Budget Free Text Responses - Harrogate...negative way to make Harrogate look better for no real gain. Nothing really. You do all of these things with your own agenda and do your best

Q8. With the list of services in mind please could you tell us what you think Harrogate Borough Council

does well?

Parks and Open Spaces (85 comments)

Looking after parks and public places. Open spaces and parks Parks and open spaces

Parks and open spaces kept nice.

gardens Parks parks and open spaces Parks and open spaces look good

Flowers and landscaping Parks Parks and open spaces Parks and open spaces.

Harrogate is a beautifully presented town, it's open spaces and public areas are kept to a high standard and this draws in revenue from tourists

Open spaces i.e. stray, pinewoods, valley gardens & to some extent the town centre, are all well cared for & a credit to the town. Parks and open spaces Parks and open spaces.

Harrogate is fairly clean and tidy with nice areas to be outside.

Keeping the local environment clean & well kept to make the area enjoyable for residents & tourists

Parks and open spaces are important to the image of the town and first impressions of visitors and are looked after well.

The collection of black bin waste. Parks well maintained.

Harrogate looks beautiful, the parks and gardens are well looked after. Parks

Recreational areas and park land maintenance.

The parks and open spaces are well kept and well used.

Housing and homelessness, the Stray and the Valley Gardens, Parks and gardens Recycling and parks

General waste collection & Park maintenance

Parks Parks and gardens Parks department excellent job Open spaces, waste

Parks and open spaces Parks and gardens - but could use volunteers to help cut costs.

Waste collections - despite some recent hitches with revised

Our lovely area seems to be kept safe and well maintained

Budget – Free Text Responses

collection days. Maintenance of parks & gardens.

Parks and open spaces parks and gardens maintenance

The Valley Gardens is a fantastic place to visit, always well presented

Parks & Open Spaces Waste Collection Housing & Homelessness

Parks and open spaces

Parks and gardens- roundabouts always look lovely! Proud to welcome visitors.

waste collection and re-cycling, parks and open spaces

The council top is well managed, the parks and stray are looking ok but did used to be better.

Green spaces Leisure Centres Street Cleaning Customer Services Bin collection

Parks and open areas are great. Focus on tourism and our venues are fantastic and needs to be to keep people and the money they spend coming.

Waste Collection, and Parks and Gardens.

Several things we have plenty of good parks and open spaces, the leisure/sport facilities are good and Harrogate feels a safe place to live.

I think the council does a good job in maintain Harrogate as a key destination town to visit with the beautiful parks and well cleaned streets.

The parks and floral displays are great and necessary for tourism and shoppers to Visit the town. The Spa is excellent as is the Royal Hall. The library service is also excellent.

The importance of Harrogate's Parks and Open Spaces differentiates it from other small towns - having the nursery providing our parks and spaces is an exceptional experience all involved should be very proud of

Keeping the town clean and maintaining flowerbeds is superb. Waste collection has been impeccable for me. Good customer service. Regular emails are excellent eg change of bin collection days.

It keeps things in house, and is brilliant for parks and museums.

Parks and open spaces, tourism and museums.

Open spaces are looked after well. Tourism seems to be well in the area

Parks and open spaces, leisure and tourism

Parks and gardens Street cleaning with the hand pushed carts

parks, street cleaning, refuse & recycling

Keeping the town and parks well maintained and tidy. Providing sport and leisure facilities.

Tourism and parks and open spaces

Parks and open spaces, street cleaning,

Maintenance of the stray and floral displays. Provision for tackling homelessness.

General upkeep of the town center, usually tidy compared to other towns, the flowers are always nice.

The parks and gardens are beautifully kept and run. The sports and leisure facilities are well maintained and well run. And I feel very safe living in Harrogate

Parks, tourism, waste and recycling.

Street cleaning, parks and leisure

Upkeep of parks and open spaces Tourism & Parks

Parks , sports facilities, transport,

The public spaces in Harrogate and Ripon always do the towns proud.

Looks after open spaces and parks. Provides good bus service.


Roundabouts are usually well tended, as well as hanging baskets and flower beds in parks and gardens.

considering the money you have to deal with these issues I think you do the best you can. Parks and leisure areas are kept well.

Re cycling and refuse collection is a great service. We have lovely parks and gardens and our town is free from rubbish.

Waste and recycling and parks and open spaces

The Parks are good and streets are kept clean.

Harrogate looks good most of the time and enjoys a good reputation attracting major events and many tourists. There is a waste recycling scheme. There are plenty of attractions that are well looked after such as parks/gardens, museum/gallery, swimming pool. There is a much improved bus station and possibly a bit better bus service hopefully switching to electric.

Parks and Open Spaces, Cycling, Recycling, Community Safety

The waste collection service tends to work well and the manual street cleaning

Community protection and parks

Keeping the Stray and most gardens looking clean and tidy, with the obvious exception of the waste not being collected recently.

the gardens are nice. buses are good.

Parks and open spaces Harrogate Convention Centre

Not a lot to be frank. Pretty parks. Dirty residential streets.

Waste and Recycling (42 Comments)

I know a lot of people complain about waste and recycling collection but I have had no problems with my collections! The tips are well run.

Happy with the recycling services and the two Harrogate tips.

missed and 'Customer Services' staff were forced to give us 'Fake News' ..... repeatedly!

waste service - household waste and recycling

Collecting recycling

Open spaces, waste

Waste and recycling

waste/recycling

For my area refuse collections


Waste and recycling

Looks after the visual appeal of Harrogate, helping to maintain its reputation. Also good at recycling.

General waste collection & Park maintenance

reasonably good at waste and recycling

Waste and recycling collections

Recycling

Keeping the town clean and maintaining flowerbeds is superb. Waste collection has been impeccable for me. Good customer

Waste & Recycling collections are generally pretty reliable. However we did suffer a 'Glitch' in August at HG4 4PW - Recycling

Waste and recycling services are very good

service. Regular emails are excellent eg change of bin collection days.

Recycling

Waste collection Waste collection

Waste ce tres


Recycling excellent waste collection and re-cycling, parks and open spaces

Waste disposal

parks, street cleaning, refuse & recycling

Recycling and parks The collection of black bin waste. Parks well maintained.

Waste Collection, and Parks and Gardens.

Waste management and recycling

Parks, tourism,waste and recycling

Re cycling and refuse collection is a great service. We have lovely parks and gardens and our town is free from rubbish.

The community on the whole is safe and pleasurable to live in. Using refuse waste in the incinerator is a progressive solution (one of many) to a long term problem.

Waste collections - despite some recent hitches with revised collection days. Maintenance of parks & gardens.

Waste and recycling and parks and open spaces

Rubbish and recycling Council repairs

Street cleansing, waste collection, museums

Harrogate looks good most of the time and enjoys a good reputation attracting major events and many tourists. There is a waste recycling scheme. There are plenty of attractions that are well looked after such as parks/gardens, museum/gallery, swimming pool. There is a much improved bus station and possibly a bit better bus service hopefully switching to electric.


Planning, waste and street cleaning

Waste and recycling Housing

Tourism and Museums (28 comments)

Promoting Tourism promotion of their image


The parks and floral displays are great and necessary for tourism and shoppers to Visit the town. The Spa is excellent as is the Royal Hall. The library service is also excellent.

Tourism Museums

Does a great job of keeping the town attractive to tourists and bringing in revenue from them

Parks and open areas are great. Focus on tourism and our venues are fantastic and needs to be to keep people and the money they spend coming.

The place looks pretty good, tourists are catered to as they need to be as the lifeblood of a tourist-based economy

Looks after the visual appeal of Harrogate, helping to maintain its reputation. Also good at recycling collection, museums

Street cleansing, waste Parks and open spaces, leisure and tourism

Keeping the town looking nice and welcoming to visitors.

Open spaces are looked after well. Tourism seems to be well in the area.

Ensures the town is clean, tidy and appealing to visitors

Parks and open spaces, tourism and museums.

Tourism and Museums

Tourism and Museums

Has very good tourist attractions. Love the Mercer Art Gallery

Parks, tourism, waste and recycling

Tourism and Museums.

Tourism and parks and open spaces

I think the council does a good job in maintain Harrogate as a key destination town to visit with the beautiful parks and well cleaned streets.

Puts its best face forward to visitors

Tourism

Harrogate looks good most of the time and enjoys a good reputation attracting major events and many tourists. There is a waste recycling scheme. There are plenty of attractions that are well looked after such as parks/gardens, museum/gallery, swimming pool.

There is a much improved bus station and possibly a bit better bus service hopefully switching to electric.

Tourism visitors needs

Tourism & Parks


Negative comments (23)

Annoying People

I cant think of anything

I hate you.

None

Avoids rectifying social issues and thinks ripon doesnt exist

Spends unnecessary money Allows more properties to be built without the correct infrastructure in place

They do a great job of not listening to popular opinion, the town is in crisis, the council appears to be doing nothing to help this situation

Not much at the moment, I feel that all the new buildings are taking the heart out of Harrogate. Older buildings could be renovated and none residential buildings could be turned into residences.

