New year begins with fall in covid cases in Harrogate district

A total of 279 infections have been recorded in the Harrogate district today — down on yesterday’s figure of 330.

The district’s seven-day average rate of infection has also fallen slightly from yesterday’s record high of 1,094 per 100,000 people to 1,130.

North Yorkshire rate is 1,071 and the England rate is 1,363.

Harrogate west and Pannal Ash is the current covid hotspot, with 149 cases in the last seven days.

The number of people who have received a third or booster vaccine in the district stands at 101.821. A total of 363,883 vaccines have been administered.

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Family moves to Rudding Park to escape minus one degree home

A Beckwithshaw family has booked into Rudding Park hotel to escape its freezing home after two days without power.

Sylvia Skipper’s home was among thousands in the district to lose electricity when Storm Arwen struck late on Friday.

Power has returned to most but about 800 properties in the Harrogate district are still affected, according to a live map by Northern Powergrid, the company responsible for the electricity distribution network across the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire.

Ms Skipper, who lives on Shaw Lane, said her family had been without power since 9.20pm on Friday. There has been no hot water or heating, despite the freezing conditions, and they have been unable to cook. She said:

“Our house yesterday afternoon was minus one degrees.

“We couldn’t take any more and are now staying at Rudding Park. We have no idea whether power will be restored today.

“This is inhumane. We have lost faith as we have been forgotten about.”

Northern Powergrid’s live map shows 660 homes are without power in the Summerbridge and Bishop Thornton area, along with 60 in Spofforth, 30 in North Stainley, 20 in Pannal, 20 in High Birstwith, 20 in Kirkby Malzeard, fewer than 10 in Knaresborough, fewer than 10 in Greenhow Hill.

Ms Skipper said:

“The communication from Northern Powergrid has been dreadful.

“Until this afternoon we didn’t even have a phone signal on top of this so we had to venture in the car so that we could communicate with Northern Powergrid.

“I have seen their Twitter updates about providing hot drinks and support to numerous areas in the North East yet there has been absolutely nothing for us or our neighbours.”

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Steve Crisp, whose home between Beckwithshaw and Leathley is also without power, said:

“I keep trying to access Northern Powergrid but the website is unreliable and this morning when I rang and confirmed I would like to wait to speak to someone the system just cut me off.

“Patience and Dunkirk spirit being stretched!”

He and his wife were luckier than some because they had a log burner, which provided heat and a means to cook beans on toast.

‘One of worst storms for 20 years’

Northern Powergrid’s latest update at 11pm last night said it had restored power to around 208,000 of the 240,000 customers. About 100 engineers from other power companies had been drafted in to help. It added:

“The scale of damage in some locations is so extensive that in some cases, large sections of overhead lines will need to be rebuilt in order to restore supplies.

“Where it can, Northern Powergrid is deploying temporary fixes that get customers back on supply whilst its teams coordinate the necessary permanent repairs to get the region’s power network back to full strength.

Rod Gardner, Northern Powergrid’s major incident manager, added:

“The impact from Storm Arwen has been one of the worst we’ve experienced in the last 20 years.”

Review launched into council’s handling of Dunlopillo housing plans

A review has been launched into where lessons can be learned from Harrogate Borough Council’s handling of controversial housing plans for the derelict Dunlopillo building in Pannal.

The council’s recent approval of the plans submitted under permitted development rights was met with anger from residents and MP Andrew Jones who called for the scheme to be decided by a vote from councillors and not at officer level.

Permitted development rights are rules which fast-track the conversion of empty buildings into homes, however, there has been criticism over how much of a say residents and councillors have in the process.

A review into this has now been launched by the council’s cabinet member for planning, cllr Tim Myatt, with the lessons learned to be reported back at a later date.

A council spokesperson said:

“We acknowledge the concerns raised by the parish council and MP Andrew Jones and have written to them both to explain that as the local planning authority we have followed the rules that are set for us by national government.

“Proposals received under permitted development are different to applications made to us under the Planning Act.

“We receive notification from the developer and then have 56 days to check the submission and assess it against a defined list of criteria. If we do not determine the application within 56 days, the proposal is deemed to have been given consent.”

Dunlopillo – which makes pillows and bedding – moved out of its Station Road site 13 years ago and the plans approved this October will see the building demolished and replaced with a taller, six-storey apartment block.

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MP Andrew Jones previously said the proposals should not have been lodged under permitted development rights and he also criticised the council for its “mistake” in approving the plans without a vote from councillors.

Cllr Howard West, chairman of Pannal and Burn Bridge Parish Council, also said it was “clear” planning officers “made errors” and that the parish council has now written to the government asking for a change in the laws around appeals.

He said:

“It is evident that all was not in order, otherwise councillor Tim Myatt would not have instigated a lessons learned review.

