Author: Liz Leatherbarrow

A reminder that you are no longer be able to collect home testing kits from the test centres. PCR tests are by appointment only. You can still order home tests online or collect them from most pharmacies across North Yorkshire.

Find out how to book a PCR test and how to order home tests for delivery or which pharmacies you can collect them from locally.

The mobile testing site at West Park Car Park in Harrogate is open from 9am to 4pm. Other mobile sites in North Yorkshire, including Ripon, are open 9am – 3pm. You can check the days they are open here. 

Harrogate Borough Council are working with City of York Council and Better Homes Yorkshire to offer free cavity wall insulation and loft insulation. Funding has been obtained for the Home Upgrade Grant from the government’s Local Authority Delivery scheme.

To find out more or to register your interest call 01904 552300 or email betterhomes@york.gov.uk. They look forward to hearing from you.

Due to the impact of Coronavirus over 5.5 million people are claiming Universal Credit. Many of them are new to claiming Universal Credit having been negatively impacted by Coronavirus. 

The following guide is designed to help local people navigate claiming Universal Credit. 

Here’s the Universal Credit guide https://www.jobcentrenearme.com/universal-credit/

There is also information to help when applying for a new job role here

https://www.wikijob.co.uk/ .

The site gives ideas to help when preparing for an interview, a visit to an assessment centre or aptitude tests. It gives an opportunity to read expert advice and speak to other candidates. Good luck if this is helpful to you.

The Telegraph reports that the company behind the “Boris bus” is using French batteries to bring environmentally friendly services to rural routes, after previously pledging to champion British manufacturing

Wrightbus has unveiled its first electric-powered vehicle with a 200-mile range, which can be charged in under three hours, despite the fact that last year the company warned electric vehicles increase the UK’s dependency on China, where most of the world’s batteries are made.

The report outlines how bus manufacturers and operators are hopeful the industry is on the cusp of a golden age after Boris Johnson pledged billions of pounds in investment.

Enhancing bus services is a key plank of government plans to avoid a car-led recovery as the country emerges from the pandemic.

Full article:

The Daily Telegraph, print, Oliver Gill, 30 June 2021, page three

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The Rural Services Network has concerns over the viability of electric buses in rural areas, as to cover an average rural route, it is likely that a range of 300 miles is required.  This has implications for the number of buses required to cover a rural route if they cannot reach this level.  

We welcome improvements to electric powered vehicles, and in our Revitalising Rural campaign, set out a number of Asks of Government in relation to Decarbonising Rural Communities which can be viewed at this link. 

Our Ask in relation to Rural Buses is as follows:

Introducing buses using electric battery or hydrogen fuel cell technologies involves significant investment, both in new vehicles and depot fuelling facilities. This may be hard to justify
commercially in rural areas unless bus service patronage grows. The Government’s ZEBRA funding scheme should specifically target some uncommercial rural areas. Current electric buses also have a limited range that will be inadequate for some rural routes. A comprehensive review is needed of the electric grid and, where appropriate, hydrogen supply to avoid punitive upgrade costs arising in rural areas.

The Yorkshire Post reports on the findings of the North Yorkshire Rural Commission, which it says show “the starkest warning yet of the area’s future policy challenges as a consequence of an ageing society”

The report accuses the Government’s approach to devolution as having focused too heavily on urban areas and less so on rural communities.

It claims that the Government’s oversight is “symptomatic of successive governments failing to understand the breadth of the social and economic challenges facing countryside areas”.

It states that the funding formulae used by Whitehall departments has discriminated against rural Britain to such an extent that it necessitated the creation of this Commission.

The paper calls on the Government to take notice of the recommendations of the commission including the creation of a mutual bank to attract inward investment.

Full article:

The Yorkshire Post – North Yorkshire Rural Commission; now Rishi Sunak should respond – The Yorkshire Post says

The Government has launched at consultation on 1st July 2021 on Access to Cash. 

It is the next step in legislating to protect access to cash and ensuring that the UK’s cash infrastructure is sustainable for the long term.

Despite the decline in cash use over recent years, cash remains an important payment method for millions across the UK.

