Lib Dem Councillor Caroline Seymour is dismayed at the Tory council’s poor provision for young people in Stokesley this summer.

The Youth Service. working with the police, has done much work to reduce youth nuisance in the town.

However, the youth worker has gone on maternity leave and been told that there no replacement planned for the summer holiday.

County Councillor Caroline Seymour, who represents Stokesley and the surrounding villages, raised the issue with the Conservative portfolio holder for the Youth Service at today’s meeting of the Council. Cllr Seymour was told that action was being taken to provide cover but that it was “unlikely” to be in place for the summer.

Cllr Seymour commented:

“This is not an unexpected staff absence. The Council should have been able to make alternative arrangements in time for the summer holidays, the very time when this service is most needed.”

Cllr Seymour added:

“This poor level of service is even more upsetting to people in Stokesley in view of the Council’s £115,000 underspend by the Youth Service, and the £8.3 million underspend last year by the Council as a whole.”

Lib Dem Councillors are optimistic that their long campaign for a second recycling centre for Harrogate and Knaresborough may be successful.

At today’s meeting of the Council, Councillor Richard Hall (Lib Dem, Knaresborough), asked the Conservative portfolio holder if she could give any hope to the relief of the Stonefall site on Wetherby Road.

Conservative Councillor Clare Wood said that she was “hopeful that successful negotiations will be concluded for a new site soon.”

The Council was also reassured that money is still available for the comprehensive redevelopment of the Stonefall site when the new site is open.

Cllr Richard Hall commented:

“This is a welcome development, and not before time.”

“Stonefall is the largest Household Waste Recycling Centre in Yorkshire, taking in excess of 22,000 tons of waste per year. Use of the site is causing huge traffic problems on the A661 Wetherby Road in Harrogate. Liberal Democrats have been campaigning for a new HWRC for our area, to take the pressure off Stonefall, for some years.”

“I will believe it when I see it, but at last the Tories seem to be treating this as a priority.”

Lib Dem Councillor Mark Wheeler is fighting to maintain a fully staffed and operational police station in Crosshills.

At today’s meeting of the Council, Councillor Wheeler sought assurances from the Conservative Chair of the Police Authority that the station on Wheatlands Lane will not be closed.

However, no such assurance was given for Crosshills, or Ripon, Knaresborough or Settle.

Cllr Wheeler (Lib Dem, Airedale) commented:

“It seems our community is about to take another hit. First a reduction in our bus service, then post offices, and now our police stations may go the same way. Surely enough is enough.”

“Rural areas deserve as much of a police service as urban areas. Crime, whatever the perceived level of severity, has a long lasting effect on the victim.”

“Our area has a higher than average proportion of elderly people, for whom fear of crime is a real concern. Without their local police station they will be less confident that any crime can be dealt with quickly.”