This is the latest update from Harrogate Borough Council

In last month’s Residents’ News, we told you about the help on offer if you are on a low income and have to self-isolate because of the coronavirus.

A payment of £500 could be on offer if you meet the eligibility criteria.

The scheme is up and running now through to the 31 January 2021.  We’ve added information about the scheme, and an online application, on our website.

A housing developer has had the majority of a legal challenge to the local plan thrown out by a court.

Flaxby Park Limited asked for a judicial review into our decision to include a proposal for a new settlement in the broad Green Hammerton and Cattal area of the district.

The judge dismissed outright two of the three legal points being challenged saying “they were on weak grounds”.

The court ruled there were no flaws in the development of the local plan, that the process was fair and equal, and that sufficient evidence had been put forward in relation to the new settlement.

The judge decided the local plan did not need to be quashed in part, or full, saying that would be “wholly unjustifiable”.

However, the court did uphold part of the third legal point challenged by Flaxby Park Limited with the judge ruling there had been a minor procedural issue.

This is because specific attention was not drawn to an updated sustainability appraisal when adoption of the local plan was discussed by councillors, even though the document was in the public domain at the time.

To address this point, a report will be brought to full council as soon as possible.

In his ruling, Mr Justice Holgate said: “although Flaxby Park Limited has been successful, in-part” to one element of its legal challenge, it had mounted a “time-consuming and costly attack on the local plan process” and had “failed in achieving what was plainly the main object or thrust of the challenge.”

The project to provide a new civic centre in Harrogate was under budget by £2.5 million.

A report being presented to a meeting of our cabinet next week sets out the final assessed costs of the project to consolidate office accommodation from five buildings to just one.

It shows the overall cost of constructing the civic centre to be £11.5 million.  An additional budgeted £1.6 million was spent on associated costs.

This includes professional design expertise and fitting-out the building with high-quality IT, video conferencing, break out rooms and furniture.

That means the overall cost of project was £13.1 million, slightly less than the original 2015 budget of £13.15 million.

However, the sale of three of our buildings resulted in an income which exceeded our expectations.

Crescent Gardens achieved a sale price of £4 million, Victoria Park House went for £1 million and Scottsdale House was bought for £1.9 million.

When the proceeds of those sales are taken into account, the net cost of the project is reduced to just £6.25 million – a massive £2.47 million less than we thought it would.

That is excellent news for council tax payers across the Harrogate district.

In addition to this £2.47m, operating a modern building has enabled us to make further annual operational savings of almost £1 million compared the previous five.

It has taken longer than hoped to reach the final assessed account position because of the financial collapse earlier this year of the company which built civic centre.

HFC’s parent Harry Fairclough Limited went into compulsory administration in July.

At the time we were still working with HFC to resolve a number of defects with the building which the firm was contractually obliged to fix.

As there is no realistic chance of those defects being corrected by HFC we are asking councillors to give us permission to appoint a contractor to do the work.

This will be paid for using money we retained as part of the overall project costs.

Cabinet meets to consider the civic centre office accommodation report at 5.30pm next Wednesday (2 December).  You can watch the meeting live on our YouTube channel.

You may have seen on a local media website that a Somerset company has been chosen to help us develop two £multi-million leisure projects in Harrogate and Knaresborough.

This is a misleading article that doesn’t paint the full picture.

Alliance Leisure Services, which has vast experiencing of transforming leisure facilities across the country, has been appointed through something called the UK Leisure Framework.

This framework, created by Denbighshire Council, has already been through an extensive tender process in accordance with EU procurement regulations.

Alliance Leisure is providing overall specialist project management and business planning for the two projects to ensure we achieve best value.

It is not the main construction contractor.

The vast majority of the money that will be invested as these two projects progress will be with companies within the region through the construction supply chain.

What the article failed to focus on is the significant investment we are making in both Harrogate and Knaresborough.

It will provide modern leisure facilities that are efficient and fit for the future, that appeal to a wider range of people and are something we can all be proud of.

Earlier this year, we told you about government plans to scrap the nine councils covering the city of York and North Yorkshire.

Instead, it wants them replaced with two unitary authorities to run all local services which previously had been the responsibility of separate organisations.

The political leaders of the seven district and borough councils came together earlier this year to consider potential ideas and commissioned a team of independent experts to assess the options.

The result of that work is a proposal to create two unitary councils split east and west across the county.

That would see our district becoming part of a patch to include the Craven, Richmondshire and Hambleton districts.

The county council has proposed the creation of single mega-council covering the whole of North Yorkshire while leaving the city of York as it is now: a tiny unitary council on its own.

The leaders of the seven district and borough councils oppose this idea which could see decisions about Knaresborough, Pateley Bridge and Masham being made in Northallerton.

Earlier this month, at a meeting of our full council, there was vote in favour of submitting the ‘east/west model’ to government for consideration.

You can read more about the east/west proposal – and tell us if you support it – on the dedicated Get Change Right website.

In an earlier edition of Residents’ News, we told you about delays to the time it was taking us to process land searches.

These searches have to be carried out by the buyer when they purchase a house or business premises.  The process is usually managed by a solicitor.

After the first lockdown finished, there was a massive surge in requests.  Fuelled by temporary changes to stamp duty we’ve been receiving more than double the usual number of requests.