In line with this commitment, the Treasury undertook a Call for Evidence in 2020, which sought views on the key considerations associated with cash access. The Government also legislated in the Financial Services Act 2021 to facilitate the wide-spread adoption of cashback without a purchase.

This consultation sets out proposals for further legislation.

It seeks views on:

• establishing geographic requirements for the provision of cash withdrawal and deposit facilities
• the designation of firms for meeting these requirements
• establishing further regulatory oversight of cash service provision

The consultation can be accessed at this link and closes on 23 September 2021.

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The BBC ran a story focusing on this consultation which can be read at this link. 

It highlights these key points:

‘Consumers and businesses will have a legal right to withdraw and deposit cash within “a reasonable distance” of their home or premises, under government plans.

The long-awaited proposals are designed to ensure notes and coins remain available to those who need them.  Cash remained a necessity for at least eight million people, research found.  Campaigners fear some retailers could stop accepting cash if it becomes too burdensome to process.

Small businesses, particularly, have been affected by closing bank branches. Travelling further to deposit their takings costs time and money.

In the Revitalising Rural campaign, the Rural Services Network sets out a number of policy asks of Government.

The chapter on Rural Town Centres and High Streets sets out this ask of Government in relation to ATMs.

ATMs: Despite the rapid recent rise in cashless payments, rural people need free and local access to cash to go about their daily lives. Lack of free access impacts disproportionately on certain groups and many small rural businesses rely on cash. Proposals allowing retailers to give cash back without another purchase are welcome, but they will not provide 24/7 access. Government and bodies managing the financial payments system should consider changing how the free-to-use ATM network is funded. For example, the interchange fee could be set independently to reflect transactions costs fairly. A tiered system could be introduced, with lower fees for clustered city centre ATMs and higher fees to protect rural ATMs.

Extra financial help is available if you are on a low income, cannot work from home and are required to self-isolate after a positive coronavirus test result, or, because you have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive.
Help is also available if you are on a low income and are having to take time off work to care for a child or young person who has been told to self-isolate from school or nursery.

Applications for Harrogate district are to be made to Harrogate Borough Council – find more details and apply at https://www.harrogate.gov.uk/benefits-assistance

Nationally the scheme was to end on 30 June but is now to be extended to 30 September 2021. 

Test and trace (self-isolation) support payment

All adults can now book their Covid-19 jab. If you’re aged 18 or over, visit the NHS website to book yours.

We have been asked by the residents of Ferrensby to highlight this planning application as it is unlikely anyone will see the green notices erected by HBC.The site is the large wooded area surrounding the lake as you walk along part of the Knaresborough Round footpath linking Wath Lane (Stuart Bartons farm field track) towards Ferrensby and returning along Arkendale Road. A route very popular with residents and visitors, probably due to it being in open countryside with a vast array of wildlife to spot and currently without any roads or human intervention other than farming.

“Some 5 years ago, Ferrensby Parish Meeting voted to oppose Mr & Mrs CR Jackson’s application to build a large modern house at the site named above near the village. This vote followed a presentation by one of the applicants’ architects to the meeting. Subsequently a small team of villagers volunteered to lead the opposition. This included many meetings with local interests, councillors, countryside organisations and even included taking professional legal planning advice. Happily all the effort paid off and the application was comprehensively rejected by Harrogate Borough Council over a year ago.

The new application that has been lodged doesn’t alter anything at all from the original. The design remains exactly the same but the applicants’ experts go to very great lengths to try to overturn HBC’s reasons for the previous rejection.
Ferrensby Parish Meeting intends to object again to this application. As time is short for our responses, they are needed before 4th July, we ask that you help by objecting again as soon as possible.. Either send a letter to the planning department, email planningconsultation@harrogate.gov.uk or via the HBC planning site.
Thanking you for your support in hopefully objecting to these plans.
regards Kathy Parish Clerk”

Harrogate District Climate Change Coalition is looking for local organisations and businesses to exhibit or speak at the first climate action festival in October.

The event is a great opportunity to share best practice, display your achievements in the green economy or showcase changes you are making to limit climate change.

Visit the Harrogate District Climate Change Coalition website to find out more.

The coalition are also looking for young people to take part in their competition around being climate friendly. You can enter a poster, poem, podcast or video and entries must be submitted by 20 September. Visit the coalition website to find out more.