Frankly, room for improvement in all areas.

the town center does tend to be kept in a clean and presentable state though the same cannot be said of other area's of Harrogate

Spend money on events that impact people from the area in a negative way to make Harrogate look better for no real gain.

Nothing really. You do all of these things with your own agenda and do your best to ignore the will of the town. We should not feel like we are fighting our town council.

HBC is not doing anything as well as it used to.

Not much

It's very hard to say what u lot do best, the place is going downhill!

Not a lot to be frank. Pretty parks. Dirty residential streets.

Waste money

seriously? no idea what is actually done well

don't think HBC does anything well

Not a lot

nothing

Spending tax payers money in the wrong areas

not much

All services does well (15 comments)

All

All of them

Mainly all

Most things

Most things

Most things generally.

Most areas working pretty well.

All services are done well

looks after people in Harrogate very well

slightly above average in all cases

Efficient. Makes the area pleasant to live in.

I believe that the Council does well with all the services listed

I am happy with most things that Harrogate Borough Council does in our area.

I think HBC does very well to provide all these services in the face of such extreme cuts by the Government in the name of austerity.

I think the council tries hard to do everything well under extreme financial strain.

Street Cleaning (15 comments)

Keeping the town clean and tidy. Parks and open spaces, street cleaning,

beautiful parks and well cleaned streets.

Street cleaning, parks and leisure

Ensures the town is clean, tidy and appealing to visitors

General upkeep of the town center, usually tidy compared to other towns, the flowers are always nice.


The waste collection service tends to work well and the manual street cleaning

parks, street cleaning, refuse & recycling Parks and gardens Street

cleaning with the hand pushed carts

think the sports services are good and also keeping the streets clean and safe too are good.

I think the council does a good job in maintain Harrogate as a key destination town to visit with the

The Parks are good and streets are kept clean.

Street cleansing, waste collection, museums

Street cleaning and cold weather street treatment. My experience with the housing department as a new tenant has been very good.


Housing and Homelessness (12 comments)

Keep harrogate grass cut and the plants alive.

Maintains council houses and appears to help homeless people off the streets


HOUSING GIVEN THE RESOURCES AVAILABLE AND GOVERNMENT POLICY

Housing and Homelessness. Homelessness & Parking Rubbish and recycling Council repairs

Waste and recycling Housing

Housing and homelessness, the Stray and the Valley Gardens,

Maintenance of the stray and floral displays. Provision for tackling homelessness.

Repairs and maintenance is carried out very well on properties. Once repairs are reported to the council, normally carried out very quickly and efficiently.

Street cleaning and cold weather street treatment. My experience with the housing department as a new tenant has been very good.

Sport and leisure facilities (10 comments)


Keeping the town and parks well maintained and tidy. Providing sport and leisure facilities.



Street cleaning, parks and leisure Parks , sports facilities, transport

considering the money you have to deal with these issues I think you do the best you can. Parks and leisure areas are kept well.

I think the sports services are good and also keeping the streets clean and safe too are good.

Parks and open spaces, leisure and tourism

Harrogate looks good most of the time and enjoys a good reputation attracting major events and many tourists. There is a waste recycling scheme. There are plenty of attractions that re well looked after such as parks/gardens, museum/gallery, swimming pool. There is a much improved bus station and possibly a bit better bus service hopefully switching to electric.

Community safety (9 comments)

I think the sports services are good and also keeping the streets clean and safe too are good.


Community protection and parks


Waste services have always been good although recent reorganisation has caused a few difficulties. The town always feels pretty safe and well presented


The community on the whole is safe and pleasurable to live in. Using refuse waste in the incinerator is a progressive solution (one of many) to a long term problem.

Safety It has a good website and queries are answered promptly. Harrogate town looks well maintained and feels like a safe place to live

Transport (6 comments)

Free bus on Sunday the gardens are nice. buses are good. Parks , sports facilities, transport,

Harrogate looks good most of the time and enjoys a good reputation attracting major

Parks and Open Spaces, Cycling, Recycling,

Looks after open spaces and parks. Provides good

events and many tourists. There is a waste recycling scheme. There are plenty of attractions that are well looked after such as parks/gardens, museum/gallery, swimming pool. There is a much improved bus station and possibly a bit better bus service hopefully switching to electric.

Community Safety bus service.

Customer Services (4 comments)

a member of the customer services team went above and beyond her duties being very helpful when I needed a new black box and bags as mine had blown away in the wind



Front of house services

Communications (3 comments)


communication with its residents communication with residents

Harrogate Convention Centre (1 comment) Parks and open spaces Harrogate Convention Centre

Parking (1 comment) Homelessness & Parking

Planning (1 comment)


Website (1 comment) It has a good website and queries are answered promptly. Harrogate town looks well maintained and feels like a safe place to live.

Revenue (1 comment) Revenue

Emergency Planning (1 comment) Responding to emergencies

Q9. Thinking of the services Harrogate Borough Council currently provides, what additional services would you like to see us provide?


A focus on sustainable transportation and last mile transportation services. For example providing more cycle lanes and closing cut-through roads or making them one way.

Better publicised park and ride for major events and better organised. My trip to the Great Yorkshire Show was awful. I tried the parking at the rugby club and although a bus came quickly it just joined the horrendous traffic queues, was no faster and too hot. Many people on the bus from other areas of the country were asking why it was so bad. Recycling should be improved to accept more of everything at the kerb side. Single use plastic should be stopped at source.

only extra I would like to see done is parking places at the bungalows in Grange close Dishforth. this is that the residents in the bungalows have somewhere safe to park.

Improved public transport links within Harrogate and provision of more school buses. Bus lanes. Park and ride. This to reduce local car traffic.

Better transport for Harlow Hill and Woodlands area.

Better recycling, more electric car charging points

Bus passes from the age of 60 More efficient transport services

More cycle routes

only extra I would like to see done is parking places at the bungalows in Grange close Dishforth. this is that the residents in the bungalows have somewhere safe to park.

In relation to sustainable transport, please think of flat dwellers in the town centre. We need localised bike storage facility if we are going to cut down on traffic. I have suggested to din Mckenzie pay as you go storage facilities near to bus stops.

More traffic guidance signage and management consistently. Not only manage the traffic effectively during big events like the Great Yorkshire Show but immediately before and after the events when all support traffic is either arriving or leaving. Also more road works managed better e.g. More night work , or morning or evening work . Better use of traffic lights or traffic manager directing traffic flow.

Park and ride for visitors Residential preferential rates on parking

Improve transport and parking in Harrogate. Improve the dying tow centre. It needs a total revamp like Trinity centre in Leeds.

more accessible parking More homeless shelters and more parking hours

More sport and leisure facilities in Knaresborough. More cycle paths.

Residents advantage where things like parking charges should be subsidised to account for all the disruption we put up with to cater for shows and other events that being us individually no benefit.

More and larger car parks near town centre

More permit parking Starting to create some car free zones with some pro-electric policies would be good.

Town centre recycling from bins - send a message out to visitors to show that we care. Free wifi

for town centre More bicycle storage

Parking permits for residents close to the town centre

Better use of retail sites in the centre including restoring residential use above shops etc. Improved movement of traffic. Park and ride. Greater numbers of police officers on the streets.

More museums and cultural venues. More bus services.

I would just like you to better the services you already provide. Sort out the traffic at school times.

Helping retailers / businesses fill the empty units in the city centre - nothing left in Harrogate now

Top of my list are better arrangements for cycling and for pedestrians. Our area is far too dominated by cars and other motor vehicles. I also think we need more allotments. Waiting lists for these are far too long yet they provide exceptional physical and mental health benefits. More could be provided very easily and cheaply by agreements with developers. Particularly valuable bearing in mind the tiny gardens on new development.

Waste and recycling (21 comments)

A better recycling system. HBC needs to look at the leeds model. Dog waste facilities are poor.


Another wheelie to put all the

Better recycling, more electric car charging points

better waste and recycling.

Another wheelie to put all the recycling in to stop the waste of the black boxes and blue bags which somehow disappear every 5 minutes and have to be replaced! I know people who have 5 or more black boxes!!

recycling in to stop the waste of the black boxes and blue bags which somehow disappear every 5 minutes and have to be replaced! I know people who have 5 or more black boxes!!

Composting with the recycling. Recycling in general needs improving. Hull do it much better which is embarrassing

Crime is getting worse, anti social behaviour is getting worse, the people that hang about on the streets near mcdonalds, the one arch, subway etc are intimidating Waste/recycling collection is hit and miss

Food waste recycling Occasional free roadside collection of white goods etc

More recycling Improvements to recycling, street cleaning, reducing the homeless hanging around the town

Try to keep waste and recycling on the same day of the week

Tips should accept unwanted paint for charities- see West Yorks tips or Dulux website. Why does it go but to landfill here?

Wheelie bin for plastic and cardboard waste

Recycling of even more things

Wheelie bin for plastic and cardboard waste

Extended hours at the tip. Cheaper leisure facilities.

