The National Trust has formally submitted plans for a new £3.5 million building and landscape project at the Studley Royal end of Fountains Abbey, near Ripon.

The project, called Studley Revealed, aims to create a more accessible café, admission point and toilets and restore historical sightlines to the 18th century Georgian water garden created by John Aislabie.

However, the new building would be situated inside the water garden and only be accessible to people who pay to enter.

Under the proposals, the current tea room on the deer park side, which is free to enter, will close. A kiosk providing drinks and snacks will be built in the deer park car park, accessible to everyone.

The restaurant and parking at the main visitor centre will remain free for all to access.

The trust has submitted its plans to North Yorkshire Council, which will make a decision at a later date.

An illustration of the how the view of the building from the deer park might look.

London heritage architects Feilden Fowles and Edinburgh landscape architects Rankinfraser were appointed to carry out the design work.

Justin Scully, general manager of Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, said:

“The Studley Revealed project is an exciting part of the ongoing conservation of the Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal World Heritage Site. It has long been our ambition to improve the appearance of this area of the site and how visitors experience it.

“Crucially, it means we can create a place for our visitors to learn more about the fascinating history of Studley Royal, its international significance and our role in caring for it, whilst simultaneously having a more enjoyable and accessible experience.

Mr Scully added the project had been delayed by covid “but it gave us extra time to consider the feedback from our consultation in 2019 and we’ve been able to update our plans”

The trust estimated that the new facilities will open in 2025, should planning approval be granted.

Read more:

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North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue has said a fire at a village pub near Knaresborough this morning was caused by an overheating ice machine.

The Tiger Inn at Coneythorpe looks set to be closed for several weeks after suffering what was its second fire in three years.

Firefighters were summoned at 5.45am this morning.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue said in a statement:

“A number of crews attended and found a fire which had started in the kitchen and spread to the bar, toilets and a cloak room.

“Crews used breathing apparatus, four hose reel jets, positive pressure ventilation fans and thermal imaging cameras.

“Everyone was out of the property on the arrival of crews, one person was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation but did not require hospital treatment. The cause of the fire is believed to be an overheating ice machine.”

In a Facebook post, the Tiger Inn said that, while most of the pub building was fine, the kitchen was “not quite as fortunate”.

It added:

“We cannot thank the fire service and paramedics enough for their swift response and incredibly professional manner with which they dealt with the situation.

“The majority of the pub is also fine but the kitchen was not quite as fortunate. In light of this The Tiger will not be open for the next few weeks.”

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• Village pub near Knaresborough suffers second fire in three years

In November 2020, fire crews from Harrogate, Knaresborough and Acomb spent six hours battling a blaze at the pub.

The pub underwent 11 months of refurbishment before it reopened in October the following year.

Kirby Hill and District Parish Council has objected to the latest plans to build a motorway service station near to the village.

Applegreen Ltd has submitted amended plans for the scheme between junctions 48 and 49 of the A1(M) northbound, between Boroughbridge and Ripon.

It would see a Welcome Break built at the site, as well a filling station and 364 car parking spaces created.

The proposal already has outline permission after the government’s Planning Inspectorate approved the plan on appeal in April 2021.

However, the parish council has objected to the proposal on the grounds that the developer was planning “major changes” to its plan.

It added that there was already a service station planned for Catterick and one on the A168 near Thirsk, which it says “plugs the gap” for a motorway service area.

In its objection, which was sent to North Yorkshire Council by parish council clerk, Martin Rae, the authority also called for the proposal to be considered by a planning committee.

It said:

“It [the parish council] also requests that this resubmitted application is dealt with by the planning authority in full committee at Tier 1 level.

“This is because councillors believe that it cannot be considered in isolation in view of the changed wider context in which services have now been approved at Catterick and greater provision of services now exists on the A168 link to the A19 at Thirsk.”

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• Harrogate council paid £45,000 in Kirby Hill and Ripon service station legal fees
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Applegreen, which is based in Dublin, applied for amendments to its plan, including an extension to the length of the slip roads and increasing the permissible height of the eastern dumbbell roundabout by up to 1.25 metres.

In documents submitted to the council, the company said the changes were “limited design amendments”.

North Yorkshire Council will make a decision on the proposal at a later date.

The move comes after the government approved plans for the service station following a series of public inquiries and planning battles.

In a saga which has spanned a quarter of a century, Applegreen’s application has been before multiple council planning committees, faced four public inquiries and been turned down twice by the Secretary of State and the High Court.

