so long the dominant force in North Yorkshire, it was a disappointing night.

During the campaign Andrew Jones, the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, wrote to Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey urging him to take action against local party members following the police complaint.

The ill feeling was apparent on the night when the Lib Dems complained to election officials about the number of Tories witnessing the count.

Mr Ennis and local activists campaigned hard in Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone but he still finished a distant second with 31%. The party polled 35% in 2022.

Speaking straight after the result, Mr Ennis said he had “campaigned in good faith on local issues, offering a positive message”.

He acknowledged “the national situation hasn’t helped” but added it was “difficult to extrapolate” conclusions from a by-election and he remained “confident we can hold the parliamentary seat”.

He also said the situation in next month’s mayoral election was “looking hopeful”.

Some Green Party members had hoped to claim second place but Gilly Charters still finished well ahead of Reform UK and Labour in third.

Ms Charters was upbeat afterwards, saying “a Green vote was a hopeful vote”, adding:

“The Greens will be back — and we hope we won’t have to call the police in next time.”

As for Reform UK, its 6% was below its national polling but it still finished above Labour. John Swales, its candidate, said:

“From a standing start and around four weeks to prepare we are building our presence in Harrogate and further progress will come in time.

“It was a good experience for us and we learnt a lot, performing with integrity and honour during the campaign and we would like to thank all the voters who supported us this time and we look forward to future campaigns with confidence.”

Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone by-election result

The turnout was 41%.

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Lib Dems win Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone by-election

The Liberal Democrats have won the Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone by-election on North Yorkshire Council.

Lib Dem candidate Andrew Timothy finished first with 1,094 votes, ahead of Conservative John Ennis with 768.

It means the Liberal Democrats have retained control of the council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee. They have seven councillors, while the Conservatives have four and there are two Independents.

The Conservatives remain in control of North Yorkshire Council, with 44 of the 90 councillors. Three Independents who formed a Conservatives and Independents group helped maintain the Tories’ grip on power.

Yesterday’s by-election was called following the resignation of Lib Dem councillor Pat Marsh.

The result, which was declared at Woodlands Methodist Church on Wetherby Road just before midnight, was:

The turnout was 41%.

Mr Timothy left as soon as the count had concluded, declining to be interviewed.

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