Author: Rebecca Crabtree

The six district and borough councils of Craven, Richmondshire, Ryedale, Scarborough, Selby and ourselves have now submitted an outline proposal for local government reorganisation to government.

The proposal is for an East and West model of two unitary councils of a similar population and economic size. This would see Craven, Hambleton, Harrogate and Richmondshire join together to form a unitary council in the west, and Ryedale, Scarborough Selby and York join together to form a unitary council in the east.

The East and West unitaries will provide the strongest approach to unlocking devolution – potentially worth billions to the region in investment – while also being the optimum size for effective strategic and local service delivery to citizens and communities. The model also offers the opportunity to improve services and efficiencies in York.

A summary of the East and West model can be viewed online.

Age UK hold an online group called Knit and Natter on Zoom every Tuesday 2.00pm-3.00pm. This is an opportunity to socialise and meet new people online. The topics of conversation vary so you don’t need to be an expert in knitting to take part. Come along for a chat! For more information contact Thea Fulton (Health & Wellbeing Coordinator) at thea.fulton@ageuknyd.org.uk

Age UK exercise for the over 50s videos and information

Yorkshire Yoga have developed a new set of online courses which shall be running through this current lockdown period. There is a range of classes including Gentle Years Yoga, Beginners Mindfulness and Children’s Yoga.

View the classes here > Yorkshire Yoga free online classes

Details of local delivery services change on a weekly basis but there are links below to updated lists for November for a range of services provided both by local charities and businesses:

Harrogate and villages  (compiled by colleagues in the HELP and Supporting Older People teams)
Ripon and villages  (compiled by Ripon Community House)

North Yorkshire Buy Local also enables local businesses and tradespeople to share what they offer customers who need their services during Covid-19. 

Further support and signposting can be provided by the 6 Community Support Organisations covering each area of our Harrogate district.

North Yorkshire County Council has produced a public summary of their proposal for local government reorganisation in North Yorkshire and York. You can download the document, ‘A unitary council for North Yorkshire: The case for change’ on the Community First Yorkshire website
 
The Leaders of the North Yorkshire district and borough councils, including Harrogate Borough Council, have published two documents in support of an East/West model of local government reorganisation.

A summary of the East/West model that highlights the key aspects of the model

A detailed independent research study by KPMG, which analysed different models of local government reform, and provided information in support of an East/West model of local government for North Yorkshire and York.

There have been a number of reports of people parking too close to junctions and therefore restricting visibility for other road users, and causing obstruction to buses and other large vehicles. Please can you consider this when parking on the road.

6 community support organisations  (CSOs) are the point of contact for those who are alone and isolated by the pandemic and who have no other local support available. They provide: shopping for food and essential items, collecting prescriptions, a friendly listening ear, information & signposting to online activities or someone who can help, if they can’t. 

People who have additional needs can contact the County Council’s customer service centre on 01609 780780 (every day between 8am and 5:30pm). There is also information about the help and support available on the NYCC website

Food support services meet local needs and are listed in the HADCA Where To Turn Directory – chooose ‘Food Parcels and Meals’ as the search theme and add ‘coronavirus’ as keyword for current providers. 

Vision Support Harrogate District has been helping visually impaired members with understanding the TV Licensing changes and the practicalities of responding to the licensing letters. If anyone in the district is living with sight loss and finding this difficult (or seeking any other support/advice), the Vision Support team are here to help.

The Vision Support telephone befriending and support services are also available for anyone with sight loss who would like someone to talk or who needs a little extra support.
Call 01423 565915 or email enquiries@vshd.org.uk

Please read the TV Licensing handy guide which warns people what to look out for covering emails, letters, phone calls, text messages, home visits and how to report a scam.

Through all the ups and downs of the last few months it has been lovely to see people out and about enjoying our wonderful location or simply watching the world go quietly by whilst sitting on one of our benches. Through the next week or so, subject to weather, all the benches in our villages will be given a refurbishment so please bare with us in the meantime as we are sure once complete they will look splendid again.