Housing company buys Green Hammerton land for £21.5m development

Housing company Avant Homes Yorkshire has bought land in Green Hammerton to build a £21.5 million, 80-home development.

The development, which will be called Ambretone Park, will be built on land off the A59 between Harrogate and York.

Avant Homes has bought the land from Leeds-based Loxley Homes, which originally submitted plans for the development.

Harrogate Borough Council approved the proposal in March 2021 despite fierce opposition, with 229 residents in the village objecting on the grounds that it was over-development.

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The scheme is set to include one, two and three-bedroom homes and 40% of the properties will be designated as affordable housing.

Chris Coley, Avant Homes Yorkshire managing director, said: 

“We are very pleased to complete this land purchase and move plans forward for our Ambretone Park development.

“Green Hammerton is ideally situated for buyers that are keen to be close to York, Harrogate and Knaresborough while also benefitting from its rural setting. We are now looking forward to commencing initial groundworks this summer.”

The Wakefield-based company said groundwork on the site was due to start next month.

The first residents are expected to move into the new homes in spring 2022 with the total development build taking approximately two-and-a -half years.

Green Hammerton has also been designated as the site of a new 3,000-home development by Harrogate Borough Council.

Harrogate district records highest covid cases since January

The Harrogate district today recorded its highest daily number of covid infections since January.

According to the latest Public Health England figures, there were 57 new cases of covid.

The number is the highest daily figure since January 19 when 63 infections were reported.

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However, no covid-related deaths have been recorded at Harrogate District Hospital since April 11, according to NHS England data.

The hospital currently only has three covid patients, compared with 68 at the peak of the second wave in February.

Elsewhere, the district’s seven-day covid rate stands at 151 per 100,000 people.

The North Yorkshire average is 134 and the England rate stands at 147.

£827,100 contract to start work on Otley Road cycle path in September

An £827,100 contract is set to be awarded to undertake work on the first phase of the delayed Otley Road cycle route in Harrogate.

North Yorkshire County Council is advertising the contract, known as the West Harrogate Scheme, with the start date given as September 6.

A total of £3.2 million was set aside to build the route in 2018 but the plans have been beset by delays that have frustrated Harrogate’s cycling community.

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Tenders for the contract are due to be submitted by July 16.

Work will include widening Otley Road on the approach to Harlow Moor Road as well as the creation of a designated left turn lane on the western approach to Harlow Moor Road and designated right turn lane on the eastern approach.

An off-road cycle route would also be created between Harlow Moor Road and Cold Bath Road as part of the contract.

Traffic light junctions would also be upgraded.

The county council confirmed that the final two phases of the scheme would also be awarded via open tender.

The second phase of the cycle route will link Arthurs Avenue to Beech Grove and the third will connect Cardale Park to Harlow Hill.

Negotiations with the Duchy of Lancaster over the exchange of Stray land have caused delays.

Harrogate Borough Council agreed in March to designate a plot of land on Wetherby Road as Stray land in exchange for the loss of grass verges on Otley Road for the new cycle path.

Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive county councillor for access, told the Stray Ferret a fortnight ago that the authority expected work on the first phase to be completed “within a few months”.

New bid to welcome disabled shoppers to Harrogate

A total of 250 stickers are set to be offered to Harrogate businesses to show they welcome disabled customers.

Funded by Harrogate Business Improvement District, the stickers will be handed out by the charity Disability Action Yorkshire to shops, bars and restaurants in the town centre.

It is part of the charity’s ongoing accessibility campaign, which has recently seen it work with independent retailers on Commercial Street.

Jackie Snape, chief executive of Disability Action Yorkshire, said: 

“I’d like thank Harrogate BID for funding these widow stickers, which will alert disabled people to the fact these businesses have a different approach to accessibility.

“What they say is if people can’t physically enter the premises, then staff will be more than happy to come out to them, which more and more shops are now happy to do.

“We have recently been working with Commercial Street businesses, and they have been incredibly receptive to our accessibility campaign, and this is where our BID-sponsored stickers are first appearing.”

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Matthew Chapman, Harrogate BID manager, said: 

“One of our key aims is to increase footfall into Harrogate town centre by making safe, welcoming and accessible for all, and Disability Action Yorkshire’s accessibility campaign falls into all three of these categories.”

Exclusive: Great Yorkshire Showground gave 117,000 vaccines in six months

Harrogate’s Great Yorkshire Showground vaccination site administered more than 117,000 vaccines in its six months of operation, the Stray Ferret can reveal.

