Coronavirus Support
Burglary Alert
Please be aware that there has been a spate of professional style burglaries in neighbouring villages in recent days. The police are reiterating the need for security measures – lights, alarms, etc – to be used and neighbourhood vigilance.
Should you be aware that your neighbours are absent, please keep this in mind.
Further information on reporting a suspected burglary is available here .
Abacus, Jubilee Court, Copgrove
Over recent years Abacus has developed the small industrial site previously known as Jubilee Mills by adding a number of substantial buildings. Many of you will have, whilst taking advantage of our wonderful open countryside, spotted the latest building works.
Part of the latest additions have not yet been given planning permission and in fact to date Abacus have not chosen to seek such permission.
The reason for this note is twofold; firstly to highlight the fact that a planning application will ultimately need to be made and secondly to try and elicit your opinions in regard to this latest expansion.
Harrogate Borough Council (HBC) aim to support businesses which offer employment opportunities for local people and as a Parish Council we agree that this is important in order to sustain this area. Abacus state they are such a business, even though they currently have a relatively small workforce.
When a residential housing development is proposed HBC, as the local planning authority, require various reports including an assessment of what impact the proposal would have on traffic and the environment. Due to this further development not being for residential housing, such details are seen by HBC as less important.
The current Covid-19 restrictions make it impossible for the Parish Council to call a public meeting in order to hear your views, so we are limited to trying to collate them by other means. Please can you tell us what your opinions are on the following:
1. Do you fully support the latest attempt to expand or not?
2. Do you think that the whisper of a possibility of extra jobs being available within our Parish outweighs any other issues?
3. Do you think that the expansion will lead to a further increase in large lorries and vans driving through the village and if so do you see this as an issue?
4. Do you think the additional buildings on the horizon are out of keeping with the surrounding countryside?
You can contact us using any of the methods detailed on our Contact page here. Contact details of individual Councillors are also available here.
We look forward to receiving your comments.
New Tree Planting and Fence
A huge thank you to those who literally got their hands dirty and helped plant the saplings the Parish Council received from the Woodland Trust. We now have a replacement hedge along a large section of the Jubilee Recreation Field roadside boundary. It mainly comprises of hawthorn and blackthorn with some hazel and rowan too. (Hopefully the birds will love it).
Due to the removal of the old hedge we needed to erect a fence to keep the area safely enclosed from the road, it is not the prettiest of fences but will soon be hidden by the hedge.
There are now some silver birch by the edge of the Pinfold; they are in the area previously used by a resident to dispose of their garden waste. Please be aware that leaving rubbish of any sort in such an area is fly-tipping and against the law. Should anyone be seen fly-tipping the Parish Council will report them.
In addition to the hedge we have also planted a small copse of goat willow, a patch of dog wood and filled in along the other boundaries of the playing area with silver birch, downie birch and rowan. Following along the line of the hedge in the football area (if anyone knows where one of our football nets has gone please can you get in touch) we now have 5 cherry trees, these will eventually, they are tiny, replicate the beauty of the cherries outside the church, village hall and school.
All we can do now is keep our fingers crossed that all the saplings grow!
Local Government Reform Update
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 North Yorkshire & Darlington Online Groups
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
Yorkshire Yoga free online classes
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
Food and essential items
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.
Local Government Reorganisation
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.
Street Parking
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.
