Jonathan Swales is the Reform UK candidate for the Pannal Ward in the Harrogate Town Council elections on the 1 May 2025.
Some questions to Jonathan Swales.
What’s your connection to Harrogate ?
I was born and raised in Harrogate from a family of small business owners. I’ve always had a home in Harrogate even though work took me all over the UK and abroad. Our children were also born and raised here. Why do I champion Harrogate, I couldn’t think of a nicer place to live in the UK, the down to earth people, the Yorkshire Dales are on our doorstep, fantastic independent shops, cafes and restaurants and the Victorian charm and elegance are unrivalled. Also, we’re ideally located for commuting to Leeds and York as well as further afield.
The role of the Harrogate Town Council isn’t fully defined, what would you like to see a town council do ?
The most important role for the town council is to be the voice of the residents and businesses in Harrogate to North Yorkshire Council and other organisations. We have 80,000 people living in the Harrogate area, the largest population centre in North Yorkshire outside York yet we have no representation apart from a few remote counsellors on North Yorkshire Council, dealing with countywide issues.
It is also important that the new town council consists of fresh faces with new and different ideas, to solve the problems that were created by previous regimes, both Conservative and Liberal Democrat. They may have experience but do they have competence and have they delivered for the residents of Harrogate.
We need to act as the first point of contact for our resident’s needs, local issues and problems, such as roads, footpaths and lighting issues. Then to combine these in a structured way to feed back into North Yorkshire Council and then to influencing decision-making to benefit the residents of Harrogate.
What do you see as the main challenges for the town council ?
Initially it will be the production of the neighbourhood plan that feeds into NYC to decide the areas of Harrogate suitable for further development and ensuring the green spaces and history of Harrogate are not compromised in any way.
We also have a party specific objective to reclaim Harrogate’s assets. These were “hived up” into North Yorkshire Council when the old Harrogate Borough Council was disbanded. These assets are estimated to be around £800m (from an analysis of published accounts) and generate a significant revenue stream. This could be used to benefit Harrogate’s residents in many ways. We propose a phased approach to reclaiming our assets, starting with off street parking.
Thereafter it’s about creating a cohesive long term vision for Harrogate alongside dealing with the day to day issues, demonstrating value for money and effectiveness to the residents of Harrogate. We want to operate in a bottom up, not top-down manner and for that to work we need to engage with both local residents and businesses and other groups such as BID and the Harrogate Business Chamber to support the local economy and help create more local job opportunities.
What do you see as the main gains for the people of Harrogate ?
The main gains will be a local focus for residents to raise their issues and for them to be dealt with in a non-partisan way as the council will inevitably consist of councillors from across the political spectrum. It will act as a unifying voice for all Harrogate residents to make our views and issues known to NYC and as a powerful lobbying group for change and independence with much more influence over contentious planning issues e.g. The Harrogate Gateway and the water bottling plant extension in the Pinewoods, where a number of separate pressure groups are having to lobby and inevitably their messages get diluted. With one focus and the new council drawing these groups together we can represent all of Harrogate with one voice.
What else do you believe people should know about you and what you believe ?
I’m a business professional with an MBA from Leeds University and now run a small business in Harrogate. I entered politics in 2022 after becoming increasingly concerned about the direction our country had been taking in the last 20 or so years and stood for Parliament in 2024. I believe in inspirational leadership, setting goals and never letting people down on a promise “say what you do and do what you say”. My vision is to make Harrogate the jewel in the crown of “gods own county”.
Should a town councillor be voted for based on party or personality ?
Good question, while political affiliations are relevant people should be voting for the person too. If you think the candidate is reliable, honest, trustworthy, straight talking and has a plan rather than a lot of waffle, then vote for that candidate. After all they’re going to be the ones delivering on the ground.
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