Harrogate pub landlord on why he’s standing for the new council

As the landlord of the Shepherd’s Dog pub on Otley Road, Michael Schofield has been the eyes and ears of Harlow Hill for the past nine years.

He believes his unique place in the community will help give the area a stronger voice on the new North Yorkshire Council. Mr Schofield will be standing in the newly created Harlow Hill & St Georges ward for the Liberal Democrats in May’s local elections.

Newly elected councillors will sit on North Yorkshire County Council until it is replaced by the new unitary authority in April 2023.

Both Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council are currently dominated by Conservative councillors but Mr Schofield said their legacy in Harrogate had not been positive.

He said the two councils have been a “shambles” on issues like housing and transport.

Harlow Hill 

Mr Schofield was a member of the LibDems since the days of the alliance with the SDP but quit when Nick Clegg “sold young people down the river” only to rejoin in recent years.

He runs the Shepherd’s Dog with his wife Donna and has lived in Harlow Hill, on-and-off, since 1982. His daughter Mollie, 16, goes to Rossett High School and Harry, 12, goes to Harrogate Grammar School.

The Liberal Democrats emailed local members asking if anyone would like to stand in the upcoming elections and he said it wasn’t a difficult decision to put himself forward.

“I’ve wanted to do it for years. I thought, ‘do you know what? I’ve had enough of the ineptitude of the council’. With all the issues we have around Harlow Hill and St George’s, it’s time for a strong voice.”

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Pub chatter

The council’s Harrogate district Local Plan 2014-35, which lays out where development can take place in the district until 2035, says around 4,000 new homes could be built in the area that surrounds Harlow Hill.

Some residents believe the sheer volume of housing being built is changing the west of Harrogate for the worse.

Mr Schofield said many locals are frustrated that houses are being built without the infrastructure, such as roads and schools, to support them. The council’s West of Harrogate Parameters Plan aims to address this.

There is also the ongoing debate around the Otley Road cycle path, which Mr Schofield said was a good idea, poorly executed.

He said:

“The big issue at the moment is the West of Harrogate Parameters Plan, and the infrastructure around that. There is also the cycle lane and how farcical that’s been put together.

“People are also concerned about traffic and schools. Where are the secondary school places going to come from?

“No, I’m sorry, we’ve had more than our fair share over the last four or five years. We’ve had more than enough housing. There’s no need for all this building at this end of Harrogate.”

Community spirit

During the first lockdown in 2020, Mr Schofield and his wife opened a fruit and veg shop two doors down from the pub.

He said the experience reminded him of the importance of community. He said residents wanted a councillor that lives locally and speaks up on issues that matter to them.

“People would come and talk in the shop. It was lovely to see people mixing that don’t normally mix. Nothing is stronger than a good community and Harlow Hill is a special community close to my heart.”

Mr Schofield said if he’s elected he will still be found behind the bar pulling pints.

And if he can deal with difficult customers in the pub, he says going head-to-head with opposition councillors won’t be a problem.

“We’re all soapbox politicians in the pub, but we can no longer have politicians hiding away, we need someone approachable.

“It’s a cross section in the pub. People from every party comes in here. We do talk politics, but we never fall out.”

The elections will take place on May 5. Candidates must submit nomination forms by April 5.

Will Harrogate district opposition parties do a deal to fight the Tories in May?

Elections will take place across the Harrogate district on May 5 to elect councillors to the new North Yorkshire Council.

The current two-tier system, where North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council provide different services locally, will be replaced by a single-tier system with one council in charge of England’s largest county.

Both of the councils that will be abolished are currently dominated by Conservatives. However, various scandals related to Boris Johnson and the government have buoyed opposition parties locally.

There are also rumblings of more independents standing across the district who have been unhappy with the direction of the Tory-controlled HBC and NYCC. There are already two independents in Ripon.

Reform UK, the new name of Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, could be putting forward candidates for May and the Yorkshire Party has also previously stood candidates in Harrogate district elections.

But a crowded field could dilute any prospect of gains over the Tories — so the prospect of an electoral pact between some parties makes sense to some.

Andy Rickard, chair of Harrogate & District Green Party said “the time has come” for left-of-centre parties in the Harrogate district to do deals in order to defeat the Tories.

However, he said whilst the Greens have been in discussions with local parties no agreements have been made. As it stands, the party will stand in every division.

Mr Rickard said:

“It is vital that other parties work cooperatively to be rid of the Conservatives – at every level, local and national. 

“In the past, ad hoc bilateral discussions have taken place, and continue. The time has come to identify seats where cooperation can achieve success. Electors now understand that deals are the only way forward, as do the rank and file in all progressive parties.

