This is the latest edition of Residents' News

If you run a small business in the Harrogate district you might be eligible for additional financial support to help you recover from the economic shock of the coronavirus.

Two new grants are available from the York and North Yorkshire Growth Hub and the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership.

One is aimed at hospitality and tourism firms and the other is for small and medium enterprises.

As well as a grant, businesses will be offered specialist advice to overcome the effects of the pandemic and help to make the best of future opportunities.

Applications for both schemes will not open until next month but you can pre-register for the tourism scheme and the small and medium enterprise scheme now.

If you’ve been out and about since lockdown restrictions were eased, you may have noticed that hospitality businesses are required to keep a record of their customers.

That means it’s quite possible you’ll be contacted by the NHS test and trace service if it turns out you have been in close contact with someone showing symptoms of Covid-19.

If you – or someone else in your household – gets the call, you (or they) will need to immediately isolate at home to minimise the risk of spreading the virus further.

There’s more information about the process and what you need to do on the North Yorkshire County Council website.

We are working with our colleagues at North Yorkshire County Council to minimise the risk of any local coronavirus spikes in our district.

The public health team at the county council has issued specific guidance to premises where people are most likely to come into close contact such as pubs and restaurants.

Information for other hospitality businesses and workplaces is also available, including how to report potential outbreaks.

We’re delighted to let you know that Turkish Baths Harrogate is open once more but for treatments only.

We’ve been working hard to get everything ready to welcome you back. 

You’ll notice a few changes in terms of social distancing measures and a one-way system which we’ve introduced to make your visit as safe as possible.

After months in lockdown we’re sure you deserve a pampering, so book your treatment now via the website or by calling our reservations team on 01423 556746.

At the moment, it is not possible to open the Turkish Baths.

We’re accepting new memberships to our three Brimhams gyms once again.

Give our team a call at your nearest Brimhams centre (Harrogate: 01423 556767, Ripon: 01765 601353 or Nidderdale: 01423 711442) and we’ll sort your membership in a flash.

It will give you the greatest access to our fitness facilities at the best prices. We don't have long-term contracts or charge a joining fee.

The benefits include access to our free Brimhams active mobile app which records your workouts, tracks your results and helps you review your progress.

We consult on a range of issues every year allowing you to have input into decision making or the formation of new policy. 

There are two things to draw your attention to this month:

We need your feedback on our plans to spend £26.5 million on our sport and leisure service, and what you’d like to see at the new Ripon swimming pool and refurbished leisure centre when it opens next year.

And, your views are welcome on North Yorkshire County Council plans to create a new cycle route along Otley Road in Harrogate which will affect the Stray.

You’ll find links to all the consultations on our Have Your Say page on our website.

Our friends at North Yorkshire Police have issued an alert about scammers who appear to be targeting homes in our county.

Someone – who claims to be a detective constable ‘Mason Greenwood’ – calls to say a relative is in custody or claims to be working on a fraud investigation.

The fake police officer says the person’s money is at risk and asks them to transfer money from their bank account for ‘safe keeping’.

Sadly, the scammer has already managed to steal what are described as “thousands of pounds”.

To be clear, 'DC Mason' is fake, a criminal and scammer.

No police officer will ever call you to ask you to transfer money out of your account.

The best thing to do is to hang-up if you receive any suspicious calls.

The nasty orange netting on West Park Stray is no more!

It was taken down earlier this month marking the moment we were able to open West Park Stray for everyone to use once again.

We are delighted the work to restore the grass from the damage caused in 2019 is now finished.

Our specialist contractor will continue to monitor and maintain the grass in the coming months.

We reject any suggestion from campaigners that West Park Stray is dangerous because of stones.

Stones have long been present.  We have removed several tonnes of them during the restoration work and will continue to remove others that appear on the surface.

We’re grateful for your patience and understanding while we brought West Park Stray back to its former glory and thank you for the positive comments you’ve sent since it reopened.

We’ve welcomed back members of Harrogate District Swimming Club to the Hydro and training is underway again for the first time since lockdown.

Our leisure staff, who support the club’s activities, have been redeployed to other frontline services and weren’t immediately available when the ban on pools opening was lifted.

We’re grateful to the club’s patience and understanding about the need for us to prioritise our services for the people who need them the most during the last five months.

We think Harrogate Borough Council is a fantastic place to work, but then we’re slightly biased!

As well as amazing colleagues, we offer competitive salaries and a range of other benefits

Right now, we’re recruiting:

• A motor transport fitter
• Strategic projects surveyor
• A civil enforcement officer (to work on our parking contract in the Craven district)
• A homeless prevention officer

Please visit our jobs page for all our latest opportunities.

We look forward to receiving your application.