Boundary changes show ‘astonishing lack of understanding’ of Harrogate and Knaresborough, say ToriesAndrew Jones responds to Tom Gordon’s ‘grave concerns’ in homophobia caseHarrogate Tory MP’s office almost struck by lightning

The Harrogate building struck by lightning is next door to Conservative MP Andrew Jones’ constituency office, it has emerged.

Paramedics treated a resident for shock when lightning hit their home at East Parade on Saturday night.

A police cordon put up outside their home remained in place yesterday.

A cul-de-sac that separates the building and the Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative Association‘s office was also closed because debris from the lightning-struck roof had landed on to the road and the chimney stack was unsafe.

The office is where Andrew Jones, the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, is based when he is not in Westminster. Several of his staff also work there.

The building struck by lightning is on the left and the Conservative office is on the right.

Harrogate Conservative Club is the next building down the street.

Nobody was seriously injured in the incident, which occurred at about 10.30pm during Saturday’s storm.

Another home on East Parade, along with properties on Skipton Road and Crab Lane, suffered flooding within minutes of the lightning strike, forcing on-call firefighters from Summerbridge to be drafted in to help crews from Harrogate and Knaresborough.

Read more:

 

 

Trevor Chapman elected as Harrogate district mayor

Liberal Democrat councillor Trevor Chapman has tonight been virtually voted in as the new Harrogate district mayor.

He takes over from Conservative councillor Stuart Martin, who held the role since 2019 and served an extended term due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Speaking at a virtual annual meeting tonight, cllr Chapman said:

“Let’s hope we can return to some form of normality following events over the last year so that I can fulfil the role fully.

“I would like to express my sincere thanks to the outgoing mayor Stuart for not only carrying out his year of office but also standing in as caretaker during this unprecedented year.

“Stuart, you and April have carried out your duties in an exemplary manner for which I thank you very much.”

Cllr Chapman, who represents the Bilton Grange ward, was chosen to take on the role in March last year before the handover was cancelled because of the pandemic.

It has meant cllr Martin has stayed in the post for an extra 12 months during the same year that his wife, mayoress April Martin, became critically ill with covid.

Read more:

After tonight’s meeting, councillor Martin said in a statement:

“As my time as Harrogate district mayor comes to an end this evening, I’d like to say thank you to everyone for their help and support over the past two years.

“Both April and I have thoroughly enjoyed being mayor and mayoress, and we have met some truly incredible organisations and charities during that time.

“I am delighted to be able to pass on the chain of office to councillor Trevor Chapman, who I know will make an excellent mayor. It has been a great pleasure and I will leave with many happy memories of my two years in office.”

The role of the mayor is to chair full council meetings and represent the borough at ceremonies and events.

The mayor also raises money for charities and is required to put his or her political affiliations aside to be impartial.

Councillor Chapman has selected Supporting Older People, Citizens Advice and Friends of Harrogate Hospital as his chosen charities.

Christine Willoughby elected deputy mayor

Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat councillor Christine Willoughby, who represents Knaresborough Eastfield and served as mayor for the town, was also elected as deputy mayor for the Harrogate district at tonight’s meeting.

She takes over from Conservative councillor Zoe Metcalfe, who represents the Claro ward.

Conservative council leader Richard Cooper also announced at tonight’s meeting that no changes have been made to the cabinet, while a raft of committee chairs, vice-chairs and members were also voted in.

Andrew Jones MP ‘shocked’ by ‘inadequate’ free school meals

Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones has spoken of his “shock” at the inadequacy of free school meals and called for urgent action.

A constituent in Knaresborough told Mr Jones she had received two pre-packed sandwiches, two mini yoghurts, an apple, an orange and two potatoes to feed her son for five days.

The Conservative MP said on his website this “simply isn’t good enough” and that he would ask children’s minister, Vicky Ford to investigate the issue “as a matter of urgency”. He added:

“There are reports that the companies distributing this food have been paid £30 for a week’s food but you could buy what my constituent received for a few pounds. Fortunately my constituent can manage this week but that isn’t the point.

“Surely it would have been better and cheaper to give parents a loaf of bread and the ingredients to make their own sandwiches rather than send supermarket pre-packs? It would have been more nutritious too.

“What has been sent seems to me to be completely inadequate. Whichever companies are being used to supply the meals need to buck their ideas up and do it pronto.”

Mr Jones voted against free school meals last year and his comments have drawn criticism from political opponents.

Read more:

Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrats tweeted:

“We were shocked that he voted against giving free meals to low income kids in the first place.”

Harrogate and Knaresborough Labour Party tweeted:

“Ten days worth of food costing £30! Cronyism in all its glory, profiteering from poverty and neglecting the very children that need to receive healthy, substantial food! Let’s hear our MP justify this!”

Strayside Sunday: Petitions, Planning and Politics

Strayside Sunday is our weekly political opinion column. It is written by Paul Baverstock, former Director of Communications for the Conservative Party. 

Handbags this week between Harrogate’s Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties.  It seems that one of the Liberal Democrats favourite campaign tricks – using petitions to raise awareness of this, that and the other – has been called into question.  Richard Cooper, Conservative leader of Harrogate Borough Council, has written to the Information Commissioners Office to allege that the Lib Dems have been using petitions nefariously; harvesting the public’s data; information volunteered for the specific purpose of supporting the cause in question, and putting it in the bank for reaching people in future for as yet unnamed uses.  Conor Mackenzie, the Lib Dem’s local spokesperson, has strenuously denied the accusation that, wait for it, four petitions have been taken but not all submitted.