Recycling provisions for black plastic

verges out of town near villages are a rubbish tip need clearing perhaps once a year or every other year, some of the rubbish is due to recycling blowing in the wind [from the black plastic tubs]

homeowners need to be more careful, perhaps community clear ups could be co-ordinated by council instead to save cost.

Free large item waste collection to avoid fly tipping

Training waste as fed up with them dumping bins were ever they feel like

Town centre recycling from bins - send a message out to visitors to show that we care. Free wifi

for town centre More bicycle storage


As a young adult, i think there should be a little more focus on

housing provisions for young people

It's really difficult for us to move out and get on our own feet in

terms of housing.

As a young person faced with concerns of the likehood of home

ownership, I would like to see more housing provision in the form

of more council housing, affordable housing, shared ownership or

housing associations.

Clear off the rough sleepers and beggars

I think the pressures on finances mean asking HBC to do any

more is hard to justify. But I do think with the problems with

housing a bold move would be to build more council properties

and stop or curtail the right to buy.

Housing and homeless

more social housing Improvements to recycling, street cleaning, reducing the

homeless hanging around the town

More could be done about the homeless More homeless shelters and more parking hours

renting regulations. the current average price of rent is more than

the average monthly payment for a mortgage. Not only does this

trap the youth in the renting market it reduces the economic

growth of the population and forces residents out of the area whilst

the council should be doing everything it can to support its local

people.

Road Maintenance (8 comments)

A decent road surface on Grantley Drive, which is full of pot holes.

We have been waiting over 3 years for this. I do not feel safe

going on to my local Co-op due to badly behaved, aggressive

youths.

Fix the roads.

Garden waste inclusive of council tax. Improved road maintenance

and repairs

Better control of road repairs eg potholes

Emptying gully’s in my area more cutting of roadside hedges

To enforce cutting back of overgrown hedges and trees on

footpath's. Also footpaths being more tarmac than flags. Double

yellow lines at the T-junction is to prevent parking Filling

potholes Smoothing bump systems in roads

verges out of town near villages are a rubbish tip need clearing

perhaps once a year or every other year, some of the rubbish

is due to recycling blowing in the wind [from the black plastic

tubs] homeowners need to be more careful, perhaps

community clear ups could be co-ordinated by council instead

to save cost.

Sport and Leisure Services (6 comments)

Extended hours at the tip. Cheaper leisure

facilities.

Further leisure services decent sports centre

More sport and leisure facilities in

Knaresborough. More cycle paths.

New swimming pool in Ripon Places within the town centre which

provide fitness and leisure at an

affordable cost. Children's play areas

nearer to town.

Community Safety (6 comments)

A decent road surface on Grantley Drive,

which is full of pot holes. We have been

waiting over 3 years for this. I do not feel

safe going on to my local Co-op due to

badly behaved, aggressive youths.

Crime is getting worse, anti social

behaviour is getting worse, the people that

hang about on the streets near mcdonalds,

the one arch, subway etc are intimidating

Waste/recycling collection is hit and miss

More A.B.S. Officers. More dog wardens

patrolling the town centre and the

villages, to stop dog fouling in our

communities.

Community safety - young people

provision/activities

Bobbies on the beat especially in the town centre evenings and weekends

Better use of retail sites in the centre

including restoring residential use above

shops etc. Improved movement of traffic.

Park and ride. Greater numbers of police

officers on the streets.

Business support (5 comments)

Improve transport and parking in

Harrogate. Improve the dying tow centre. It

needs a total revamp like Trinity centre in

Leeds.

More to help local business’s soon they are

going to destroy the geese that have been

laying the golden eggs, what and how

much will it take to promote local business

even the council appoints caterers from

other parts of the UK when you have so

much talent on the doorstep that is being

overlooked one wonders why!!!!!!

Better use of retail sites in the centre

including restoring residential use above

shops etc. Improved movement of traffic.

Park and ride. Greater numbers of police

officers on the streets.

Not sure - better focus on independent

businesses and support there.

Less rates for shopkeepers in Ripon

Garden waste (4 comments)

Additional green bin collections (weekly rather than fortnightly) during the summer months.

Garden waste inclusive of council tax. Improved road maintenance and repairs

Free garden waste collection Green waste collection for free.


Path cleaning especially leaves in residential areas. Grit boxes needed in residential areas.

Improvements to recycling, street cleaning, reducing the homeless hanging around the town

More removal of chewing gum from centre. Would it be possible for those on Community Service to help with extra cleaning. The employed street cleaners work hard.

Street cleaning and in particular keeping on top of the weeds on the roads and footpaths, we are looking shabby the further you get out of town.

Youth Provision (3 comments)

More services and support for young people to be involved in the community

More for young people that doesn't cost the earth. There is little provision for those in the 11-15 age bracket to do whether after school/in the holidays, you provide the valley gardens play area for those who re 10 and under, what is there for older kids - the skate park is great if your kids skate/board/scooter but neither of mine do! I have to take them places and spend money (that I don't have!) I would also like to see waste bins which recycle (as seen in Leeds) so I can put my rubbish in plastic bin, cardboard bin etc.

Youth services

Community events and activities (3 comments)

In previous years there were events put on just for the town which were lovely, and made harrogate feel like a community. I remember the Wimbledon weekend some years ago where a big screen was put up on the stray for the residents to watch together, and afterwards singalong movies were played. In recent years this weekend has been remembered many times. Often with 'i wish HBC did things like this again'. Events for the residents, not just for out of towners. Encouraging events like the 1940's day in valley gardens are important and making small investments in the community buys HBC goodwill.

More community activities. It should be local people first and bringing them together but you spend alot of time, money and effort on UCI for example.

Stopping major sporting events ruining local lives

Tourism and museums (3 comments)

More museums and cultural venues. More bus services.

Half price entry to Pump rooms for Harrogate residents

A regular market with a clearly defined area and theme would be great and another attraction for both visitors and residents (not just food stalls).

Area specific suggestions (3 comments)

There are not very many services provided for rural areas

You should be doing more for Knaresborough and outlying areas rather than always concentrating on Harrogate. You hardly ever promote it, spend very little on it - it is a disgrace and totally unfair. Knaresborians pay as much council tax as residents in Harrogate but are getting inequitable services. We need a proper Museum and Art Gallery for Knaresborough, & improvements to the High Street and a one way system loop round the town centre to allow this to happen.

Somewhere for the people who hang around the bus station in Ripon all day drinking to go where they don't upset visitors with their foul language.

Environmental issues (3 comments)

I’d like to see environmental issues being made a priority. Improvement of our local areas with green spaces improved and perhaps making it easy for residents to help with this, tree planting, wild verges, wild life friendly initiatives. Think this could encompass schools, local residents, community safety and the elderly in our areas

Conservation and safeguarding of the town environs as obligatory Enforcing those bylaws that exist and not turning a blind eye to Stray damage by allowing parking of cars on it . A forum for local population to be involved in conservation - involve local schools in discussing Civic responsibilities within Harrogate.

More support for residents to produce renewable energy from their own premises

Other comments (3 comments)

Better NHS dental care

Get the ones we have right before starting new ones.

I would like to see a Unitary Authority based on Harrogate so that you do the lot!

Dog related issues (3 comments)


More A.B.S. Officers. More dog wardens patrolling the town centre and the villages, to stop dog fouling in our communities.

More dog wardens

Civic Centre comments (2 comments)

Your cafe in the civic centre should be run by the council, not a private company. They should not be using single-use plastics

A waterslide added onto the new offices?


More floral displays on main streets in town centre. Tree surveys and appropriate pruning where needed on some of the trees in some areas of the borough as they have become dangerously tall.

Provision for older people (2 comments)

Perhaps a meals service for older people.

elderly support/housebound etc

Public toilets (2 comments)

More public toilets Improved public toilets

Planning (2 comments)

better planning

Better planning

Free wifi (1 comment)

Town centre recycling from bins - send a message out to visitors to show that we care. Free wifi for town centre More bicycle

storage

Allotments (1 comment)

Top of my list are better arrangements for cycling and for pedestrians. Our area is far too dominated by cars and other motor

vehicles. I also think we need more allotments. Waiting lists for these are far too long yet they provide exceptional physical and

mental health benefits. More could be provided very easily and cheaply by agreements with developers. Particularly valuable

bearing in mind the tiny gardens on new development.

Q10. With the list of services in mind please could you tell us what you think Harrogate Borough Council

doesn't do well?

Waste and recycling (43 comments)

collect waste Collection of recycling currently a bit hit & miss with the changes to collection dates

Bins and recycling. Too much planning for new by houses

Recycling and waste

Although the collection of my waste/recycling has been good I think the council could do so much more in terms of recycling. London manages to recycle just about everything. Why not do food waste collection? We have visited the Incinerator at Allerton and done a visitor

I am grateful for the range of waste products that you are willing to recycle. However, it would be far better to use wheelie bins instead of plastic boxes to collect it. The boxes frequently break which is contrary to the principle of recycling.

Mowing council spaces and weeds growing in the road guttering. Clearing up after the recycling boxes/have have been emptied

Recent changes to waste collection seem overly complicated and the changes lacked any real explanation.

tour - there is so much that can be done. Are you doing it?

