Two locations in Pannal have been identified as sites for a new Harrogate park and ride bus service.

A park and ride is among measures proposed by North Yorkshire County Council to reduce traffic and ease congestion around Harrogate.

Other schemes include a Killinghall bypass, new cycle paths and traffic calming in Bilton.

Land near Pannal Golf Club and land near Buttersyke Bar roundabout south of Pannal have been chosen as park and ride sites.

County councillor Don Mackenzie, executive member for access, said a key factor was the sites’ location on the 36 bus route that runs regularly between Leeds, Harrogate and Ripon. He said:

“One of the great costs of a park and ride is the shuttle bus, which would have to be contracted out.

“If you can tie it in with a scheduled service it would mean you could avoid this cost.”

Pannal is about three miles from Harrogate. Cllr Mackenzie said a more central location might not work as well because if motorists had to battle through town centre traffic to get to the park and ride they might not think the service was worth bothering with and park in town instead.

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Cllr Mackenzie said the park and ride idea “could happen fairly quickly” depending on developments.

It is one of the main projects in the council’s Harrogate transport improvement programme.

Perhaps the programme’s most ambitious and controversial proposal is for a Killinghall bypass.

Cllr Mackenzie said the likely route would be from the Old Spring Well pub on the A59 and then south and east of Killinghall to join the A61 at the roundabout in Ripley that goes to Pateley Bridge and Ripon.

It would not touch the western side, where the Nidderdale Greenway is located, he added.

There have been 633 covid infections recorded in the Harrogate district in the last seven days, according to government statistics.

The infection rate has rocketed over the last month and the current seven-day average rate is now 494 people per 100,000.

But there are considerable variations within the district.

The government breaks each district into smaller areas known as middle super output areas, each with a population of about 7,200 people.

According to the latest figures, the middle super output areas with the most current infections are central Harrogate and central Knaresborough.

The more rural Pateley Bridge and Nidd Valley, which has been consistently less affected throughout the pandemic, has the fewest current infections.

Most infections

1 Central Harrogate 76

2 Knaresborough Central 61

3 Harrogate West and Pannal 59

4 Killinghall and Hampsthwaite 53

5 Starbeck 47

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Fewest Infections

1 Pateley Bridge and Nidd Valley 13

2 Hookstone 17

3= Dishthorpe, Baldersby and Markington

3= Spofforth, Burn Bridge and Huby 19

5 Masham, Kirkby Malzeard and North Stainley 21

A woman from Pannal has spoken of her flooding ordeal last night when Storm Bella wreaked havoc.

Suzanne Walker, who lives alone in a basement apartment on Leeds Road, had to call North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service when water levels rose to her bedroom window.

It was the second time in three months she has had to call the fire service to pump water away from her rear window and a meter cupboard.

Fortunately there was no major damage but the proximity of the water to an electric switchboard, along with the fact that this has happened before, has left her extremely anxious.

Ms Walker, who is a director of the apartment block management company, Fieldhurst Management Company, dialled 999 shortly after midnight when she noticed the water level rising. She said:

“It’s extremely annoying and frustrating, not to mention stressful, watching dirty water rise to such a level that you know your bed is on the other side of the wall, not to mention electrics too.”

The fire crew arrived to pump the water away. Water had entered the external meter cupboard, which houses the meters of all seven of the apartments in the block.

Similar high water levels were seen on October 3. Photograph: Suzanne Walker.

Since the first flooding incident after heavy rain on October 3, Ms Walker has contacted several organisations to try to find out where the water is coming from. It is thought the water is jetting out of pipes near to the apartment.

She added:

“No one is taking responsibility for the pipes or the land where the jetting company are telling me they think the issue is.

“It makes you anxious and worried every time it rains as we don’t know how high it would reach.

“I’ve lived in Pannal over 30 years and at this property for the last 10 years and I’ve never experienced anything like this before.”

Read more:

• Pateley Bridge residents tell us how they had to come together during the February floods.
• Hunsingore receives a red alert for flooding today. 

Ms Walker said she intends to contact Andrew Jones, MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, as well as councillors at North Yorkshire County Council and Pannal and Burn Bridge Parish Council seeking help.

Flood warnings remain in place on the River Nidd and River Ure. The government’s flood information service is giving updates on its website.

Emergency teams have been summoned to a home that flooded in Pannal as the Harrogate district wakes up to the effects of Storm Bella.

Property, roads and farmland around the Harrogate district have felt the brunt of a night of strong winds and heavy rain and alerts remain in place.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue said in a statement a crew responded to reports of flooding in a basement property in Pannal at 00.26am this morning.