The centre gave its final jab on June 19.

Doctors involved in setting up the site have said they are “immensely proud” of what it achieved.

Dr Cath Dixon, Yorkshire Health Network Director and GP at Knaresborough’s Stockwell Road Surgery, told the Stray Ferret that it was a “privilege” to be part of the vaccination programme.

She said:

“It was a real privilege. 

“I was one of the doctors working there in December when it opened and it was a privilege to work with those patients who had been hibernating for so long.

“The emotions ran high that day.”

Dr Dixon said the site was a “great challenge” to set up, but that GPs achieved what they set out to do and vaccinate the vulnerable.

She added that the site would not have been able to do that without the many volunteers and marshals who kept the centre running on a daily basis.

Six months of vaccinations

In total, the Great Yorkshire Showground site carried out 117,371 vaccines in the six months it was open.

A total of 17 GP practices came together to help open the site, which administered its first jab on December 22, and 450 people have worked on the vaccination programme.

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Practitioners settled on the showground because of its size and the need to keep batches of the Pfizer vaccine refrigerated on site.

At full capacity, the centre could give up to 1,800 vaccines a day and reached its 100,000th jab in April.

Dr Chris Preece, a GP partner in Boroughbridge and Knaresborough who helped to draw up the site plans.

Dr Chris Preece, a GP partner in Boroughbridge and Knaresborough who helped to draw up the site plans

Dr Chris Preece, clinical director of the Knaresborough and Rural Primary Care Network, one of the GPs who helped set up the centre, said:

“We are proud to have been part of the largest NHS vaccination programme in history, but it’s clear that this would not have been possible without the help of our many partners.

“In particular, we are grateful for the use of both the YEC and Ripon Racecourse sites, and to their teams who helped to both establish the sites and to keep them functioning.”

He added:

“It would have been impossible to achieve what we’ve achieved without the tireless assistance of our volunteers, provided by a raft of extraordinary voluntary sector organisations across the Harrogate and rural area – as well as our own staff, both those who have combined duties with their ongoing work at GP surgeries and those who came out of retirement in order to make this happen.”

Vaccinations will still carry on at Ripon Racecourse, Pateley Bridge and Knaresborough pharmacies.

The Ripon site has so far given 24,218 vaccines and is set to continue offering appointments for second doses.

Other large-scale vaccination sites, such as Elland Road stadium in Leeds and Askham Bar in York, will also be available to Harrogate residents who have yet to have the vaccine.

Anyone aged over the age of 18 can now book a vaccination through the NHS National Booking Service website, or by calling 119.

Thirty-four covid cases reported in Harrogate district

Thirty-four more covid cases have been reported in the Harrogate district.

According to Public Health England figures, it takes the total number of infections since last March to 8,204.

The district’s seven-day covid rate currently stands at 103 case per 100,000 people.

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Elsewhere, the North Yorkshire rate is 93 and the England average is 112.

However, no covid-related deaths have been confirmed at Harrogate District Hospital since April 11.

The death toll at the hospital since the pandemic started remains at 179.

Police urge people to avoid Cold Bath Road area due to ongoing incident

Police have urged the public to stay away from the Cold Bath Road in Harrogate this afternoon as they deal with an incident.

A heavy police, fire and ambulance presence has been reported. Officers have been diverting people away from the area.

An eye witness reported that officers have closed off Belmont Road and Belmont Close, adjacent to Cold Bath Road.

A North Yorkshire Police statement said:

“Emergency services are at the scene of an incident in Belmont Road Harrogate involving a distressed man on the roof of a building.

“It was reported at 12:50pm on 25 June and officers are working to bring the incident to a safe conclusion.

“The road has been closed for safety reasons, to protect members of the public and to assist the emergency services while the incident is ongoing.

“We urge members of the public to stay away from the area to assist the emergency response.”

Contractors invited to bid for £60 million Kex Gill works

Contractors have been invited to bid to take on the works for the £60 million A59 Kex Gill scheme.

The North Yorkshire County Council highways project will see a section of the road between Harrogate and Skipton realigned.

The new road, which is expected to take a year to complete, will divert traffic away from the landslip-prone part of the A59 route.

This section has a history of causing unsafe driving conditions and delayed journeys, as well as high maintenance costs

Work on the project could start as early as this autumn. Earlier this year, the government declined to have a final say on the scheme, clearing the way for it to begin.

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Now, contractors have been invited to tender for the works.

Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive member for access at the county council said:

“We are pushing forward with this scheme to provide a safe, reliable route for residents, businesses and visitors.

