Stray Views: Harrogate park and ride was a great idea – what happened?

Stray Views 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. See below for details on how to contribute.

What’s happened to the park and ride?

Have I missed something or has the sensible idea of a park and ride for Harrogate been shelved?

While the council continues to charge blindly forward with idiotic cycling/single file traffic schemes thinking that the traffic will disappear, a park and ride really would help reduce cars in the town centre.

So where is it?

Judy Rowson, Harrogate

Encouraging cyclists will make motoring better

Bob Hankinson makes several strawmen in his letter, making the argument that if “everyone shifts to bikes” when clearly not everyone will.

But hopefully enough will that the various roads in Harrogate are relieved of traffic at least to enough of a degree that it isn’t an utterly ridiculous proposal to actually drive into and through Harrogate as it currently is.

Bob is clearly not a cyclist given his complaint about hills and rain, which to most cyclists is neither a problem nor an obstruction. As, I assume, a car driver (his letter has all the hallmarks of someone who spends all morning sat immobile in their car trying to get to work).

Surely Bob would welcome less cars on the road — it would make Skipton Road, Leeds Road and Wetherby Road more of a road and less of a car park from 8am to 10am, wouldn’t you agree Bob?

Alastair Moore, Bilton

What about dog muck, Philip?

It’s great that Philip Allott, the new crime commissioner, is concerned about dog theft. Will he also be stamping out dog muck?

Nigel Heptinstall, Darley

The Stray Ferret is underselling itself

Meeting people on my daily walk, I ask if they receive the Stray Ferret. To those that don’t, I explain how simple it is to sign up and that it’s free.

Invariably this is a surprise to them so the purpose of this letter is to suggest your advertising on shop windows, roundabouts etc should contain the word ‘free’.

My grandfather started the first advertising agency in the north and he instilled into me how strong the word ‘free’ is in marketing. Many years later as a retailer in Harrogate I used this magic word in my advertising with great success.

Keep up your very good work!

David Hill, Harrogate

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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.

Crime commissioner to visit Stray tomorrow to discuss dog theft

North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Philip Allott will address growing concerns about dog theft in a public meeting on the Stray tomorrow.

The session will be held between 1pm and 2pm on the section of the Stray near Harrogate District Hospital.

Dog owners will be able to air their feelings and find out more about what is being planned to tackle the problem.

Mr Allott, who lives in Knaresborough, said tackling dog theft would be one of his top priorities during his campaign to become the new commissioner.

He highlighted a survey showing dog thefts increased by 250% last year due to gangs cashing in on the demand for puppies during lockdown.

Sought-after breeds, such as French bulldogs, can sell for more than £5,000 and a litter can fetch £35,000.

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North Yorks Police urges dog owners not to carry weapons on walks

North Yorkshire Police has urged dog owners not to take weapons on daily walks amid growing concern about the crime.

The police issued the advice today as part of a move to reassure people that dog theft remains rare.

It said in a statement there have been 11 reported dog thefts so far this year, compared with 10 from July to September last year

The statement added:

“We have heard reports of dog owners taking weapons on daily walks and we strongly advise against doing so.

“Carrying a weapon is illegal and could result in injury to yourself and/or others.

“Dog theft is an issue which can understandably be very worrying for our communities, however these type of incidents are rare.”

The police said although precautions such as microchipping were helpful, “dog owners in North Yorkshire do not need to be fearful for their own or their dog’s safety”.

The statement added people should be wary of believing social media posts about dog thefts “as some issues may not be as they appear”.

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Philip Allott made tougher action on dog theft a key strand of his successful campaign to be elected as North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner this month.
During campaigning, he told the Stray Ferret:

“The rising prices of dogs have made them a target for criminals. Most would probably make more money stealing a dog than a wallet.

“Laws are now relatively robust with sentences up to five years but many criminals receive just a caution or a fine.”

New police commissioner to review controversial mobile speed cameras

North Yorkshire’s new Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner has announced a review of the county’s controversial and unique mobile speed camera van system.

Speaking yesterday to the media outside the police force’s headquarters in Northallerton, Conservative Philip Allott outlined his priorities ahead of taking up office.

