Hello from Harrogate Borough Council

There's a bank holiday next Monday (2 May), hurrah!

This means all garden waste, recycling and refuse collections next week will be a day later than usual. Therefore;

• Monday 2 May will be Tuesday 3 May
• Tuesday 3 May will be Wednesday 4 May
• Wednesday 4 May will be Thursday 5 May
• Thursday 5 May will be Friday 6 May
• Friday 6 May will be Saturday 7 May

Normal collections will resume on Monday 9 May.

If you're unsure you can check your collection day on the In My Area section of our website.

In June, there are two bank holidays (2 and 3 June) to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen's Platinum Jubilee. However, there will be no changes to waste and recycling collections on these dates.

It's also not too late to subscribe to our garden waste collection service even though the season is underway. It provides a simple, cost-effective, way to dispose of your garden waste without having to take it to a household waste recycling centre.

Next week (5 May), residents will be able to vote for their local councillor who will form part of 89 new divisions, represented by 90 councillors across the county.

The councillors elected will serve the final year of the county council and the first four years of the new single council.

They will shape what public services will look like ahead of the new North Yorkshire Council.

District and borough councils will remain until 1 April, 2023 and the councillors serving those them will continue in their roles until that date.

Depending on where you live, you may also have the opportunity to vote for a local town or parish councillor.

Polling stations will be open from 7am until 10pm and your poll card will tell you where yours is. You can also check using In My Area on our website.

Thousands of trees have started to be planted in Bilton Fields in Harrogate and Conyngham Hall grounds in Knaresborough as part of the White Rose Forest partnership.

The White Rose Forest is the community forest for North and West Yorkshire that works in partnership with local authorities, landowners, businesses and communities to plant more trees across the region and improve our natural environment.

From fighting climate change and cleaning the air we breathe to providing shade on a hot sunny day, we need trees.

Trees and woodland are vital for our environment, biodiversity, economy and the health and wellbeing of our communities. They store carbon, give us oxygen, create fantastic habitat for nature and provide migration corridors to help wildlife adapt to a changing climate.

Once complete, the trees will transform the area and help address the climate situation and deliver carbon reduction initiatives throughout the Harrogate district.

Land owners – large and small – are also encouraged to plant their own forests to further support the project. The White Rose Forest can help with design, engagement with stakeholders, funding, delivery and ongoing maintenance.

Further information, including guidance for land owners, is available on the White Rose Forest website.

Do you play, volunteer or watch a local sports team? If so, do they need new equipment?

By becoming a beneficiary of THE LOCAL LOTTO, your local team could receive a monthly income to help cover the costs.

THE LOCAL LOTTO is a fundraising opportunity for local voluntary and community groups across the Harrogate district which also enables players to support the good causes they care about most.

For every £1 ticket bought to support your local team 50p will be retained by the club. A further 10p in every pound will go into THE LOCAL FUND which allows a further funding opportunity to our local groups.

There are no set up costs or admin fees for good causes. Just fill in a simple online form and once approved you will receive free marketing materials and your own lottery page to send to your supporters so they can buy tickets.

In return, they could win prizes of £25,000, £2,000, £250, £25 or three free tickets each week. 

To be eligible, you must be a Harrogate district based group or organisation, have a constitution or terms of reference and have a registered bank account.

Visit THE LOCAL LOTTO website to find out more and sign-up.

It might only be April – and we're probably not meant to mention Christmas until much, much later in the year – but Destination Harrogate is already busy planning another exciting festive offering.

A Christmas market is set to return from Friday 2 December until Sunday 11 December and will offer Christmas shoppers a selection of locally produced food and crafts while soaking up the festive ambience.

Traditional fairground attractions will also be on offer, and the Candy Cane Express is set to depart from Harrogate once again. Enabling visitors to see the festive lights, hop on and off for Christmas shopping and enjoy the town in all its seasonal splendour.

And if that wasn't enough, Little Bird Made, a well-established curator of artisan markets across North Yorkshire, will return to Valley Garden. The market will have around 60 local traders and producers selling a variety of festive arts and crafts, clothing, homeware, jewellery, as well as locally produced food and drink.

Further news will be announced later in the year.

Our horticulturists at our nursery have been hard to grow another fantastic array of summer plants.

They now have a large selection of plants, perennials and shrubs available to buy from our horticultural nursery.

Choose from a stunning selection including gerberas, fuchsias, petunias and foxgloves, as well as heather, lavender and rosemary. Geraniums and begonias will also be ready in the coming days.

Pop down and take a look around our nursery shop, nestled near the Pinewoods off Harlow Moor Road on Nursery Lane (HG2 0FH).

It's open Monday to Friday between 9.30am and 3:30pm.

For more information visit the nursery website page.

We're excited to welcome back Chapterhouse Theatre Company to perform three open air theatre performances in our parks this summer.

Join us on Cinderella's journey of a lifetime in an enchanted kingdom to a magical ball where nearly anything is possible, especially if it is before midnight.

The performance takes place on Sunday 17 July in Valley Gardens, Harrogate and tickets can be purchased online.

Dressed in beautiful Elizabethan costume and performed by a fine troupe of Shakespearean players, join us for this best loved story of star crossed lovers and feuding families.

Tickets for Romeo and Juliet at Knaresborough Castle on Saturday 6 August are available now.

Step back in time for a splendid evening meeting Elizabeth Bennett and her sisters. While their interfering mother engineers various courtships, Elizabeth and Jane pursue their own quest for true love.

Tickets for Pride and Prejudice at Ripon Spa Gardens on Sunday 20 August are also available now.

A pilot scheme to help the environment and make the most efficient use of council time is under way with the introduction of smart bins around the Valley Gardens area of Harrogate.

More than 80 bins have been fitted with a sensor that measures how full the bin is, as well as its temperature and whether it has become damaged.

Readings are automatically sent back to a central point several times throughout the day.

By using the data, we can focus on those bins that need to be emptied more often. As a result, we'd expect to see a reduction in travel, meaning a saving on fuel costs and a reduction in carbon emissions.

The project, which is a collaboration between ourselves and North Yorkshire County Council, is part of a wider smart places project and has been funded by the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership through the government's Getting Building Fund.

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, flexi-time and a range of other benefits.

We're always looking for new people to join the team. We currently have the following vacancies:

• Housing officer
• Environmental health officer
• Gardener
• Arborist
• Therapist

Visit our jobs page to find out more about working for us and all the latest opportunities.