“The parish council has written to the Housing Minister Michael Gove and the Prime Minister suggesting that a change in the planning legislation be made so that bodies like parish councils may challenge decisions by borough, town or unitary authorities without their only recourse being prohibitively expensive judicial review.

“Developers with deep pockets can challenge councils with impunity but parishes don’t have the financial backing to enter into that arena.

“This impasse is undemocratic and in our opinion should not be permitted in law.”

The plans from Otley-based Quattro Property Group include 48 flats for the Dunlopillo site where the new apartments will be split into two blocks – one with four storeys and another with six.

Residents had complained that the development will have a major visual impact on the area which has no other buildings of this type, with the parish council also describing the new building as “hideous and obtrusive”.

The parish council added: “The residents of Pannal will now have to put up with an even bigger monstrosity than exists at present.”

Leadhall Lane in Harrogate to close for two weeks

Leadhall Lane in Harrogate will close for two weeks later this month for resurfacing.

The works will begin on Thursday, November 11, until Wednesday, November 24, and will take place between 7.30am and 5.30pm.

North Yorkshire County Council is set to close the road in order to carry out resurfacing work.

The road connects Leeds Road with Burn Bridge and Pannal and is currently in a poor state of repair due to potholes.

Residents have been warned there may be periods when vehicle access will not be possible but pedestrian access will be maintained.

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Pannal left with ‘eyesore’ Dunlopillo apartments, says parish council

Pannal and Burn Bridge Parish Council has criticised Harrogate Borough Council for leaving the village with an “eyesore” of a development on the former Dunlopillo office site.

Last month the borough council approved a plan to demolish the office block and replace it with apartments, despite backlash from residents and Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones.

The proposal will see the 1961 office block replaced by 48 one-and two-bedroom apartments.

The parish council has criticised the borough council for granting permission for the development, which it says will mean the village has “a more hideous, more obtrusive building”.

It added it had written to Wallace Sampson, chief executive of the borough council, to “express its frustration” at the decision.

A spokesperson for the parish council said:

“The parish council has written to Mr Sampson, expressing its frustration that because of Harrogate Borough Council’s failings, the parish will have to live with an unsightly, even larger eyesore than it has suffered since that same council’s failure back in 1960 to prevent the initial build.

“The problem is how Pannal and Burn Bridge Parish Council could afford to take the matter to judicial review, having legal limits as to how much taxpayers’ money could be spent on such a review? This shows the total imbalance of the whole planning system which is geared in favour of developers with very deep pockets, irrespective of right or wrong.”

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Under the plans, the site will be split into two blocks, one with four storeys and another with six.

There will also be one car parking space per apartment plus additional spaces for visitors at the back of the building.

However, the plans have proved controversial with residents, the parish council and Mr Jones criticising the development.

Mr Jones wrote to Michael Gove, communities secretary, to ask for him to intervene “should the council’s local planning powers not be sufficient to enable full scrutiny of the application”.

He said the development should not have been lodged under the permitted development rights, which the application has been made under.

Johnson Mowat, which submitted the application, said in its planning documents that the scheme would be an improvement on the current empty office block, which has been deteriorating for several years.

The Stray Ferret has approached Harrogate Borough Council for a response to the criticisms.

Eight commercial units approved at Dunlopillo site in Pannal

Harrogate Borough Council has approved plans for eight new commercial units at the former Dunlopillo factory site in Pannal.

York-based Echo Green Developments has lodged the application, which will see the units based to the northern part of the site on Thirkill Drive.

It will also include 28 car parking spaces, 10 cycle spaces and two motorcycle spaces.

The developer said in planning documents that the scheme would “deliver much needed economic development” and that the site was earmarked as employment land by the council.

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The former Dunlopillo site has undergone considerable redevelopment already.

Councillors gave permission to change the site into a mixed-use development back in 2015. Much of the site has already been demolished and replaced by housing as well as the Vida Grange care home.

Approval has also been granted to demolish the former Dunlopillo office block and build 48 apartments.

Behind the scenes of Harrogate’s new £6m food hall

If there’s one thing that Harrogate does incredibly well, it’s food and drink.

The district has some of the best producers in the country and there is no denying we are completely spoilt for choice when it comes to delicious Yorkshire fare.

So it comes as no surprise that excitement is ramping up for the launch of Harrogate’s huge new £6m food hall in Pannal, which overlooks the Crimple Valley.

The 48,000 sq ft building, which is simply called ‘Crimple‘, will include a butchery counter, an in-house bakery and patisserie, a floristry and a 160-seat restaurant.

Sustainability

And with a huge emphasis on sustainability, there are set to be some very quirky additions to the venue, including it’s own beehive and a reconditioned milk float, complete with milk on tap and refillable glass bottles.