Mr Allott, from Knaresborough, was elected to the role, which is paid a £74,400 salary, last week with a majority of 30,295 votes on first and second preferences.

Signalling a determination to take his oversight of both emergency services in a different direction to that of his fellow Tory predecessor Julia Mulligan, Mr Allott said there were “big concerns” over camera vans, which have multiplied since they were first introduced in 2011.

Despite the force’s insistence the vans are deployed at accident black spots, widespread concerns have persisted for a decade that they are being sited at places to maximise the revenue they generate rather than improve safety.

Mr Allott said:

“People say the camera vans are in the wrong locations. People say their village doesn’t get a camera van. People say there are other solutions.”

He declined to elaborate on the concerns, but added:

“There will be a rethink in terms of how that is handled and that will be something that involves a consultation process.”

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County lines the top priority

In another apparent change in direction, he said he wanted to strengthen ties with councils and other bodies. He said the commissioner’s office could not work in isolation to tackle issues such as county lines drug dealers, which he ranked as his leading priority, or antisocial behaviour.

The commissioner said he would seek to forge closer partnerships with schools to identify children who act as couriers and with social services to identify vulnerable people whose homes may be used as county lines bases.

He said there were now 47 active county lines networks operating in the county, representing a huge increase on 14 months ago when Ms Mulligan revealed there were 11 drug supply lines from urban areas such as Cleveland, West Yorkshire, Liverpool and Manchester affecting North Yorkshire.

Mr Allott said:

“It is a community issue. Unfortunately during the pandemic recreational drugs has seen an increase in some activity. That’s something we need to deal with.”

The commissioner said while prosecuting county lines dealers would be a priority, he stressed treating the victims of drugs would be a focus for him.

He added:

“The victims are often the drug takers themselves who often end up in a downward spiral.”

He also pledged to put the needs of victims and vulnerable people above others, saying talks were under way about improving the connections between North Yorkshire and York’s CCTV coverage. He said actions to improve safety for women, both on the street and domestically, would be pursued.

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Rural crime response needs beefing up

However, the first of an extensive list of priorities that Mr Allott outlined was work to improve responses to rural crimes, such as hare coursing, thefts from farms, by strengthening the Rural Taskforce, with more officers.

During campaigning, a number of candidates highlighted how the Rural Taskforce was currently incapable of properly covering England’s largest county because it included only a handful of officers based in York.

He said the county’s size and rurality could be a key factor in many issues that both the police and fire service faced.

To respond to this, Mr Allott said he would examine increasing the number of multi-service officers who act as on-call firefighters, PCSOs and first responders in rural locations.

He said a trial of multi-service officers in Craven had proved to be “a great success”.

Mr Allott said:

“That is almost a modern day version of the village constable. That means somebody’s within that community and living within five minutes of the fire station.

“Because there’s funding there to fund that as a full-time job, it gives somebody an opportunity to be a firefighter who wouldn’t otherwise be able to do it.”

Newer fire engines needed

Nevertheless he said as the county’s fire service, which has been described as among the worst funded brigades in the country, had an “elderly fleet of vehicles” and a lack of equipment for staff, he would hold “honest discussions” with the government.

He said:

“We need to give the fire service the tools so they can do the job and do it well. We have to put together a concrete case as to why the government’s funding formula discriminates against us.

“We have got the biggest county in England with massive borders and lot of parks and green space between residential areas.”

New Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner pledges to be ‘broad church’

Philip Allott has pledged to be “a broad church” and tackle a wide range of concerns after being elected Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire.

With a turnout that was the highest since the post of police and crime commissioner was created in 2012, the Conservative candidate took 47% of the first preference votes – falling short of the requisite 50% – but secured re-election on second preference votes.

After several recounts it was announced he had secured a total of 83,737 first and second preference votes, over 30,000 more than his nearest rival Labour’s Alison Hume.

The first round of voting had seen Liberal Democrat James Barker with 19,773 votes and Independent candidate Keith Tordoff with 22,308 votes eliminated.

As the result over who would have oversight of the police and fire services in the county was announced in the sports hall at Selby College, Mr Allott, who runs a public relations and marketing agency, said he would take on the issues that his rival candidates had raised while campaigning.