“This stretch of road has experienced closures in recent years because of land slips. These have disrupted travel, enforced long diversions and been costly. The realignment of the route will provide much better connectivity for all road users.”

Cllr Stanley Lumley, member for Pateley Bridge division, said: 

“This is another step towards the delivery of this long-anticipated scheme. Locals, commuters and visitors will all benefit from enhanced safety and reliability of the road. We look forward to work beginning.”

New footbridge for RHS Harlow Carr given go-ahead

A new footbridge at RHS Harlow Carr has been given council approval.

Harrogate Borough Council gave the go-ahead to the proposal, which will see the wooden bridge cross over Queen Mother’s Lake.

It forms part of proposals to improve the visitor experience at the attraction.

Liz Thwaite, head of site, said:

“The new bridge is part of our overall masterplan for the RHS Harlow Carr site, and will improve the flow of people and the overall visitor experience.”

Meanwhile, RHS Harlow Carr has partnered with illustrator and children’s author, Chris Riddell, to transform the gardens with an Alice in Wonderland theme this summer.

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It will offer families the chance to view the gardens through the eyes of Alice, encountering topsy-turvy installations along the way.

The event, which is being held in partnership with charity Macmillian Publishers, celebrates 150 years of the classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There stories by Lewis Carroll.

RHS Harlow Carr is also set to open a sculpture exhibition at the gardens this summer.

The Four Seasons, a collection of busts by contemporary American artist and filmmaker Philip Haas, will go on display from July 7 until summer 2022.

The 15ft tall fibreglass heads are three-dimensional interpretations of Renaissance paintings created by Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo in the late 16th century.

Paul Cook ,RHS Garden Harlow Carr Curator,  said:

“These sculptures feel as though they’re made for garden lovers, and we’re looking forward to hearing what our visitors think as they encounter them around the garden. 

“The locations of the Four Seasons have been carefully chosen with the artist to interact with the planting schemes.

“Summer is set in a woodland glade surrounded by meadow flowers, whilst Winter in the woodland echoes the mature trees around the sculpture. 

“Autumn will be a talking point as the real-life fruit and vegetables in our kitchen garden mature through the growing season and the spotlight will be on Spring, also in the woodland, next year, as new foliage emerges once again.”

Harrogate district village rallies to save phone box

A village phone box has been saved after residents objected over concerns that it may be required for emergency use.

BT launched a consultation on a proposal to remove the red phone booth from Grantley, near Ripon, after it said there was sufficient mobile coverage in the area.

It planned to remove the phone box, along with two others in Bishop Monkton and Markington.

However, Grantley and Sawley Parish Council objected to the move over concerns that the village has a defibrillator which is used by residents and passing cyclists and walkers.

In a letter to BT, David Taylor, clerk of the parish council, said:

“The parish council supports a defibrillator in the village for the benefit of the local community and for walkers and cyclists who regularly pass through the village.

“It is absolutely essential that a reliable means of telecommunication exists in the event that the defibrillator unit requires deployment.

“Until there is a universal and reliable mobile telephone and broadband service in the area, the village are very much opposed to the de-commissioning and removal of the payphone.”

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As a result, Harrogate Borough Council objected to the removal of the phone box. 

However, it has offered no objection to removing those on Boroughbridge Road in Bishop Monkton and High Street in Markington.

A BT spokesperson confirmed the booth would remain in place and added that the company was encouraging residents to adopt red phone boxes for community use.

The spokesperson said:

“With the vast majority of people now using mobile phones, it’s led to a huge drop in the number of calls made from pay phones. At the same time, mobile coverage has improved significantly in recent years due to investment in masts.

“There are many pay phones that see no calls made from them each month. So, we’re giving communities the chance to decide how best they can use their local phone box.

“We’ve consulted with Harrogate Borough Council on the proposed removal of three pay phones in the area. The council raised an objection to the removal of a payphone in Grantley, so the service will stay in place. We received no objection to the removal of two pay phones in Markington and Bishop Monkton.

“For iconic red kiosks, we’re encouraging communities or charities to adopt them for only £1, so they can transform them into things like lifesaving heart defibrillator units, or libraries. Communities can also adopt glass ones for defibrillators. More than 6,400 kiosks have been adopted already through our website, bt.com/adopt.”

Last year, BT Group announced plans to remove 32 inactive booths across the Harrogate district, 22 of which were built in the traditional red style.

Oatlands Community Group saved a disused red phone box on St Hilda’s Road from the scrapheap by turning it into a community library.