The statement added water was pumped away from an electric switchboard and sandbags were requested from Harrogate Borough Council.

The emergency planning team at Harrogate Borough Council, which responds to serious incidents, tweeted at about 4am:

“Following a call from North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue our team have deployed to Pannal to protect a property at imminent risk of flooding.”

No further details are available.

Flood warnings are in place on the rivers Nidd and Ure as well as at Swinney Beck in Masham.

Swinney Beck is a particular area of concern: the government’s flood informations service tweeted just before midnight that properties along Westholme Road in Masham were most at risk. It added:

“Please activate any property flood protection products you may have, such as flood barriers and air brick covers and stay away from fast moving water.”

Read more:

• River Nidd on flood alert as Storm Bella hits
• Harrogate district floods: homes, cars and cows rescued

The flood information service also issued a flood warning for the River Nidd at Low Laithe overnight

“The level of the River Nidd at Pateley Bridge is rising due to persistent rain through the night. Levels are forecast to reach 1.5 metres around 03:00 and will continue to rise until around 06:00 on Sunday morning when the peak at Pateley Bridge is expected to be below 2 metres.

“The B6165 is expected to flood at this level. We are monitoring the situation closely and will update this message on Sunday morning or as the situation changes.”

A flood warning is also in place for the upper River Nidd around Pateley Bridge, with the flood information service advising motorists to plan driving routes to avoid low lying roads near rivers.

Roecliffe caravan park, near the River Ure, is also subject to a flood warning, River levels are expected to rise until mid-afternoon and people are being warned to stay away from fast flowing water.

Nationally, 181 flood alerts and 105 flood warnings are in place.

Objections have been raised by Pannal residents after plans were revealed to demolish eight garages and build two new houses.

The plans for the site on Pannal Green have been submitted by Harrogate Borough Council, which owns the garages and wants to replace them with two semi-detached “family” homes for social rent.

One of the homes would have two double bedrooms, while the other would have a double and two singles.

As well as the garages, the application states there would be a loss of one on-street parking space, with part of the green itself used to create new parking bays.

However, residents say the loss of eight garages is only part of the issue: the development would also reduce the on-street parking, meaning an overall loss of up to 12 parking spaces. They have raised concerns about the impact in an area which is already under significant pressure, with visitors to the nearby primary school and care home adding to traffic issues.

Louisa Humpage, who lives with her husband and two children in one of the houses adjoining the site, told the Stray Ferret:

“We are already in a deficit of spaces as it is. These are all originally council houses and when they were built, each family didn’t have one car, let alone two. Now, most families have two cars so we’re already squeezed for space.”

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Mrs Humpage’s garden will be along the boundary of one of the new homes if they are built, removing the family’s access to the back garden via a gate, which she said was a selling point when they bought it.

She said she was also worried about access for deliveries and emergency vehicles, with several elderly and disabled residents living in the mix of council and privately-owned homes around Pannal Green.

Access to a footpath through to St Robert’s Church could also be lost if the new homes are built, and residents have raised concerns about a ripple effect on parking in the surrounding streets. It is particularly challenging at pick-up and drop-off times for the nearby Pannal Primary School, when Main Street is reduced to single file for through traffic thanks to cars parked either side of the road.

One letter said:

“If a resident cannot park their car close to their home, there is nowhere in the whole village to park, as the whole area has the same problem.”

Mrs Humpage added:

“The only option for us is the church car park or even Main Street, but then people will have to walk a long distance to their houses. The church car park isn’t lit and in the winter it’s slippy, with leaves everywhere. You’re asking people to put themselves into jeopardy just to get to their front door.”

Residents say there is even greater pressure on parking locally at school pick-up and drop-off times

Pannal and Burn Bridge Parish Council is due to discuss the plans this evening and Mrs Humpage plans to ask councillors to object to the proposals. She has also spoken to Cllr John Mann, who represents Pannal on Harrogate Borough Council, to ask for his support.

She added:

“I know they have a long list of people requiring social housing, but there has to be more suitable places to build houses for them. It’s just two houses – is it really cost-effective to do that just to knock two people off the list?

“There has to be some sort of duty of care to existing residents.”

The Stray Ferret approached Cllr Mann, Pannal and Burn Bridge Parish Council, and Harrogate Borough Council for comment on the proposals, but none had responded at the time of publication.

With unprecedented levels of housing planned for the western fringes of Harrogate, a new campaign group has called for developments to have a greater focus on sustainability and infrastructure.