He said:

“We live in the best county in England and I hope to make it an even better county.”

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With the exception of the Harrogate district, the result in each of the North Yorkshire districts was the same with Ms Hume coming second in each of the first counts, Independent candidate and Pateley Bridge sweet shop entrepreneur Keith Tordoff has received the third most votes in each area. Harrogate saw Mr Barker come second.

Returning officer Janet Waggott has said there had been 160,025 votes verified for the North Yorkshire and York area, meaning 25.47% of the electorate, higher than the 22% five years ago and almost double that of 2012.

The rural district of Craven, which includes part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, saw 29.6% of the electorate turn out, while the similarly rural district of Richmondshire, on the other side of the park saw just 23.8% of the electorate vote.

The areas with the largest urban populations, York, Harrogate and Scarborough, saw turnouts of 24.1%, 27.4% and 22% respectively.

Ms Hume, a York-based lecturer and disability campaigner, said she was proud at having run a positive campaign. She welcomed Mr Allott’s pledge to tackle the issues she had raised, and said she looked forward to seeing action over the “epidemic of violence against women and girls”.

Mr Barker, a City of York councillor with 24 years of military service, said:

“I am pleased with the amount of votes I got, which was 6,000 more than the previous Liberal Democrat candidate for this role. I came here with two aims. Not to lose the deposit and to increase the count and we have achieved this.”

After the first count, Mr Tordoff said:

“I am obviously disappointed because I came to win, but to come third is pleasing and over 22,000 people in North Yorkshire voted for me as first preference. It was always going to be a Herculean task against the main political parties.”

Conservatives win North Yorkshire Police commissioner election

The Conservatives have held the position of North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.

Philip Allott, the Tory candidate, won the election with 83,737 votes.

The vote went to a second preferences count after no candidate took 50 per cent of the vote.

He replaces Julia Mulligan, who stepped down from the role.

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Turnout for the election was 25.47 per cent.

Full results on first and second preferences were:

In the first round, James Barker, Liberal Democrat, got 19,773 and Keith Tordoff, Independent, 22,308.

Tory crime candidate: No plans to close more police stations

The Conservative candidate for North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner has said he does not envisage closing more police stations if elected.

In the first of a series of candidate interviews with the Stray Ferret, Philip Allott said he would take the closure of stations on a case by case basis.

Voters will go to the polls on May 6 to elect a new commissioner. The Liberal Democrats, Labour Party and an independent candidate will also be fielding candidates.

Mr Allott, who lives in Knaresborough, is standing for the Conservative party. He is managing director of PR and marketing agency Allott and Associates Ltd.

No more station closures

Mr Allott said, if elected commissioner, he did not “envisage” closing anymore stations.

In the Harrogate district, Pateley Bridge police station became the latest to be closed in the county in an effort to save money.

The building on King Street has been put up for sale and officers relocated to save £19,000 per year.

It follows other station closures, such as Northallerton, which have been shut to relocate officers with other public sector workers.

Mr Allott said some of the stations had been closed due to a lack of people coming in to report crime. He said the Pateley Bridge station was among those that were underused.

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He added that the money has been used to invest in frontline policing, such as body cameras.

When asked if he intended to stick with the policy to close stations down in order to save money for taxpayers, Mr Allott said: 

“I don’t envisage anymore police stations closing, that has been worked through.

“If there is a special case, then I will do it on a case by case basis. But I think where we are is just about right.”

Harrogate ‘badly hit’ by county lines

In the last six months of 2020, police made 140 arrests related to county lines drugs across the Harrogate district.

Police launched Operation Expedite, based in the town, to deal with drug dealing and the exploitation of vulnerable people.

Mr Allott said Harrogate had been “badly hit” by county lines drugs gangs in recent years.

He said he would extend the automatic number plate recognition system and encourage stop and search “on reasonable grounds” to help the force tackle drug gangs.

Mr Allot said there were “some easy hits” to make on tackling the problem, but added there were longer term issues such as working to help vulnerable young people who may be encouraged into gangs.

He said:

“I’m a realist. The police, fire and crime commissioner on their own and with partners can’t stop the drugs trade.

