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Jun
Ripon and Knaresborough paddling pools to stay closed through heatwave
Families in Ripon and Knaresborough may have to head to Harrogate to keep cool through the heatwave, as their paddling pools are still out of action.
As the Stray Ferret reported earlier this month, the pools in Harrogate's Valley Gardens, Knaresborough's Bebra Gardens, and Ripon's Borrage Green play area were all found to be in need of repair when they were inspected ahead of the start of the summer season at the end of May.
Harrogate's paddling pool had drainage problems, but these were resolved and it reopened 10 days ago. But those in Ripon and Knaresborough, while free of drainage issues, needed to be stripped, treated and repainted before they could reopen.
The Stray Ferret understands that work is ongoing, and those pools will still be closed to the public through the current spell of warmer weather.
The paddling pool at Ripon's Borrage Green play area.
Earlier this month, a North Yorkshire Council spokesperson told us the hope was to reopen the pools by the start of the school summer holidays in mid-July.
This week, we asked for an update and were told:
We will update the public when we can. The aim remains by mid-July.
The Met Office has issued an amber weather warning for extreme heat in much of England, including the Harrogate area, through this Wednesday (June 24) and Thursday (June 25), with temperatures by day "widely expected to exceed 30 celsius" (86F), and the current forecast for Friday tops 33C (91F).
The Met Office officially defines a heatwave as a period of at least three consecutive days where the daily maximum temperature meets or exceeds a locally defined threshold. In northern England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and South West England, that threshold is 25C (77F), and in the Midlands and South East England it is 26 to 28C (79-82F).
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