I don’t know how many names were taken in total, but I’m guessing not very many.  In fact the Lib Dem’s did submit a list of names protesting the demise of Stray FM to new owners Bauer Media and claim the act of publicising the other petitions led to the result they wanted and obviated the need to submit them.  The only thing about this which does not ring true is that it suggests Harrogate’s Lib Dems ran three successful political campaigns.  If they did I must have missed it, but in common with most of the nation, I don’t lately pay much attention to what is, by a long way now, very much the third party in our politics.

Given the enormous volume and nature of our personal data harvested both explicitly and secretly every day as we use our smartphones, our computers, social media, online retailers et al, the idea that putting our name, (and sometimes) address and contact details on a petition poses a threat to our privacy holds little water.  I suspect the Information Commissioner, Canadian Elizabeth Denham, has much better things to spend her time on.  I know that Richard Cooper does, not least on sorting out Harrogate Council’s dismal record on planning.

From Pannal Ash to Harlow Carr, from Killinghall to Green Hammerton, to Claro Road, from Whinney Lane, one can’t help but notice the relentless development of our formerly green spaces.  I understand of course that we need to build more homes, including affordable homes for key workers and others working hard on stretched-to-the-limit salaries.  However, driving past new estates does not fill the aesthete’s heart with any sort of joy.  These brick palaces are clearly built with function and cost efficiency in the ascendency, with form and wellbeing relegated from the imagination.  No Charles Windsor Poundbury (with its varied architecture, colourful dwellings and carefully planned green spaces) these.  Rather, they are a densely packed, mass produced homogeneity, with little space for the human soul of community congregation and leisure.

David Howarth worked for Harrogate Borough Council in its planning department for five years in the 1980’s. He subsequently acted as a consultant to the council for a further thirty years, so he should know a thing or two about planning.  And, if he doesn’t, then we have to seriously ask ourselves why the council paid him his consideration for such a long time.  So, when Mr. Howarth says that planning in the district was in ‘disarray,’ the result of ‘weak’ practice, then we should pay attention.

The Stray Ferret team this week reported the findings of their in-depth housing investigation on planning between 2014 and 2020:  The urban sprawl and concreting of our countryside has covered an area that would accommodate a breath-taking 700 football pitches.  There seems to have been no Local Plan guiding this development (and I use the term guiding just about as loosely as I can).  All this sprawl is estimated to put another 26,500 cars on Harrogate’s already crowded highways and byways.  Meanwhile “it’s all gone quiet over there” with respect to building a link road that might alleviate some of the traffic pressure in town.

Developers have so far managed to avoid having to pay for the infrastructure needed to make a newbuild home not just a place to dwell, but a place to live.  Accordingly, the provision of sufficient schools places, GP surgeries, dentists and essential infrastructure have all been neglected.  The taxpayer, as ever it seems, is footing the bill to right the ship.  If and when regional devolution brings the curtain down on Harrogate Borough Council and its ever growing and sorry record, what it will do about its 2020 Local Plan – yes, after 6 years of waiting we finally have one – is anybody’s guess.  I’d be tempted to rip it up and start again.

I note with interest this week that the Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative Association had benefitted from a £10,000 government grant, to help it through the Covid crisis and address a financial shortfall caused by its inability to conduct fundraising and other activities.  It is a matter of individual choice to subscribe to a party membership or participate, hoping for the top prize of a bottle of Bells blended whisky, in the tombola.  However, I don’t feel that any political organisation should receive the same treatment as a small business from the public purse.  Maybe I’ll start a petition.

That’s my Strayside Sunday.

Read More: 

 

Harrogate Conservative Association criticised for £10,000 business grant

The Liberal Democrats have said it was “inappropriate” for the Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative Association to accept a £10,000 grant aimed at small businesses struggling during the pandemic.

The conservative group insisted the grant was necessary because the pandemic made it unable to generate income through its usual “activities”.

But the chair of the Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrats said he struggled to see the similarities between the small, local businesses unable to open and a political group.

Michael Newby, said:

“I thought it was inappropriate to take advantage of the money for businesses who are struggling. I struggle to understand how their income has been impacted the same as small businesses.

“We are all struggling, we, as a party,  have lost out because we can’t have our fundraising events but we aren’t depending on customers or clients and that’s where I see the difference.”

The conservative’s grant came to light after an investigation by journalist Alexandra Rogers at Yorkshire Live, who found that Harrogate and Knaresborough was one of only four associations in the whole of Yorkshire to receive one.

The grant was introduced by the government for companies with a rateable value of £15,000 and received business rates relief. The local association met these requirements.

Cllr Graham Swift, Harrogate Borough Council’s deputy leader is quoted in the Yorkshire Live article and said the grant was used to cover staff costs and rent:

“Our association, like most businesses, was unable to carry out our regular income generating activities.

“The government’s specific support to all these businesses has prevented us from closure, prevented us from laying off staff and ensured that our landlord is fairly compensated for their service.”

Read more:

The Stray Ferret asked Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative Association for a comment but had no response at the time of publication.

Other Conservative associations in Wakefield, Selby and Ainsty and Shipley also accepted the grant. Their decisions have also been met with criticism.

Earlier this evening we showed a picture of the Harrogate Conservative Club, this was an error and we would like to clarify the club has no connection to the Conservative Association.