Crimple has been owned by Graham Watson since 2013. With a personal investment of £4m for the construction, plus £2m for the fit-out, the business-owner has created the town’s latest foodie destination in a bid to showcase all the amazing produce the district has to offer.

The man tasked with getting the food hall up and running is general manager Chris Lidgitt, who gave me a sneak preview of the site.

He said:

“We want to be a destination site for North Yorkshire.

“We are proud of what we have done behind the scenes and we all know what it’s going to look like when it opens. We can’t wait to show off our hard work.

“Harrogate needs something like this.”

After two years of planning and more than a year of construction, the food hall is set to open its doors in the second week of November and will see more than 80 new jobs created.

Events space

If you have visited Crimple Valley before, you will be familiar with the antiques centre at the site. This has been completely knocked down and the food hall and restaurant has been built in its place. The garden centre will remain and the existing restaurant and terrace will become an events space.

An exterior computer-generated image of the new food hall.

The food hall’s timber-framed building, with its staggered roof, is eco-friendly and sustainable.

The striking design of the building makes reference to agricultural buildings through a series of interconnected barn-like forms.

A heat recovery system also provides all the hot water for the site and energy-saving refrigeration has been fitted.

Impressive

It certainly looks very swish when you drive past on Leeds Road and its even more impressive when you go inside.

When you first walk in, it’s impossible not to notice the sheer scale of the food hall.

Inside the new Crimple food hall.

The distinctive “saw tooth” roof makes it feel light and airy. The space will allow shoppers to move freely around a specially-designed layout, aimed at making it a relaxed and enjoyable foodie shopping experience.

More importantly the design of the roof allows for natural ventilation and hosts solar panels to feedback power to the grid. In addition, motorised windows keep the temperature constant without wasting electric on heating and cooling.

Butchery counter

One of the big draws will be a 12-metre-long butchery counter, which will have a selection of meats, including the more unusual T-bone and Tomahawk steaks and ox cheeks, as well as the usual cuts. It will also boast a glass-fronted dry-ageing meat fridge.

Chris, who has been in the food and drink industry for years and was a director at The Local Pantry, in nearby Pool, said:

“We will use the in-house butchery department and the produce from the store to supply the restaurant.

“A deli counter will offer cheese, which we are going to mature ourselves in a cheese maturation fridge – from three, six, 12 and 18-months-old.

“There will also be a quirky juice and coffee bar, offering fresh juices and smoothies, which will have a big ice well.

“There will be floristry and gifts, fresh fruit and veg and a bakery, where we will eventually make our own bread. Two bakers will bake in-house including cakes, tarts and patisserie items.

“There will also be a beehive in a sealed unit, which shoppers will be able to see. This will supply honey to sell in the store.”

Yorkshire producers

Food and drink from lots of local producers and independent producers from across Yorkshire will be on offer at Crimple. They will include Bracken Hill Fine Foods, Guppy’s Chocolates, Sawley Kitchen, The Yorkshire Pasta Company and The Original Baker. There will be meat from Robertshaw’s and bread from Cawa Bakery and Lancaster’s. Coffee will be supplied by Dark Woods Coffee.

There will also be food to go, including in-store produced ready meals, pizzas, and fresh fish, as well as a horticulture shop and a grain store.

Chris said:

“There’s a real emphasis on Yorkshire produce but also an emphasis on trying to be different.”

An interior computer-generated image of the new food hall.

Improving county bus services an ‘enormous challenge’, says transport boss

Improving bus services with more regular and reliable journeys across Harrogate and North Yorkshire will be an “enormous challenge”, the county’s transport boss has said.

Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive member for access at North Yorkshire County Council, made the statement on Tuesday when the authority approved its £116 million Bus Service Improvement Plan, which aims to boost passenger numbers and cut car use.

The plan asks for £116 million of government cash over the next eight years to fund support for existing and new services, a simpler ticketing system, better information on journeys and other measures.

The aim is for services to cover the whole of England’s largest county – something Cllr Mackenzie said will be an “enormous challenge”.

He said: 

“Bus services are very important to us – we as a council spend over £24 million on buses to get our pupils to schools.

“We spend £1.5 million every year subsidising rural bus services, which are not commercially viable and would not run without us.

“We also spend over £7 million a year on providing 127,000 bus passes for free travel for people because of age or disability, or because they are carers.

“But the challenge we have today to provide regular and sustainable bus services throughout the vast geography that North Yorkshire County Council covers with its sparse population is enormous.

“That is why I welcome the national bus strategy.”

Under the government’s bus strategy, £3 billion is to be made available to make buses across the country cheaper and easier to use.

It is hoped these targets will be also met through so-called enhanced partnerships where councils agree to infrastructure improvements in return for better services from bus companies.

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Other proposals in North Yorkshire County Council’s improvement plan include half-price fares for job seekers and apprentices, a new website with information on services and more zero-emission buses.