Recently a recycling collection was almost missed. The Wetherby Road tip I find quite unhelpful on the rare occasions I go. Rarely help to carry stuff up the metal steps which I'm unable to do. The Leeds Meanwood tip has a facility where stuff is dropped in, this would be much better.

Recycling Recycling and the bins are a constant headache to everyone you speak to! There are so many wasted man hours when you can see council staff stood about having a chat! if i did that my job would not get done. ( in the council offices and out on the streets.

Bin collection should be weekly. Bring back street cleaning at 6am every morning - it used to wake me up! Weeding was not done this year - it was disgusting the way they were left to grow like triffids. The town looked a state. The flower beds have been better in the past - when are we going for an 'in bloom' award again? It always now goes to Ripon or Pately Bridge or other places. More money should be spent on marketing the convention centre for events to bring business to the town. Less should be spent on cycling events where people come and ruin the town and the Stray but don't spend money.

Recycling and waste Planning Representing the people

REFUSE COLLECTION AT THE MOMENT

refuse collection times Waste & crime

Waste and recycling recycling homelessness parking use of the stray and valley gardens

Waste disposal and recycling Waste management street cleaning

Road repair is a struggle in some areas. And the change

Not enough products can be recycled. It causes more road

Recycling, homelessness! Not street people but families

Recycling, I had to wait six weeks for my recycling to be

to waste and recycling in Boroughbridge has not gone well for some.

congestion and pollution making people drive to the tips. Charges for disposing of certain types of household waste at the tips may not even be legal. Reducing bus services for older people is disgraceful, this causes more isolation and ill health, physically and mentally and in the end puts more strain on the NHS. These things are not joined up thinking.

living in bedsit - more council/community houses need to be built!

taken, I am disabled and get a lot of deliveries so I have a lot of cardboard and have to get someone to take it to the tip because the boxes or bags are not enough. Investment in proper bins for glass and plastic would help a lot. A lot of people do not wash their bottles and not having lids is an environmental danger.

waste and recycling - the boxes to put waste plastic / bottles etc are too small. they're also heavy to drag down the drive (a health and safety risk for us old un's!) Why can't we have wheelie bins for plastic / bottle & paper / card - most other councils do. if you did that you drop down to monthly collections for everything other than black bin collections. Also why do I have to pay to put a few wall tiles from redecorating / DIY project when I take them to the tip - I just had to take them home and put them in the black bin in the end.... crazy.

Recycling is a joke. You need a better, sustainable system than a stupid bucket that all the plastic blows around in and a plastic bag for paper. I don't even bother recycling now because I'm sick of it blowing everywhere and sick of putting everyone elses blown recycling that ends up on my drive and garden in the black bin! Street cleaning/weeding is rarely done now.

Waste collection is a joke since the changes and customer services don't seem to have a handle on it when you call in, it seems that Claro Road as it is refereed to is a completely different organisation and the services team have access tot he same info I have from the web site. it does baffle me how the teams that go out in the mornign with a clear plan of streets they are collecting from cannot know the ones they have missed or not got around to. It has gone on too long. The cleanliness of the streets and especially the

Street cleaning and rubbish bin emptying. Planning Committee rules need amending to allow members of the public a more reasonable time to speak before the committee.

town center (pedestrian area by far the worse) have decreased (not helped by the amount of rubbish left out in recycling tubs and blue bags to be blown around). The rough sleeping in the town center has been well reported and has improved greatly over the recent weeks and the information made available via the local press has been good in giving the facts around this and stopping some of the more extreme commentary.

Street cleaning, waste and recycling.

Waste and recycling and street cleaning

Waste Would like to see more roadside rubbish collected.

Waste and recycling has been really bad recently, this is shocking to read that it's the most expensive service per head.

Uneven roads and potholes. Not always taking recycling. Weeds in kerbs. Too many houses being built without regard for amenities or transport infrastructure. Free parking and free electric points for electric vehicles in the town centre.

waste collection - poor - rubbish left all over the place, jet washing pavements - total waste of money, reception staff at town centre office very rude, convention centre badly run, not enough loos or bars, senior manager there overpaid, spends too much money on cycling events

When the bins are collected, they are always left out in the road on on the drive, not where they were collected from.

Waste and recycling, solving homelessness, encouraging local shoppers and residents

Street cleaning and since schedule changes, waste collection (recycling) Street

fly tipping seems to a particular problem with large quantities of rubbish discarded on country lanes

Recycling, planning and development

into town, rather than prioritising occasional visitors.

cleaning appears non existant in residential areas

Waste and Recycling - too few collections - with the teams doing the work appearing over-stretched and as a result not taking care in the tasks (e.g. bins left over driveways, boxes thrown down) and when a collection is missed there is no action until the next collection - just not good enough! It leaves our streets in a very poor state - as a tourist destination it sends out all the wrong messages.

The opening times of the recycling centres. They could do with being open later in the day so as to allow people to use them after the core working hours. For example if they were open 12:00 - 20:00 for one or two days a week this would allow people who work 9-5 like hours to use the services. Too many people park in cycle lanes (predominantly around the stray) or on the pavement with no action taken against them.

Planning. Recycling - the collection points are difficult but often messy. Customer Services - why can't we revert to the old system of speaking direct to the appropriate official. Whilst the Customer Services staff are always polite and try to be helpful they cannot understand everything and it is frustrating to have to explain every detail, and in the end the appropraite member of staff has to deal with the issue so why not cut out an uneccesary link?


Bins and recycling. Too much planning for new by houses

Local planning is a disgrace! I’d like to use a better description but there not far off ruining Harrogate. Words fail.

I'm frustrated with planning enforcement. Too often, projects are granted retrospective permission for work that would not have been approved and with no reference to the local community. The cowboys build first and then can get away with it.

It does not listen to residents when it comes to planning - you “consult” to tick

Planning of the house building that is going on but where are the extra

New house planning. Planning in general. Road safety. Mental health

the box but ignore the opinions if they don’t suit you. We have too many housing developments and we don’t see the buyers!

schools, doctors surgeries, shops that will be needed. Will the roads be able to cope with the extra traffic?

services provision. General consultation on town matters. Clearly crime prevention is a growing problem. Drug issues in the town. Business rates driving out little individual shops.

Development and planning Planning Planning

Planning Planning Planning

Planning! Taking local residents' views into consideration

Local Planning. The Local Plan is not fit for purpose.

Planning, far too many houses

Planning, housing development appears to be moving rapidly on any available patch of land, with no regard to provision of services such as schools or surgeries to cope with the increase in population. Increase in traffic congestion is also disregarded.

Planning, too much housing allocation. Planning of roadworks has been disastrous in the past 12 months. Planning of new housing developments on precious green-field sites.

Planning department is clearly understaffed and the process is very slow - even after a decision is granted the paperwork is extremely slow as the legal team is also understaffed.

Planning decisions in respect of trees and also alterations to windows etc in conservation areas and protection of conservation areas and visual amenity is atrocious. I have seen numerous decisions that are clearly lazy, fickle, and substantiated by lists of policies hand picked to suit their own personal agenda. That department needs an independent review!

Planning decisions lately could be catastrophic for Knaresborough. Nearly 500 houses dumped on the edge of Knaresborough without any forethought for the impact on traffic and congestion, local schools, GP services etc., the environment and wildlife. Were section 106 agreements drawn up to bring benefits (planning gain) to the town to counter all these negative impacts? I haven't heard of any - it is an OUTRAGE. Ditto the Boroughbridge road development.

Planning cocked up the local plan so there are developers everywhere. Roads

Planning by which I mean not the paid officials but the elected representatives.

Planning applications - too many are going through for both new builds and extensions which are not

are poor with too many potholes. I have given up cycling.

No local plan for 7 plus years is a disgarce

appropriate.Road maintenance and repairs. Road works. Traffic maintenance.

Recycling, planning and development Planning - parking and business development

Planning, roads.

Street cleaning and rubbish bin emptying. Planning Committee rules need amending to allow members of the public a more reasonable time to speak before the committee.


Planning & Development. You are perceived to have the inclination to destroy what is beautiful about this corner of North Yorkshire. Garbage and recycling is disorganised. Applications for change to existing residential buildings is not pragmatic.

TPO’s - preservation orders put on unsightly, over large, non-native trees in residential areas.

Street cleaning, planning, dealing with homeless, keeping Harrogate safe.

There have been, and are, some very strange decisions regarding planning new housing developments.

The town is becoming a concrete jungle. Far too many houses being built around my area. Ancient hedgerows destroyed and nothing being done about it. I’m appalled


Street maintenance is not good - many residential streets have weeds growing in the gutters. Our roads have a lot of pot-holes. Cycle tracks are not maintained - dead leaves not removed in Autumn, no gritting during the winter, allowed to become overgrown in summer. I'm less than delighted with the planning department. When I wanted to extend my house some years ago, my very reasonable application was turned down several times, while large inappropriate housing developments that I object to are allowed to go ahead, eroding our green spaces and adding congestion to our roads.