“It would be fantastic if we could, but we can’t. We can simply control it.

“But what I want to do is to make it so hard for that trade in North Yorkshire.”

North Yorkshire Police in Ripon.

More police presence to tackle Ripon crime

In order to tackle the problems over anti-social behaviour in Ripon, Mr Allott said he wanted to double the number of police officers in the city.

The city has been blighted by crime in recent months with cannabis farms found on an industrial estate and five incidents in one three-hour spree earlier in February, including a robbery, thefts and reports of a man carrying a machete.

Mr Allott said part of the issue was a “lack of visibility” of police officers. He added that there should be a mobile unit patrolling communities, including Ripon.

When asked whether he really believed more police would work when officers had already pledged to tackle the problem in the city, he said the force needed to use the “record number” of resources that it will soon have at its disposal.

He said:

“We’re well on our way to a record number of officers. We’ve definitely got a record number of PCSOs.

“But we’ve got to utilise those people and police have got to have a greater community involvement. Other agencies and organisations need to support the police.”

Dog thefts and keeping women safe on Harrogate’s streets

One area where the Conservative candidate has focused a lot of his campaign is on dog thefts.

Mr Allott believes many frustrated dog owners feel some police forces treat the crime as low priority. He wants to lobby for stronger enforcement on dog thefts.

“There’s a lot of people out there who feel they are not been listened to about their pets. That needs to be addressed.”

He highlighted a survey showing dog thefts increased by 250% last year due to gangs cashing in on the demand for puppies during lockdown.

A Freedom of Information request by the Stray Ferret to North Yorkshire Police showed the number of incidents recorded in the district where a dog had been stolen was nine last year, four in 2019 and four in 2018.

When asked whether violence against women would be a better focus for his campaign, he pointed to £500,000 which has been allocated by government to North Yorkshire to spend on improving female safety.

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Mr Allott said he wanted the money spent on plain clothes police officers and to educate young men on the issue.

As part of his campaign, he has launched a survey to gather views on how the funding should be best spent.

He said:

“The hard knock is the plain clothes police to arrest men who are harassing women. But secondly we need a cultural change.

“The way we are going to do that cultural change is that we are going to educate men to behave better.”

Funding the fire service

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue also falls within the commissioners remit.

The service precept, which funds the fire service, is set by the commissioner’s office.

But, Julia Mulligan, who has held the role since 2012, said recently that the county’s fire service is among the worst funded in the country.

Asked how he would solve that problem, Mr Allott said there would need to be more funding for the service.

He said this could be done through running fire stations more effectively, increasing the precept and lobbying ministers for more funding.

The following candidates so far have announced they are standing for election as commissioner:

The final list of nominations will be published on April 9. The deadline to register to vote in the May elections is April 19. You can register to vote here.

Tomorrow, the Stray Ferret will feature an interview with Liberal Democrat candidate, James Barker.

Police commissioner candidate promises action on dog thefts

The Conservative candidate for the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner elections has pledged to take a tougher stance on dog theft.

Philip Allott, who lives in Knaresborough, believes many frustrated dog owners feel some police forces treat the crime as low priority.

Mr Allott highlighted a survey showing dog thefts increased by 250% last year due to gangs cashing in on the demand for puppies during lockdown.

Sought-after breeds, such as French bulldogs, can sell for more than £5,000 and a litter can fetch £35,000.

If elected, Mr Allott would not be able to change operational police policy but he pledged to lobby those who can.

Last week he discussed dog thefts on a group call with Home Secretary Priti Patel, who said she would consider further action.

Voters will go to the polls on May 6 to elect a successor to Julia Mulligan.

The North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner election was delayed last year due to covid.

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Mr Allott told the Stray Ferret today:

“The rising prices of dogs have made them a target for criminals. Most would probably make more money stealing a dog than a wallet.

“Laws are now relatively robust with sentences up to five years but many criminals receive just a caution or a fine.

“PFCCs cannot change the law but we can make representations. I have already been on a call with the Home Secretary and I have also shared a survey on Twitter.”

The following candidates so far have announced they are standing for election as commissioner:

The final list of nominations will be published on April 9.