The Western Arc Coordination Group brings together organisations including Harlow and Pannal Ash Residents Association, Duchy Residents’ Association, Hampsthwaite Action Group, Zero Carbon Harrogate, Harrogate District Cycle Action and Pannal & Burn Bridge Parish Council.

As many as 4,000 houses could be built in the area by 2035. Harrogate Borough Council’s Local Plan includes 800 homes at Windmill Farm on Otley Road and 200 homes at the former police training centre on Yew Tree Lane.

Several other sites have either been recently completed or are under construction, such as Persimmon’s 600-home King Edwin Park development on Pennypot Lane and Stonebridge Homes 130-home scheme on Whinney Lane.

With construction set to continue in the area for at least the next 15 years, the group has produced a document warning of “serious disruption” to people living in what is one of Harrogate’s most popular areas.

Read the document in full here.

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‘Severe’ congestion

Queueing traffic in Burn Bridge this year.

The new group predicts the majority of developments in the western arc of Harrogate will be car-dependent, which will require a “major upgrade” of roads.

It says since North Yorkshire County Council scrapped plans for a controversial “relief road” last year, there has been little progress in tackling congestion.

It warns “accepted congestion problems” have been left unaddressed and says nearby villages such as North Rigton, Burn Bridge and Pannal will bear the brunt of increased traffic in and out of Harrogate. The document says:

“All the communities we represent already experience severe congestion and the environmental and road safety problems from existing volumes of traffic.”

Tackling climate change

A key focus of the group will be putting pressure on developers and the council to ensure homes are future-proofed to mitigate the effects of climate change.

However, it says current housing developments in Harrogate fall short of the mark when it comes to the environment. It says planners, developers and house builders have a “huge responsibility” to do their bit and recognise that the decisions they take will have ramifications for climate change.

It calls on house builders to ditch their dependence on old fashioned building techniques and move towards renewable energy and off-site construction methods, which it argues will slash carbon emissions during the production process and after residents move in.

The document says:

“We would like to see that any developments in this area are exemplars of the way in which new housing addresses the net zero challenge of the next decades.”

What do local councils say?

A spokesman for Harrogate Borough Council told the Stray Ferret that the Local Plan provided a “clear and robust” framework for developments, including the requirement for a “parameters plan” that will organise infrastructure.

He added:

“North Yorkshire County Council are carrying out a series of sustainable transport improvements following investment from central government, ourselves and developer contributions.

“These improvements, that will include smart traffic lights, improvements to the junction of Harlow Moor Road and Otley Road, a new off-road cycle route on Otley Road and new or improved pedestrian crossings, will help to improve safety and alleviate the current level of congestion and accommodate the future growth.”

Members of WACG spoke at North Yorkshire County Council’s area constituency committee this morning.

NYCC’s executive member for highways, Cllr Don Mackenzie, said the authority hopes to work together with the group going forward.

He said:

“I did comment on the contents of their Campaign for Sustainability of Development publication, asking for more clarity on the group’s precise aims, since it seemed to be calling for new highways infrastructure and downplaying the effectiveness of sustainable travel measures at the same time as advocating low carbon dependency infrastructure.

“I assured the delegates that NYCC wishes to continue the dialogue with their group and to work with them to introduce effective measures in the west of Harrogate to address the challenges of congestion which the high level of residential development in that area will bring.”

The rate of covid infections in the Harrogate district is rising sharply and is now well above the national average.

The R number, which refers to the reproduction rate, was 1.4 last week and is 1.6 today. This means every 10 people that test positive in the district will infect another 16.

The latest R number for the UK is 1.1 to 1.3.

The seven-day rolling average rate of infection for the Harrogate district was 160 cases per 100,000 people two weeks ago; last week it was 251 and today it is 279.

The England average is 241.

Read more:

• Harrogate hospital coping well with covid, says chief executive
• Record daily number of covid infections in Harrogate district

North Yorkshire as a whole appears to be struggling. Four of the county’s seven district and borough council areas — Scarborough, Harrogate, Selby and Hambleton — now have higher rates of infection than the England average.

For many months North Yorkshire fared better than many parts of the country.

Although widely accepted that lockdown will take time to bring down infections, these are worrying figures for county health officials.

Local covid hotspots

The Harrogate district accounts for three of the top 10 covid hotspots in North Yorkshire, according to a breakdown of positive test results in the last seven days by local community area.

