Editor's Pick of the Week: A million-pound goodbye, another January promise and a rare find

As farewells go, it wasn’t the fondest. Nicola Shaw, chief executive of Yorkshire Water, announced her departure this week. Harrogate and Knaresborough Lib Dem MP Tom Gordon offered a succinct “good riddance”, while Labour mayor David Skaith declared it “not a moment too soon”.

The timing was unfortunate. Her announcement came a day after Yorkshire Water’s performance was downgraded from two stars to one. Any sympathy for Ms Shaw was perhaps tempered by the thought of her £1,392,000 earnings this year.

That’s slightly more than the residents of Dacre won in the latest Postcode Lottery. It would also pay for roughly a tenth of the Harrogate Station Gateway scheme – which, we learned this week, is finally due to get underway in January. Previous start dates, of course, have come and gone, so we’ll believe it when we see the diggers.

Details emerged in a presentation to North Yorkshire Council’s cabinet during a meeting in Harrogate. Curiously, the presentation wasn’t listed on the agenda, meaning local people were denied the opportunity to comment on it during the public questions session. An interesting approach to public engagement.

Another long-awaited scheme finally got moving this week, with work beginning on the redevelopment of Harrogate’s Grove House into a care complex. The building was once home to Victorian mayor, inventor and philanthropist Samson Fox. We first reported the project, which it is said will create up to 200 jobs, in 2023.

Meanwhile, one of the more unexpected consequences of global warming has been bringing traffic on the Ripon Canal to a standstill. Low water levels have resulted in frequent lock closures. The company running pleasure cruises has come up with a solution, but the Canal & Waterways Trust isn’t keen to pick up the bill. It seems even the boats are struggling to keep things moving.

In a week dominated by crime and court stories, there was at least some light relief. Quite literally, in one case: the council is offering people suffering from seasonal affective disorder (SAD) the chance to borrow light therapy kits from local libraries. A bright idea, if ever there was one.

And finally, a rare fungus has been discovered in Nidderdale, just weeks after The Stray Ferret publicised an appeal for people to keep an eye out for it.

Nidderdale National Landscape biodiversity officer Dr Kelly Harmar was pictured proudly displaying the specimen. Which raises an obvious question: if it’s so rare, why did she pick it?

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