Street lighting. Holds too many events with no infrastructure. Too many houses being built. Poor public transport. Dog waste facilities and not enough bins on the street. HBC is not controlling the homeless and street beggers. The town centre is a disgrace and the toilet facilities appalling.

Town planning, house building both site selection and volume. Listening to public opinion. Doesn't understand why Harrogate differs from other towns and thus attracts tourists, lack of appreciation of the history and elegance which is what sells the town. Licencing hours for the sale of alcohol are leading to the town being unsafe and dirty.

The local plan for housing hasn't listened to the views of local residents. It appears that developers have been given the green light to build wherever they want.


HBC allows Harrogate's Town Centre to

become shabby and unkempt. Does not

actively seek ideas from the public

except the occasional questionnaire.

HBC Not very welcoming of criticism and

becomes defensive e.g. using local

Press to reinforce their actions.

Community safety. No police presence in

town or in valley gardens at night. Both

places feel threatening at night. Street

cleaning. Poor, particularly in town

centre.

Clean litter & weeds from pavements,

carparks & other public areas.

street cleaning could be better. Cleaning of back streets Street cleaning

Waste management street cleaning ASB and littering Street cleaning on Knaresborough

housing estates

Street cleaning, waste and recycling. Street cleaning. Waste and recycling and street cleaning

street cleaning/gritting could be better -

or a different approach like in Germany

My local street isn’t cleaned regularly

enough - passing vehicles leave straw

and debris which is cleaned infrequently.

Litter often remains after recycling

Street cleaning, customer services

where householder responsible for

section outside their house

collections - it used to be cleaned

regularly

Street cleaning outside immediate town

centre. You can see where the boundary

ends.

street cleaning,there isn,t any now where

we live its a joke Street cleaning, planning, dealing with

homeless, keeping Harrogate safe.

Recycling is a joke. You need a better,

sustainable system than a stupid bucket

that all the plastic blows around in and a

plastic bag for paper. I don't even bother

recycling now because I'm sick of it

blowing everywhere and sick of putting

everyone elses blown recycling that ends

up on my drive and garden in the black

bin! Street cleaning/weeding is rarely

done now.

Street cleaning and rubbish bin

emptying. Planning Committee rules

need amending to allow members of the

public a more reasonable time to speak

before the committee.

Street maintenance is not good - many

residential streets have weeds growing in

the gutters. Our roads have a lot of pot-

holes. Cycle tracks are not maintained -

dead leaves not removed in Autumn, no

gritting during the winter, allowed to

become overgrown in summer. I'm less

than delighted with the planning

department. When I wanted to extend

my house some years ago, my very

reasonable application was turned down

several times, while large inappropriate

housing developments that I object to are

allowed to go ahead, eroding our green

spaces and adding congestion to our

roads.

Uneven roads and potholes. Not always

taking recycling. Weeds in kerbs. Too

many houses being built without regard

for amenities or transport infrastructure.

Why is a trundling street sweeper lorry

sent around the HG4 4PW area? ......

wasteful! Just makes a noise & sweeps

muck over & into the drain heads. Does

no good whatever. Very wasteful use of

Street cleaning is none existent,

especially weeds etc growing in the

kerbs. For the last two to three years the

Stray is nowhere as good as it use to be,

especially with the grass cutting. Before

Free parking and free electric points for

electric vehicles in the town centre.

a technical (non-HBC/NYCC) lorry which

no doubt costs a lot of money per hour -

this could be used better elsewhwere.

Why does this happen - our rural roads

do not benefit from this work. Far better

to send the money for 'Pot Hole Filling'.

you use to collect the grass and stop

cutting it when it is wet. I am sure that

you do not have to wait 3-4 months to cut

where the crocuses/daffodils grow. By all

accounts street cleaning in the town

centre is very bad.

Street cleaning in the villages is almost

non existent. Our pavements are always

filthy and the drains in the road are

blocked.

The state of the streets with weeds and

litter is disgusting. What visitors must

think of is is horrible

Streets in residential areas ,I live in Bilton

are absolutely filthy. Often feel I’m living

in a third world country. Shameful. Fly

tipping is rife.

Street cleaning and since schedule

changes, waste collection (recycling)

Street cleaning appears non existant in

residential areas!


Car users are given too much priority. Other public transport needs promoting and services extending especially to rural areas. Park and ride and other schemes are needed to keep the number of cars going through or into the centre to a lower level.

Cut backs on parks and borders, not sorting out traffic lights to assist the flow of traffic homeless support. parking.

Manages Traffic flow in and out of the town especially round Schools. Takes big decisions to slowly e.g. Traffic flow and road building decisions.

Cheaper taxi fares. No matter where I go Harrogate appears to have by far the highest rates for taxis.

cycling provision is very poor. I think in the current climate we spend too much on flowers and leisure and not enough

Street maintenance is not good - many residential streets have weeds growing in the gutters. Our roads have a lot of pot-

Park and ride. I think there should be a permanent site and well publicised with some good incentive to use it such as a monthly cheaper ticket, buses that are more frequent and given priority somehow at certain times. I live in Knaresborough and many of us feel neglected. Our parks and gardens appear to have much less invested, the swimming pool needs work, buses are not regular and often let you down trying to get to work in harrogate. Knaresborough has potential to be a very affluent thriving place for tourists and locals wishing to spend their leisure time and money here on high quality eating and drinking and shopping. I have lived here a long time and not seen any movement forward in its development. A lift from the castle to waterside would be fantastic! For locals tourists elderly. Parking is always difficult. Traffic is bad. Bond End has improved lately but at peak times both Harrogate and Knaresborough are choking. There are just too many cars and lorries. Knaresborough High Street is unpleasant from huge lorries, noise and exhaust fumes.

on human services such as homelessness. I am also very concerned by funding for local voluntary services. The siting of some new housing development is shocking and for me represents a huge failure in the Council’s planning process. I am concerned about the cost of the new council offices, which I understand went beyond budget and also the failure to realise the sale of the old offices. I was never convinced of the need for this move. I am very unhappy about the likely impact of the UCI races and feel this was a wrong move for the town. I note our Council Leader is on the board of Welcome to Yorkshire. In light of recent revelations about the conduct of this organisation, has he been an effective representative?

holes. Cycle tracks are not maintained - dead leaves not removed in Autumn, no gritting during the winter, allowed to become overgrown in summer. I'm less than delighted with the planning department. When I wanted to extend my house some years ago, my very reasonable application was turned down several times, while large inappropriate housing developments that I object to are allowed to go ahead, eroding our green spaces and adding congestion to our roads.

Not enough products can be recycled. It causes more road congestion and

The opening times of the recycling centres. They could do with being open

New house planning. Planning in general. Road safety. Mental health

pollution making people drive to the tips. Charges for disposing of certain types of household waste at the tips may not even be legal. Reducing bus services for older people is disgraceful, this causes more isolation and ill health, physically and mentally and in the end puts more strain on the NHS. These things are not joined up thinking.

later in the day so as to allow people to use them after the core working hours. For example if they were open 12:00 - 20:00 for one or two days a week this would allow people who work 9-5 like hours to use the services. Too many people park in cycle lanes (predominantly around the stray) or on the pavement with no action taken against them.

services provision. General consultation on town matters. Clearly crime prevention is a growing problem. Drug issues in the town. Business rates driving out little individual shops.

Public transport and parking. The cost of the busses in Harrogate are so high it is cheaper for me to take my own car and park in town. The bus fair needs to be considerably cheaper to encourage people to use them. Without raising the prices of parking as this is seen as profiteering rather than fixing the issue which is the cost of the busses.

Transport - so much congestion in & around town. Park & ride on both sides of town should be planned.

Provision for residents to park outside their homes. Paying for permits and never being able to park because people who pay nothing can park all day or for 3 hours - is not fair. Visitors should be using car parks. I can’t help feeling the Convention Centre should be paying for itself. providing parking and easy access to town shops

Transport - we have none and used to.

Planning - parking and business development

Parking, homeless issues, crime

Parking and road surfaces

Parking charges, traffic light and road traffic management

Rural Public Transport. (24 Bus)

Lack of consideration to those who need permit parking on their street due to it being over crowded and congested

Uneven roads and potholes. Not always taking recycling. Weeds in kerbs. Too many houses being built without regard

for amenities or transport infrastructure. Free parking and free electric points for electric vehicles in the town centre.

Roadwork comments (19 comments)

Road closures for maintenance should be done during the night

Spread out the timing of roadworks Road repair is a struggle in some areas. And the change to waste and recycling in Boroughbridge has not gone well for some.

Planning of roadworks has been disastrous in the past 12 months. Planning of new housing developments on precious green-field sites.

Planning of road works, no sooner has one lot of digging up the roads finished, then another seems to start.

Planning cocked up the local plan so there are developers everywhere. Roads are poor with too many potholes. I have given up cycling.

Planning applications - too many are going through for both new builds and extensions which are not appropriate.Road maintenance and repairs. Road works. Traffic maintenance.

Fix the roads, Security, Police, Parking and road surfaces

Planning, roads. Respond to damaged road surfaces despite numerous reports

road repairs

Roads, though I know this is mostly NYCC. Too many very disruptive housing developments too.