Harrogate east is third on the list with 42 infections, one place ahead of Killinghall and Hampsthwaite, which has 41. Harrogate west and Pannal is eighth with 36.

Catterick Garrison and Colburn in Richmondshire tops the list with 52.

The only local area in the bottom 10 is Pateley Bridge and Nidd Valley, which has recorded just seven positive tests.

The 1st Pannal Scout Group is organising a pumpkin parade this Halloween instead of traditional trick or treat activities.

The parade is the scouts’ way of encouraging people to celebrate Halloween in a socially distanced manner.

The group is encouraging Pannal residents to carve, draw or paint pumpkins and then display them in windows or gardens. 

Pumpkin locations can then be shared on the scouts’ map, allowing families to follow the trail around the Pannal and Burn Bridge area every night of half term. 

Winners for the scariest and funniest pumpkins, and the best dressed Halloween garden, will be announced. To be in with a chance, share your creation on the Pannal Scouts Facebook page. 

The Scouts have shared some ideas to get your creative juices flowing below:

Read more:

• Covid-safe Halloween trail begins this week in Harrogate
• Halloween ghost walks coming to Pateley Bridge

Characters of all shapes and sizes will line the streets of Pannal and Burn Bridge this weekend as part of the first ever Scarecrow Harvest Festival.

It has been set up by St Robert’s Church in Pannal, in place of its usual harvest festival, to raise money for Harrogate District Foodbank.

More than 60 scarecrows have been entered by local families and individuals, as well as Burn Bridge and Busy Bees pre-schools, Pannal and Burn Bridge Parish Council, and Pannal Methodist Church.

A map of all the locations, covering as far as Walton Park to the south and Beckwith Road in the north, has been put together by organisers Chloe Darcy and Stephanie Cave. They have uploaded it to the St Robert’s Church website, along with a voting sheet and photos of all the entries so far.

Chloe said:

“People have been so keen. We thought we would run with it but you’re never sure what the response will be. It has been really positive. It’s a bit of fun and everyone can get involved – even those who are shielding because we’re putting all the photos online so people can vote.”

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Entries so far include clowns, nurses, farmers, Minecraft, cartoon characters – and even scarecrows of Pannal School teachers. Each entrant has donated £5 and people taking part are also encouraged to give what they can via the fundraising page.

Chloe added:

“There would normally be a harvest festival and Pannal School would put on harvest services and bring the children to St Robert’s. We can’t collect donations of food this year, so we’re hoping to raise money for the foodbank instead.”

More than £750 has already been donated by the community before the trail has even been launched. The event runs from 9am on Saturday, October 10 until 4pm on Sunday, October 11.

Votes for the best scarecrow will be counted next week, with the winners announced on Sunday, October 18. First, second and third places will be awarded rosettes and prize money.

A care home in Harrogate has adopted new technology in the fight to save lives from coronavirus this winter.

Vida Grange, which is a specialist dementia home in Pannal, has installed alcohol gel-secreting door pads to limit the spread of coronavirus among staff and residents.

The pads are designed to kill germs on doors, which can help to protect people from coronavirus. They could be particularly useful in care homes, where many residents struggle to remember the importance of hand hygiene.

Yorkshire company Surfaceskins, which created the pads last year, has seen a global spike in interest in the pads. But this is the first home in the Harrogate district to introduce them.

Adam Walker, Surfaceskins inventor, with James Rycroft, the managing director of Vida Healthcare, at Vida Grange in Pannal today. They are seen holding the pads.

At an event today at Vida Grange to mark the deal, James Rycroft, the managing director of Vida Healthcare, which owns Vida Grange, described the pads as a “welcome addition to our armoury”, He added:

“Sometimes people forget to use the alcohol gel but you can’t escape the Surfaceskins.

“The coronavirus pandemic took the world by surprise so we are trying to do all we can to protect our residents and staff.”

Read more:

• Care home visits in district may be allowed after October
• Harrogate hospital prepares for winter with 100 coronavirus beds

Mr Rycroft said new technologies and strict procedures were helping to protect residents.

Some staff at the care home have tested positive for coronavirus in recent weeks but, so far, none have passed the virus on.

Adam Walker, one of the inventors of Surfaceskins and a Harrogate resident, said:

“This product does not clean your hands but it is designed to keep itself sterile. We still need people to use gel dispensers and wash their hands. However, if you do that and use a dirty door you could still infect yourself. The Surfaceskin helps clean hands stay clean. It is a vital missing link.”

Mr Walker added the product was not a knee-jerk reaction to coronavirus. He said he came up with the idea about 10 years ago.