Pannal park and ride

There is also talk of a park and ride scheme in Harrogate, which officials are looking into but have yet to bring forward any detailed proposals for.

There are two potential sites for this: land near Pannal Golf Club and another site near Buttersyke Bar roundabout, south of the village.

The Harrogate district has more zero tail-pipe emission buses than most places in North Yorkshire and it is hoped more will be provided through a £20m bid for government cash.

If approved, the cash will be used to make all of Harrogate Bus Company’s fleet zero-emissions, with 39 new buses coming to the district.

Alex Hornby, chief executive of Transdev in the north of England, which owns Harrogate Bus Company, has expressed his support for the bid, saying it comes at a time when he believes Harrogate is “ready to embrace more sustainable forms of travel”.

Mr Hornby is also one of several business leaders who will speak at a net-zero conference at Harrogate Convention Centre on Friday when the vision of a greener transport future will be high on the agenda.

Another aim of the improvement plan is to expand the rollout of the council’s on-demand bus service, YorBus, which allows app users to book and track services in Ripon, Bedale and Masham.

There have, however, been questions over why the service has been hailed a “success” after it emerged it has only attracted about three passengers per hour.

In response to this, Cllr Mackenzie said the council would listen to all feedback, but added the number of those praising the service exceeded the number of critics.

He said:

“We may or may not introduce it elsewhere, but so far the signs are very good.”

Controversial Dunlopillo apartment plan approved

A controversial plan to demolish the former Dunlopillo office block in Pannal to make way for apartments has been approved.

Harrogate Borough Council has given the go-ahead for the plan, which was submitted by Leeds-based Johnson Mowat Planning.

The proposal will see the 1961 office block replaced by 48 one-and two-bedroom apartments.

Under the plans, the site will be split into two blocks, one with four storeys and another with six.

There will also be one car parking space per apartment plus additional spaces for visitors at the back of the building.

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However, the plans have proved controversial with residents, the parish council and Harrogate and Knaresborough MP, Andrew Jones, all criticising the development.

In a letter to the borough council, Pannal and Burn Bridge Parish Council said it could “give no credence” to the proposal.

It said:

“The current Dunlopillo building has suffered decades of neglect and exists as an eyesore within its environment. 

“Councillors and parishioners support its long-overdue demolition but can give no credence to the replacement and erection of a structure which – at a proposed 18 metre height, three metres above the current height – would exert an over-dominance and “mass” in its surrounds.”

Meanwhile, Andrew Jones this week called for a special planning committee to consider the development which he said. 

He also wrote to Michael Gove, communities secretary, to ask for him to intervene “should the council’s local planning powers not be sufficient to enable full scrutiny of the application”.

Mr Jones said the development should not have been lodged under the permitted development rights, which the application has been made under.

He said:

“Permitted development rights are to enable positive development and apply in specific circumstances to achieve a specific goal.  I do not believe that these rights were introduced for the situation in respect of this development in a semi-rural location.

“Such a significant proposal should go through the normal planning process, be thoroughly appraised by council officers and scrutinised by the councillors at a committee meeting where the public can also have their say.”

Johnson Mowat said in its planning documents submitted to the council that the scheme would be an improvement on the current empty office block, which has been deteriorating for several years.

New book reveals storied history of Pannal and Burn Bridge

A new book has been written about the history of Pannal and Burn Bridge.

Its author is former Harrogate Advertiser journalist and Pannal historian Anne Smith, who has lived in Pannal for many years and raised her family there.

The book is called Pannal and Burn Bridge, Their Stories and includes history of the two villages dating back to the Domesday times. 

Ms Smith has written three books on Pannal previously and said her new effort “is my best book yet”. She added:

“The reason I did it is I want people who live Pannal to like Pannal and know about where they live.”

The name Pannal was first recorded in 1170 and the village has been a settlement for centuries. It developed in the middle of the former Knaresborough Forest and is believed to date back to the Bronze Age

By the early fourteenth century, Pannal had become a thriving village with weekly markets and an annual four-day fair.

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Personal accounts

The book includes personal accounts from current Pannal residents, histories of important buildings such as Pannal Village Hall and the Black Swan pub in Burn Bridge, maps and walks of the area, and other interesting tidbits.

Ms Smith said:

“It includes contributions from a lot of the characters and friends that live in the village.

“They put their memories of how wonderful it was growing up in Pannal.

Despite Pannal changing over recent decades, Ms Smith insisted “It’s still a good place to be.”

She added:

“I’m really pleased with the book and hope everyone buys it to see the area they live in because I love Pannal.”

The book costs £10 and is available from annesmith.pannal@yahoo.co.uk

Anne Smith launched the book at an event in Pannal earlier this month.

Malcolm Neesam, Anne Smith, Howard West