Parking charges, traffic light and road traffic management

Spend money of fixing roads that aren’t involved in cycling races, I nearly broke my ankle in a chasm of a pothole on Coldbath Rd. We also have loads of old bikes littered around the area from TDF.


traffic planning - coordination of road works - traffic light planning Stop bringing cycle events to Harrogate - brings too much disruption. Needs more focus on Community Safety - too much vandalism now appearing in Jennyfields

You don’t listen. You desperately need to do something about the empty shops. You have caused numerous transport problems with ridiculous road work schedules. This has put vulnerable people who need care at home in dire straits and taxed an already taxing group of people (carers amongst others). You have shown no thought to anyone but your own pockets. The youth in Harrogate is at a frightening level of disruption. You seem to do nothing about that

Roads are dreadful. Shops empty. It's a disgrace in a high wealth area we have no shops, no centres for youths to learn or meet. You have to spend more money on promotion of local businesses and reducing congestion. Promote our town centres or we won't have one soon. This is urgent as it is terrible and I rarely have a need to go in now. Give a year free business rates to all new businesses. Do something positive and you will reap the rewards down the line.

Community Safety (17 comments)

Community Safety Anti social behaviour

ASB and littering

Fix the roads, Security, Police, Parking, homeless issues, crime

Policing

Community safety. No police presence in town or in valley gardens at night. Both places feel threatening at night. Street cleaning. Poor, particularly in town centre.

Crime, marketing the conference center and making it run as a business, any kind of tourism marketing to the outside world - UK marketing in the main.

Get the homeless off the streets, crack down on anti-social behaviours, keep the parks and open centres cleaner and more beautiful, share more information about your plans and let the residents get involved.

More tackling antisocial behaviour


Needs more focus on Community Safety - too much vandalism now appearing in Jennyfields

New house planning. Planning in general. Road safety. Mental health services provision. General

You don’t listen. You desperately need to do something about the empty shops. You have caused

Town planning, house building both site selection and volume. Listening to public opinion. Doesn't understand

consultation on town matters. Clearly crime prevention is a growing problem. Drug issues in the town. Business rates driving out little individual shops.

numerous transport problems with ridiculous road work schedules. This has put vulnerable people who need care at home in dire straits and taxed an already taxing group of people (carers amongst others). You have shown no thought to anyone but your own pockets. The youth in Harrogate is at a frightening level of disruption. You seem to do nothing about that

why Harrogate differs from other towns and thus attracts tourists, lack of appreciation of the history and elegance which is what sells the town. Licencing hours for the sale of alcohol are leading to the town being unsafe and dirty.

traffic planning - coordination of road works - traffic light planning Stop bringing cycle events to Harrogate - brings too much disruption.

Services for children and wild life areas It doesn’t pay the police enough to follow up the nightmare hooligans on Jennyfields at the moment they are running riot

Street safety with the rise in aggressive behaviour it is intimidating in certain parts of town.


Housing

Housing

homeless support. parking.

cycling provision is very poor. I think in the current climate we spend too much on flowers and leisure and not enough on human services such as homelessness. I am also very concerned by funding for local voluntary services. The siting of some new housing development is shocking and for me represents a huge failure in the Council’s planning process. I am concerned about the cost of the new council offices, which

Waste collection is a joke since the changes and customer services don't seem to have a handle on it when you call in, it seems that Claro Road as it is refereed to is a completely different organisation and the services team have access tot he same info I have from the web site. it does baffle me how the teams that go out in the mornign with a clear plan of streets they are collecting from cannot know the ones they

Waste and recycling, solving homelessness, encouraging local shoppers and residents into town, rather than prioritising occasional visitors. Street lighting. Holds too many events with no infrastructure. Too many houses being built. Poor public transport. Dog waste facilities and not enough bins on the street. HBC is not controlling the homeless and street beggers. The town centre is a

I understand went beyond budget and also the failure to realise the sale of the old offices. I was never convinced of the need for this move. I am very unhappy about the likely impact of the UCI races and feel this was a wrong move for the town. I note our Council Leader is on the board of Welcome to Yorkshire. In light of recent revelations about the conduct of this organisation, has he been an effective representative?

have missed or not got around to. It has gone on too long. The cleanliness of the streets and especially the town center (pedestrian area by far the worse) have decreased (not helped by the amount of rubbish left out in recycling tubs and blue bags to be blown around). The rough sleeping in the town center has been well reported and has improved greatly over the recent weeks and the information made available via the local press has been good in giving the facts around this and stopping some of the more extreme commentary.

disgrace and the toilet facilities appalling.

Dealing with homelessness. I am astounded at the increasing number of rough sleepers in the town centre. The council should be doing more to help.


Recycling, homelessness! Not street people but families living in bedsit - more council/community houses need to be built!

Housing, especially for the first time buyers

Parking, homeless issues, crime

recycling homelessness parking use of the stray and valley gardens


Support for businesses (10 comments)

New house planning. Planning in general. Road safety. Mental health services provision. General consultation on town matters. Clearly crime prevention is a growing problem. Drug issues in the town. Business rates driving out little individual shops.

Maintaining a vibrant town centre and encouraging business and enterprise within an ever-deteriorating town centre. I can’t believe the council’s second largest spend per head is on sport and leisure, given the facilities. They are ok, but by no means exceptional.

It doesn't do much to boost the local economy effectively in Knaresborough. The Tourist Info centre is poorly served, VisitHarrogate is largely ineffective, the Games in Parks are poorly promoted, Knaresborough Castle is under publicised. It has invested in Tarmac for it's car parks but doesn't see the need to ensure they are well sign posted eg York Place. The visitors first impression of Knaresborough is left to chance.

You Planning - parking and business development don’t listen. You desperately need to do something about the empty shops. You have caused numerous transport problems with ridiculous road work schedules. This has put vulnerable people who need care at home in dire straits and taxed an already taxing group of people (carers amongst others). You have shown no thought to anyone but your own pockets. The youth in Harrogate is at a frightening level of disruption. You seem to do nothing about that

I think the council could potentially do more to sort the issue of empty highstreet shops in Harrogate and Knaresborough. Keeping rates low so that businesses in Ripon can keep going

Waste and recycling, solving homelessness, encouraging local shoppers and residents into town, rather than prioritising occasional visitors

Although I understand budgetary pressures it appears that hbc is behaving very short sighted. Our town centre is dying and if this continues it will impact tourism. Incentives need to be offered for business to be present in the town centre, but also need to encourage footfall. Increasing parking charges appears greedy and is unnecessary. Reducing them in other towns has been

Roads are dreadful. Shops empty. It's a disgrace in a high wealth area we have no shops, no centres for youths to learn or meet. You have to spend more money on promotion of local businesses and reducing congestion. Promote our town centres or we won't have one soon. This is urgent as it is terrible and I rarely have a need to go in now. Give a year free business rates to

proved to increase footfall. Look into it. Upping taxes but leaving potholes in roads, turning off street lights and decreasing frequency of bin collecting is an insult to the residents when this money is used on things like the UCI. it is well evidenced that the tour de France and Yorkshire did not benefit the local community, but rather the cost far outweighed. Hbc needs to work smarter, not harder. Try spending some money getting the residents onside and looking after them before using our tac to entertain the world.

all new businesses. Do something positive and you will reap the rewards down the line.


Cut backs on parks and borders, not sorting out traffic lights to assist the flow of traffic

Maintaining/trimming trees once every 2/3years is not enough.

Some footpaths and verges could be better

The grass cutting in our village, grass is normally left on the pavements near the elderly residents bungalows.If it as been raining, this becomes slippery, making it an hazard for the elderly residents.

Get the homeless off the streets, crack down on anti-social behaviours, keep the parks and open centres cleaner and more beautiful, share more information about your plans and let the residents get involved

Mowing council spaces and weeds growing in the road guttering. Clearing up after the recycling boxes/have have been emptied

Street cleaning is none existent, especially weeds etc growing in the kerbs. For the last two to three years the Stray is nowhere as good as it use to be, especially with the grass cutting. Before you use to collect the grass and stop cutting it when it is wet. I am sure that you do not have to wait 3-4 months to cut where the crocuses/daffodils grow. By all

Bin collection should be weekly. Bring back street cleaning at 6am every morning - it used to wake me up! Weeding was not done this year - it was disgusting the way they were left to grow like triffids. The town looked a state. The flower beds have been better in the past - when are we going for an 'in bloom' award again? It always now goes to Ripon or Pately Bridge or other places. More money should be spent on marketing the convention centre for events to bring business to the town. Less should be spent on cycling events where people come and ruin the town and the Stray but don't spend money.

accounts street cleaning in the town centre is very bad.

Events (8 comments)

recycling homelessness parking use of the stray and valley gardens

Spends too much on cycle racing, in this economy day to day living in Harrogate is more important.