“The Conservatives have lost touch with their voters who reveal in doorstep discussions that they also are unhappy with the present voting system.

“We are calling for all progressive parties in this region to work together to break the electoral log jam which is destroying our nation – starting with the May 2022 elections”.

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For last year’s Knaresborough Scriven Park by-election, the Greens asked supporters to vote for the Liberal Democrats, which was won by the Lib Dems’ Hannah Gostlow who took the seat from the Conservatives.

Liberal Democrat David Goode would not be drawn on whether the party would return the favour and step aside in any seats for the Greens in May.

He said:

“The Liberal Democrats are very much focused on the huge election on May 5th to the new North Yorkshire Unitary Authority. These are the most important local elections in years with councillors being elected to the new authority for a 5 year term.

“We  are focused on continuing  our fight to give an alternative voice of strong opposition to Conservatives locally.”

At the time of the Knaresborough by-election, Chris Watt, a spokesman for the Harrogate & Knaresborough Labour Party, described the electoral pact as a “dodgy backroom deal”.

The party has no seats on Harrogate Borough Council but received 13% of the total votes at the last election in 2018, which could be enough to be a deciding factor if it did step aside in certain wards.

Mr Watt said it would not consider similar deals with other parties in May due to how “ineffective” he believes the local Lib Dems are on Harrogate Borough Council.

He said:

“Harrogate & Knaresborough Labour Party consistently sets out a positive vision for our area and our country. We will be doing so again at the elections to the newCouncil in May, where a strong Labour voice will be essential in standing up for our area.

Local people still remember the damage done by the Tory/LibDem Coalition Government and can see how ineffective the LibDems are at standing up to the Tories on the Council.

In contrast, Labour is listening to local people and will be presenting a strong and forward looking alternative. We want and expect to elect Labour councillors to the new Council in May.”

North Yorkshire local government reorganisation called a ‘political move’

Local government reorganisation in North Yorkshire is “blatant gerrymandering” by the Tory government and will create Europe’s least democratic local authority, it has been claimed.

Some elected members serving on the county’s seven district and borough councils say it has become increasingly apparent the forthcoming North Yorkshire Council was being introduced by the government to consolidate power in the hands of the Conservative Party from April 2023.

While North Yorkshire’s 225 district and borough councillors represent the same residents as the 72 county councillors, the Conservative Party has 74% of county seats but just 51% of elected members on the district and borough councils.

The district and borough councils feature almost 29% of Independent and Green councillors, but less than 17% on the county council. Labour and Liberal Democrat groups on the county council have less than half the share of seats they have on district and borough authorities.

Although opposition councillors have alleged the new authority’s 89 divisions, many of which resemble the existing county council divisions, have been designed to favour the Conservatives, senior Tories leading the changes have dismissed suggestions the division boundaries were politically motivated.

The Green Party and Independent councillor for Catterick Leslie Rowe said a study by the District Council’s Network had found creating unitary authorities for counties would in North Yorkshire’s case lead to the least democratic local authority in Europe, with each of the 90 councillors representing around 7,000 people.

He said:

“Compare this to Barking and Dagenham Council, which is also undergoing reorganisation, with each councillor there representing 3,200 people.

“Clearly, the sole justification for this costly local government reorganisation is to consolidate power into the hands of the Conservative Party.”

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County council opposition leader Stuart Parsons said the creation of the new authority was “blatant political gerrymandering” by the government as the smaller neighbouring county of Cumbria was being split into two councils to ensure the Conservatives were in control of at least one local authority there.

He said:

“It’s fairly obvious this is Conservative Party politics and they are hoping they will be able to dominate the new local authority in the same way they have dominated the county council, but have had less success in some of the borough and district councils.

“They don’t like not being in control and get very upset when they lose control of a council. However, it could nicely backfire on them. The public are not over the moon about the Tories at the moment and there’s a great opportunity in May to have as few Tories re-elected as possible.”

However, the authority’s Liberal Democrat group leader Councillor Bryn Griffiths said while local government reorganisation was a political move, he believed the changes represented an opportunity for a more politically diverse council covering the county.

He said:

“If candidates listen to their communities and put their community’s views forward I think there is a better chance of a more representative county, but if you haven’t got proportional representation you get stuffed.”

County council leader Councillor Carl Les said claims that the new authority would be Europe’s least democratic were wrong as at least one unitary council, Leeds, had a smaller proportion of councillors to residents.

When asked if the reorganisation had been motivated by politics, Coun Les replied:

“No. It’s a move to make sure we get the benefits of negotiating devolution asks with the government.”