Archive for November, 2009
Skateparks
This weekend Phil Willis MP and I went down to Bradford to meet with the Council’s Parks Manager, Ian Day, and visit two of their skate parks.
Both the skateparks were designed by local skaters working with a specialist company and look very different.
The first, in Bingley, is in Myrtle Park, in the centre of the town. It is on a flat part of the park, next to a children’s play area and covers a space a bit bigger than a tennis court. I was surprised that most of the surfaces are very angular and designed for grinding rather than the half pipes I had expected.
The park has been in place now for some time and has proved to be extremely popular although early morning on a wet Saturday at the end of November was of course quiet.
Bingley
The second park we visited was in Keighley and is Bradford’s most recent skate park. Again designed by local skaters, it looks very different from the Myrtle Park one.
It is at the end of a school field, on quite steeply sloping ground and is predominently comprised of slopes and curves.
Keighley
The park is quite close to some housing and although the residents were anxious about disturbance from the park, there have been few complaints and some have commented that they enjoy the entertainment from the skill of the skaters.
There are more pictures of the skate parks on the Skate Park for Harrogate Facebook Group page.
Ian told us how popular the parks are. Wouldn’t it be great to have something like this in Harrogate?
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Friends of the Valley Gardens
Yesterday evening saw the second meeting of the Friends of the Valley Gardens – a group being set up by the Council to support and promote this wonderful park in Harrogate.
The Valley Gardens won an RHS award this year and was described in the citation as “a park for all people” so a formal group of local supporters is an excellent development and I very much hope that it will attract a truly representative selection of the many people who enjoy the Valley Gardens.
The Council’s Head of Parks, Pat Kilburn, tabled a draft constitution and those present at the meeting discussed the election of a Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. As most people there knew few others, it was agreed to bring nominations to the next meeting – Thursday 21 January 2010. It was felt inappropriate for officers or members of the Council to take these positions but local person interested can put themselves forward by contacting Kate Dawson, the Parks Development Officer at the Council. She is also the person to contact if you are interested in joining the group.
Kate’s contact details are: kate.dawson@harrogate.gov.uk, telephone 01423 841097
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Time for a skate park
Years have now passed since young people in Harrogate were promised a skate park. People who were at school when the promise was made have now not just gone to university but have completed their studies.
We have had investigations and consultations and discussions. Temporary skate parks in the Valley Gardens during the summer have been well used and have given pleasure to skaters, bikers and spectators. The argument that the Valley Gardens was not the right location has surely been shown to be ill founded.
Hundreds of young people have joined our Facebook campaign. They wonder why the Council does not support their sport.
The time has surely come to provide a park in Harrogate.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )HIPS assessors misled
I’ve been contacted recently by a number of local people who are qualified as Domestic Energy Assessors – having trained to carry out the assessments required by Home Information Packs, introduced by the government in 2007.
They are feeling very sore at the way they have been treated, and with good reason. They embarked on the training – which cost about £9000 – with an expectation that each assessment would produce a fee of around £80. In practice the fee has turned out to be closer to £25.
Home Condition reports were to be included as a compulsory part of the packs, but have remained optional – another reason that assessors have not been able to earn the amount that they anticipated.
Far more assessors have been trained than was originally envisaged and that, combined with the downturn in the property market, has meant that there is not enough work.
As a result they simply cannot earn a living nor can many of them repay the costs of their training.
And to add insult to injury – if the Conservatives are elected to government they have pledged to abolish HIPs. This would leave the thousands of assessors without any work at all.
HIPs are in essence a good idea – it makes sense to have a single pack of information about a property available to potential purchasers rather than carrying out multiple assessments. And energy assessments are a particularly good idea. But the way the government introduced the scheme has been a complete shambles – an object lesson in how to mess up a good thing.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Harrogate secondary school admissions latest
A report to the NYCC Executive on 10 November will recommend a change to the admissions arrangements for the three Harrogate Secondary Schools.
The recommendation rejects the option of dividing the area into three catchments, each for a single school, which has the merit of being the simplest and clearest system. Instead the Director is suggesting that there should be two zones – probably corresponding to the current town and rural zones and that there should be a percentage quota within each zone.
However, Miss Welbourn has concluded that to split the intake of Harrogate Grammar School in the same proportion as that of the intake overall (which varies between 85:15 and 88:12) would be unfair to rural families. She states “In effect the impact of a strict pro-rata allocation would be to swing the pendulum too far in favour of the town area”.
The report does not really spell out why this is the case except to note that 85:15 would produce a significant reduction in the number of places available for rural children at Harrogate Grammar School. It would “significantly affect the extent to which the authority would be able to meet this group of parents’ preferences”.
Instead of a pro-rata split therefore she recommends a weighted one of 79:21. It is not clear why 79:21 is the chosen split although there seems to be some attempt to justify it on the grounds of the percentage of first preferences that have been accommodated in the past. There is a very obvious flaw in this reasoning – parents in large areas of Harrogate simply do not include Harrogate Grammar School in their preferences because they know they have no chance of being offered a place under current arrangements.
I have read the report only once but it seems to me that a weighted percentage is a not a robust approach. My expectation is that it will be challenged. Time will tell.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )
Claire Kelley's Diary 