Too much focus on the cycling, benefits tourism and hotels but disruptive to residents and businesses and no financial benefit.

traffic planning - coordination of road works - traffic light planning Stop bringing cycle events to Harrogate - brings too much disruption. Needs more focus on Community Safety - too much vandalism now appearing in Jennyfields

cycling provision is very poor. I think in the current climate we spend too much on flowers and leisure and not enough on human services such as homelessness. I am also very concerned by funding for local voluntary services. The siting of some new housing development is shocking and for me represents a huge failure in the Council’s planning process. I am concerned about the cost of the new council offices, which I understand went beyond budget and also the failure to realise the sale of the old offices. I was never convinced of the need for this move. I am very unhappy about the likely impact of the UCI races and feel this was a wrong move for the town. I note our Council Leader is on the board of Welcome to Yorkshire. In light of recent revelations about the conduct of this organisation, has he been an effective representative?

waste collection - poor - rubbish left all over the place, jet washing pavements - total waste of money, reception staff at town centre office very rude, convention centre badly run, not enough loos or bars, senior manager there overpaid, spends too much money on cycling events Street lighting. Holds too many events with no infrastructure. Too many houses being built. Poor public transport. Dog waste facilities and not enough bins on the street. HBC is not controlling the homeless and street beggers. The town centre is a disgrace and the toilet facilities appalling.

Although I understand budgetary pressures it appears that hbc is behaving very short sighted. Our town centre is dying and if this continues it will impact tourism. Incentives need to be offered for business to be present in the town centre, but also need to encourage footfall. Increasing parking charges appears greedy and is unnecessary. Reducing them in other towns has been proved to increase footfall. Look into it. Upping taxes but leaving potholes in roads, turning off street lights and decreasing frequency of bin collecting is an insult to the residents when this money is used on things like the UCI. it is well evidenced that the tour de France and Yorkshire did not benefit the local community, but rather the cost far outweighed. Hbc needs to work smarter, not harder. Try spending some money getting the residents onside and looking after them before using our tac to entertain the world.

Customer Services (7 comments)

communications. Staff on telephone duty sometimes treat people making enquiries like idiots

customer services if they pass messages on, you do NOT get a reply from the person involved

Street cleaning, customer services

Council answering the phone

The telephone reception service, with the queueing system is appalling and takes far too long to process callers. The reception team do their best and try to be helpful, dealing with a huge volume of calls, but they cannot be expected to handle all the queries for each dept themselves. Why can't they simply transfer you to the dept you need to speak to, without the need to try and answer your query, which causes the long queue. They then have to email the relevent dept asking them to return your call. So after a really frustrating half-hour procedure, you still haven't had your simple query resolved. It's absolutely bonkers and alienates your council taxpayers, who should be able to be put through to the correct dept without this stupid filter system. Also, removing the community street cleaners who had built up


long-standing relationships within their communities was a thoughtless and callous restructure.

waste collection - poor - rubbish left all over the place, jet washing pavements - total waste of money, reception staff at town centre office

very rude, convention centre badly run, not enough loos or bars, senior manager there overpaid, spends too much money on cycling events

Environmental Concerns (6 comments)

on roundabouts and other roadside areas please create insect/wildlife friendly planting rather than cutting back or formal planting

Services for children and wild life areas It doesn’t pay the police enough to follow up the nightmare hooligans on Jennyfields at the moment they are running riot

Environmental protection

Environmental protection

More current thinking on environment protection e.g publicising/subsidising renewable energy possibilities, more strategies to encourage wildlife e.g leaving part of the stray as meadow, more focus on planting native species e.g in parks and gardens.

I think more could be done to improve air quality around town. Particularly near the schools. Use of more low/zero emission buses and promotion of zero emission vehicles for local businesses and residents.

Engagement with residents (6 comments)


Use its budget efficiently Inform local people


You don’t listen. You desperately need to do something about the empty shops. You have caused numerous transport problems with ridiculous road work schedules. This has put vulnerable people who need care at home in dire straits and taxed an already taxing group of people (carers amongst others). You have shown no

thought to anyone but your own pockets. The youth in Harrogate is at a frightening level of disruption. You seem to do nothing about that

New house planning. Planning in general. Road safety. Mental health services provision. General consultation on town matters. Clearly crime prevention is a growing problem. Drug issues in the town. Business rates driving out little individual shops.

HBC allows Harrogate's Town Centre to become shabby and unkempt. Does not actively seek ideas from the public except the occasional questionnaire. HBC Not very welcoming of criticism and becomes defensive e.g. using local Press to reinforce their actions.

Tourism and Museums (4 comments)


It doesn't do much to boost the local economy effectively in Knaresborough. The Tourist Info centre is poorly served, VisitHarrogate is largely ineffective, the Games in Parks are poorly promoted, Knaresborough Castle is under publicised. It has invested in Tarmac for it's car parks but doesn't see the need to ensure they are well sign posted eg York Place. The visitors first impression of Knaresborough is left to chance.


Places potential opportunities offered by tourism etc about those of local residents

Location issues (3 comments)

Positive comments (3 comments)

I don't have any real issues with any service which Byte Council provides.

Look after its residents,

Most services are ok

Leadership (3 comments)

cycling provision is very poor. I think in the current climate we spend too much on flowers and leisure and not enough on human services such as homelessness. I am also very concerned by funding for local voluntary services. The siting of

waste collection - poor - rubbish left all over the place, jet washing pavements - total waste of money, reception staff at town centre office very rude, convention centre badly run, not enough loos or bars, senior

The telephone reception service, with the queueing system is appalling and takes far too long to process callers. The reception team do their best and try to be helpful, dealing with a huge volume of calls, but they cannot be expected to

Park and ride. I think there should be a permanent site and well publicised with some good incentive to use it such as a monthly cheaper ticket, buses that are more frequent and given priority somehow at certain times. I live in Knaresborough and many of us feel neglected.

Our parks and gardens appear to have much less invested, the swimming pool needs work, buses are not regular and often let you down trying to get to work in harrogate. Knaresborough has potential to be a very affluent thriving place for tourists and locals wishing to spend their leisure time and money here on high quality eating and drinking and shopping. I have lived here a long time and not seen any movement forward in its development. A lift from the castle to waterside would be fantastic! For locals tourists elderly. Parking is always difficult. Traffic is bad. Bond End has improved lately but at peak times both Harrogate and Knaresborough are choking. There are just too many cars and lorries. Knaresborough High Street is unpleasant from huge lorries, noise and exhaust fumes. doesn't seem to think that anyone who lives outside Harrogate actually exists

looking after places outside Harrogate

some new housing development is shocking and for me represents a huge failure in the Council’s planning process. I am concerned about the cost of the new council offices, which I understand went beyond budget and also the failure to realise the sale of the old offices. I was never convinced of the need for this move. I am very unhappy about the likely impact of the UCI races and feel this was a wrong move for the town. I note our Council Leader is on the board of Welcome to Yorkshire. In light of recent revelations about the conduct of this organisation, has he been an effective representative?

manager there overpaid, spends too much money on cycling events

handle all the queries for each dept themselves. Why can't they simply transfer you to the dept you need to speak to, without the need to try and answer your query, which causes the long queue. They then have to email the relevent dept asking them to return your call. So after a really frustrating half-hour procedure, you still haven't had your simple query resolved. It's absolutely bonkers and alienates your council taxpayers, who should be able to be put through to the correct dept without this stupid filter system. Also, removing the community street cleaners who had built up long-standing relationships within their communities was a thoughtless and callous restructure.

Harrogate Convention Centre (2 comments)


Provision for residents to park outside their homes. Paying for permits and never being able to park because people who pay nothing can park all day or for 3 hours - is not fair. Visitors should be using car parks. I can’t help feeling the Convention Centre should be paying for itself.

Sport and Leisure (2 comments)

Park and ride. I think there should be a permanent site and well publicised with some good incentive to use it

Maintaining a vibrant town centre and encouraging business and enterprise within an ever-deteriorating

such as a monthly cheaper ticket, buses that are more frequent and given priority somehow at certain times. I live in Knaresborough and many of us feel neglected. Our parks and gardens appear to have much less invested, the swimming pool needs work, buses are not regular and often let you down trying to get to work in harrogate. Knaresborough has potential to be a very affluent thriving place for tourists and locals wishing to spend their leisure time and money here on high quality eating and drinking and shopping. I have lived here a long time and not seen any movement forward in its development. A lift from the castle to waterside would be fantastic! For locals tourists elderly. Parking is always difficult. Traffic is bad. Bond End has improved lately but at peak times both Harrogate and Knaresborough are choking. There are just too many cars and lorries. Knaresborough High Street is unpleasant from huge lorries, noise and exhaust fumes.

town centre. I can’t believe the council’s second largest spend per head is on sport and leisure, given the facilities. They are ok, but by no means exceptional.

Negative comments (2 comments)

All

Everything.

Dog related issues (2 comments)

Dog behaviour

Street lighting. Holds too many events with no infrastructure. Too many houses being built. Poor public transport. Dog waste facilities and not enough bins on the street. HBC is not controlling the homeless and street beggers. The town centre is a disgrace and the toilet facilities appalling.