The latest lockdown period hasn’t helped because personal search agents have not been able to visit civic centre to review the files themselves.

While six to seven weeks remains the average turn-around on our part, we wanted to assure you that we are doing what we can to work through the backlog.

We’re training new members of staff to work in the team (we currently have eight people dealing requests) and we have introduced process improvements, system upgrades and external support.

From next week, when this current lockdown ends, we’ll be extending the hours that personal search agents can come in to civic centre to check the files.

We hope with all these additional resources we will soon be able to reduce the current processing time.

We know that buying a house is one of the most stressful things you can do and delays in receiving land search requests back does not help.

We thank you for your patience.

If you are thinking of buying a house, please instruct your solicitor to submit a land search request as early as possible in the housing buying process.

A variety of poinsettias are now on sale at our nursery shop including red, pink, white, ice punch and Picasso, all priced at £6 each.

There’s also cyclamen in a range of colours, a variety of other house plants, Christmas wreaths and gardening accessories including pots, containers and compost.

Our shop is open every day from 9.30am until 3.30pm until 24 December.  Please note, we can only accept card payments.

You can find the nursery on Nursery Lane East, off Harlow Moor Road in Harrogate. Use the postcode HG2 0FH in your sat nav.

If you would prefer, you can pre-order your plants using our click and collect service.

Once you’ve placed your order one of our team will be in touch to confirm collection details.

Look out for Stockeld Park on site from tomorrow (27 November) selling their Christmas Trees until 23 December.

And, there’s still time to tell us your views and suggestions for the nursery to help inform our future plans.  Please complete the survey on our Have Your Say page.

With only four weeks to go until Christmas, the Turkish Baths have some fabulous gifts available to buy on their online shop.

There, you can purchase luxury products including scented candles, beauty items, Turkish Baths branded goodies and loads more. 

For the people in your life who have everything, why not treat them to a Turkish Baths gift card?

Keep an eye on the Turkish Baths website, Facebook page and Instagram page for gift ideas and special offers.

The winter months can be difficult for all of us, especially the elderly, vulnerable and disabled people living independently in their homes.

The Harrogate Lifeline service is available all year round and can be particularly supportive to those who struggle being indoors during the darker nights and colder weather.

With the support of a plugin lifeline unit, personal alarm and regular wellbeing checks, Harrogate Lifeline gives you peace of mind at wintertime.

Contact us for a free no obligation home demonstration.  Call 01423 500600 and ask for extension 56811 or email lifeline@harrogate.gov.uk.

We have extended a consultation to seek your views on a proposed new settlement development plan document (DPD) until 22 January.

It’s because we’ve discovered hundreds of leaflets publicising the consultation were not delivered by the company we hired to do the work.

It has apologised and is investigating what went wrong.

This new settlement, of approximately 3,000 dwellings, will provide much needed quality homes as well as facilities and services such as green space, employment and public transport.

As part of this, the development plan document will help shape the design and delivery of the new settlement.

That’s why we are asking whether you agree with this vision for the new settlement as well as what specific requirements will deliver these much-needed new homes.

You can find out more about the proposed new settlement and complete the consultation on our website.

Banking changes in Knaresborough

It’s anticipated that Knaresborough will lose its final bank branch soon.  We’re working with community and business leaders in the town to try and find a solution.  We’d like to properly understand the banking needs of local residents, so we’ve set up a short survey.  Please spare us a few minutes to contribute to this important piece of work.  You can add your comments from tomorrow (Friday 27 November) until 7 January.

Proposed changes to enforcement policy

We have powers to take action against dodgy landlords in the district when housing conditions need to be improved, poor practice needs to be challenged or where vulnerable tenants need our support.  Usually, enforcement action isn’t our first choice, but the government has changed this approach under the Housing Act of 2004 where a move to enforcement happens sooner.  Our private sector housing team is updating our enforcement policy and is consulting on the changes.  We’d really like you to let us know your views.  The consultation closes on 7 December.

We publish all our consultations on the Have Your Say page on our website.

It’s National Giving Day on the 1 December when all of us can do our bit to support the good causes that mean so much to us.

THE LOCAL LOTTO and THE LOCAL FUND are two great ways in which you can show your support for good causes across our district.

We currently have 102 local organisations signed up and selling tickets.

When you play the LOCAL LOTTO those charities benefit from your generosity and you have the chance of winning prizes of £25,000, £2,000, £250, £25 or three free tickets.

60p from every £1 ticket sold goes back into the community to the local good cause of your choice.  Please note, you need to be aged 16 or over to play.

Adam* has a history of street homelessness and rough sleeping in Harrogate.

He is a kind and approachable person, who has ongoing issues with addiction and mental health which are how he became homeless.

As a result of being mugged last year he has no ID or driving licence.

Organising both would give Adam a renewed purpose and lease of life.  It would enable him to look for work which would support him with for a bond on his own suitable property. 

Harrogate Street Aid has awarded a grant of £350 for Adam to take a refresher forklift truck course and get a replacement driving licence.  He will also use the grant to purchase a book holder so he can read without pain caused by arthritis.

Adam is being supported by North Yorkshire Horizons and we are grateful for its help.  

You can support the work of Harrogate Street Aid by making a donation.

*Adam is a fictional name.