Revenue (1 comment) revenue North Yorkshire County Council services (1 comment) Social services

Q11. Thinking of the services which Harrogate Borough Council currently provides, what services do you think the council should stop? Harrogate Convention Centre (17 comments)

Conference centre Conference centre Convention Centre

Convention centre needs to pay for itself Convention centre should fund itself Conversation centre

sell convention center

Less in the convention centre

The convention centre is now making money let it be self managed

I feel that the Convention Centre should become more self funding via events/sponsorship etc so that the Council does not have to spend so much of its own money.

I think the Conference centre costs ratepayers a lot for what the community gets from it, and it appears to be too small to attract the big conferences that it used to (eg political ones.)

Not stop but ensure services like HIC are ‘paying their way’- council should be making a profit on this!

Wasting money on the convention centre which has lost all the big conferences we used to have someone needs to get some big ones back not leave it empty so much. I know someone who works there so i know how often it is not busy .

Stop subsidizing planning & development - make it pay for itself. reduce the number of swimming pools and replace with a high quality sports centre. collect rubbish/recycling less often

stop spending money on cycling events which just disrupt everything, stop subsiding the convention centre, stop running local admin independently - share resources with other authorities to get scale

They should sell the conference centre as they seem incapable of making it pay.

Harrogate convention centre. Sports and Leisure. Welfare support.

Harrogate Convention Centre and the museums could be run privately.

Sport and Leisure Services (16 comments)

As far as I can see all services are important but perhaps outsourcing Leisure Services may help reduce costs to support other services.

I think that we are spending too much on sports and leisure, we shouldn't subsidise this is it is unprofitable. If the private sector can provide sports and leisure for profit then so can the public sector.

I understand that very many of the services are statutory so cannot be stopped, so any significant savings would have to be through leisure services. I don’t like this but I have always felt that in times of austerity this area is where we could make savings.

Gyms and sports centres there are lots of business offering the same services

Reduce inputs to the Convention Centre as this should become self funding.

I think it more of an individual responsibility to entertain themselves - eg sports/leisure

If it had to stop something, sports & leisure

Sport and leisure

Sport and leisure make all services private.

Sport and leisure. Far more important problems

Sporting venues

Reduce sport and leisure budget.

Limit sporting expenditure to low income families

Limit sporting expenditure to low income families

Harrogate convention centre. Sports and Leisure. Welfare support.

stop spending money on cycling events which just disrupt everything, stop subsiding the convention centre, stop running local admin independently - share resources with other authorities to get scale. Stop subsidizing planning & development - make it pay for itself. reduce the number of swimming pools and replace with a high quality sports centre. collect rubbish/recycling less often

No services should be stopped (14 comments)

I do not think any services from the council should stop

None ! None but perhaps consider priorities

Cannot see that there is much scope to discontinue any services.

Can't think of any I do not think any services from the council should stop

NONE Perhaps we need to pay a bit more towards the services and town we live in.

Obviously it would be difficult to stop any of them, unless they are being better provided by others.

None. They all provide some benefit, although not all are of importance to me, it doesn't mean they are not relevant

I don't see anything on the list of services that can be logically stopped. Outsourcing any of these could lead to more costs in the long run

I think all services are important even though many of them are not relevant to me eg housing, Harrogate Convention Centre, sports and leisure (not many provided in rural areas).

I think you should do what you currently do and try to do that to the best of the Councils ability.

If any of the services HBC currently provides aren't important why would you have been spending money on them ? ! realistically which ones could you stop !

Very difficult.

Large scale events (11 comments)

All the functions Yorkshire show, Flower show, Pushbike race and so on. What's it costing the residents of Harrogate. I'm not saying stop them, but put them in the dales theres plenty of room and it will be less inconvenience to us all.

Giving money to huge events that do not help the town like the pending cycle event which will drive so much business away they should take a leaf out of the Great Yorkshire Shows book and assist so many local business

Supporting Global or sporting events that block roads and deny residence access to their own homes or places of work without compensating the residence and small businesses affected.

Cycle race.

Putting on so many events like the Christmas market which are disruptive and not one offs

Too much emphasis on attracting massive events to Harrogate.

Cycling championships, too much disruption and loss of business to MOST

Inviting ridiculously costly events to the town which only fill the pockets of

Make sure that the advantages to the district of the cycling meetings

residents and businesses in town, to the advantage of a small few.

the rich and disadvantage a large percent of the residents and many businesses who will actually lose trade

offsets the real hassle for residents and non tourist businesses

Support for events that cost the Council more than they receive from the event, particularly cycle racing. stop spending money on cycling events which just disrupt everything, stop subsiding the convention centre, stop running local admin independently - share resources with other authorities to get scale. Stop subsidizing planning & development - make it pay for itself. reduce the number of swimming pools and replace with a high quality sports centre. collect rubbish/recycling less often


Planning as don't take into account roads already over crowded due to traffic control been usless council expenses

Stop house 🏡 for a building . Stop

hospital car parking on local streets stop schoolchildren driving to school and parking all day in local streets

Not so much affordable housing, and not as much of it mixed with regular housing in new build estates.

Planning for more houses Planning too much going on PANDERING TO NIMBIES IN RESPECT OF PLANNING ISSUES

SACK ALL THE PLANNING OFFICERS AND RECRUIT PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT THE WHOLE DISTRICT NOT JUST HARROGATE. STOP USING KNARESBOROUGH AS A DUMPING GROUND FOR GYPSY SITES AND UNIMAGINATIVE HOUSING, which is destroying our town. Which moron gave planning permission for that ugly wooden cube next to a small 17th century stone cottage and the stone "toilet block" house both on Abbey Rd?. A DISGRACE.

You give no detail of what is involved in Economy and Transport so perhaps that should go. It appears that the planning new housing developments department is either incompetent or corrupt so that department responsibilities should be transferred to Parish Councils and Northallerton.



flower displays whilst really lovely surely are a luxury? Chemical weedkilling

Grassed areas are cut too frequently Should spend less on the gardens and stray etc

Road sweeper lorry at HG4 4PW! Parks and open spaces could be taken over by “friends of “groups and people who overlook the stray and other gardens and groups who use them should help with the maintenance costs. Business partners and local businesses should be contributing to the street cleaning in the area they are based , this would help with the joint responsibility of business,households and the council to keep the streets clean

Mistrust of the council (4 comments)

No more new council offices! Being the council?

Stop spending so much money in areas in the council that’s

rent needed.

anything classed as free

Parking (4 comments)

Charging a ridiculous amount for annual resident permit parking.

excessive parking charges

The town centre car parking app seems fairly pointless and the Council should look at removing it as not widely used and more expensive which rather defeats the object.

Stop house 🏡 for a building . Stop hospital car parking

on local streets stop schoolchildren driving to school and parking all day in local streets

Waste and Recycling (3 comments)

Having separate days of the week for recycling, general and garden waste. We now pay separately for garden

Waste and recycling

waste collection, some other councils do not what are you using this income for ????


The Homelessness Project (2 comments)

The budget for the "harrogate homelessness charity

support". It may not be a popular comment but I have

spoken to some homeless individuals who told me they

are specifically travelling into and targeting Harrogate

town from outside the area specifically to access this

support, which is a compliment to the homeless charities

outstanding provision... But, councilors need to put

emotive comments to one side and realise that this same

outstanding provision is "actually responsible for the

growth of individuals coming in and ultimately

perpetuating the homeless population and associated

problems in our town".

the homeless project and the convention centre- its too

expensive

Sharing resources (2 comments)


There are always savings to be made and these are

generally best made in the delivery of services such as

staffing and resources. A good long hard look at the

offices, staff, equipment and the logistics is always a good

place to start. More specific questionnaires on certain

topics thrown open to the public could be a good way of

invigorating ideas and debate and helping in prioritisng.

Further information needed to answer (2 comments)

I dont think this is a question for residents, as its clearly designed to trip them up. If HBC is not fulfilling thier obligations and has its residents up in arms, then you should invest more money in bringing in an external consultancy firm to help you understand where you are going wrong, who to cut, and how to fix it

Would need more detail to answer this.

Economy and Transport (2 comments)

You give no detail of what is involved in Economy and Transport so perhaps that should go. It appears that the planning new housing developments department is either incompetent or corrupt so that department responsibilities should be transferred to Parish Councils and Northallerton.

running empty buses

Museums (2 comments)

Harrogate Convention Centre and the museums could be

run privately.

tourism services

Footpath clearance (1 comment) Better clearance of pavements in estates when snow days Private Investment (1 comment) I think some services would benefit greatly from private investment, housing etc North Yorkshire County Council services (1 comment) NYCC control of our roads

Housing (1 comment) Stop housing migrants before local residents. Leadership (1 comment) The Tories in charge. Emergency planning (1 comment) Emergency Planning Customer Services (1 comment) Fairly obviously the Customer Services Section. (in any case how can there be any job satisfaction working there?) Welfare (1 comment) Harrogate convention centre. Sports and Leisure. Welfare support. Community safety (1 comment) Community safety

Documents

Budget Free Text Responses - Harrogate...negative way to make Harrogate look better for no real gain. Nothing really. You do all of these things with your own agenda and do your best