The inquiry, which was held by planning inspector David Rose and streamed onto YouTube, lasted two weeks and included multiple testimonies from residents, campaigners and developer Applegreen.

In a decision notice, Mr Rose said after considering the evidence that the benefits of a service station would outweigh the harm.

Harrogate Town has agreed a partnership with the Duchy Hospital.

The agreement will see the hospital, which is part of Circle Health Group, offer medical check-ups, health screening and private GP appointments to first team players.

It will also see specialist clinics available to players before and after EFL League Two fixtures this coming season.

Rachel McGeachie, head of medical and physiotherapy at Harrogate Town FC, said: 

“They offer an invaluable service to the club that provides both peace of mind to the player, their families as well as the club and myself.”

Michelle Eardley, executive director of the Duchy Hospital, said: 

“As a fellow local organisation, we understand how important the club is to the community and we look forward to supporting the players and club staff throughout the season with specialist care across a range of services.”

Harrogate law firm makes new litigation hire

A Harrogate law firm has appointed a new litigation executive.

Truth Legal, which is based on Victoria Avenue, has hired Sarah Doyle to its team.

Sarah joins the firm with 30 years ‘ experience of working within the legal services industry, the majority of which has been within the personal injury sector.

She has acted for claimants involved in road traffic accidents, including 10 years spent acting on behalf of motorcyclists, and has focused on clinical negligence cases for the last three years.

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• Business Breakfast: Harrogate business groups to host summer social
• Business Breakfast: Knaresborough business meeting to give town projects update

The former Leon drive-through restaurant in Harrogate is set to become a Starbucks.

North Yorkshire Council has approved plans to change the signage around the Wetherby Road site to Starbucks branding.

Permission has been given for a total of 20 signs, just over half of which would be illuminated, including ‘totem’ signs, menus and directional signs around the drive-through.

Leon, which opened last June, closed its doors on April 2 with the loss of around 20 jobs.

It was operated by Blackburn-based EG Group, which also runs Starbucks franchises as well as brands including KFC and Greggs.

Currently, the building has been empty for four months and has been stripped of its Leon branding and signage. No date has been given for it reopening as a Starbucks.

The coffee brand has only one existing presence in the Harrogate district, on Cambridge Street in the town centre.

Read more:

• No conditions for Wetherby Road drive-thru to be a Starbucks, says council
• Leon confirms Harrogate closure amid speculation over site’s future

Following the closure of the fast-food restaurant, speculation mounted over whether a Starbucks would open at the site.

The company initially considered opening a Starbucks on Wetherby Road before Leon was announced instead.

Planning documents submitted to Harrogate Borough Council in 2019 proposed a drive-thru “to be operated by Starbucks Coffee Company” on the site.

However, following planning approval on appeal, EG Group announced a Leon would open instead.

Residents near to the drive-thru raised concern that the scheme was not as advertised in the initial plan.

The Stray Ferret asked the borough council in April 2022 how the company was able to build the scheme as a Leon drive-thru when the original approval for the site showed a Starbucks coffee shop.

At the time, a council spokesperson said:

“Permission was granted by the Planning Inspectorate for a ‘coffee shop to include a drive-thru’, not specifically for a Starbucks.

“The Inspectorate did not add any conditions to the permission they gave restricting the use of the premises solely to a coffee shop, so it can legally be used for any other use within the same use class, which includes a drive thru food and drink establishment.”

The former Leon restaurant

The Environment Agency is investigating possible pollution of Oak Beck in Harrogate.

Residents complained to the government organisation about water looking like “milky coffee” over the past couple of days.

The Stray Ferret contacted the Environment Agency to ask whether it was investigating any incident in relation to discoloured water in the beck.

A spokesperson said an officer was on site yesterday to take samples of the water.

They added:

“Over the past few days, we have received a number of reports of discoloured water in Oak Beck, Harrogate.

“An officer attended site yesterday to take samples, and we are currently investigating the possible source of the pollution.”

Hundreds of fish are believed to have died in an Oak Beck pollution incident in September last year when the water turned brown.

Dead fish could be seen in the watercourse at Oak Beck retail park.

The incident prompted leading Harrogate conservationist, Keith Wilkinson, to call on Yorkshire Water and the Environment Agency to step-up efforts to work together to prevent pollutions in the beck, which he said occur too frequently.

Oak Beck, which flows across northern Harrogate, empties into the River Nidd at Bilton.

Read more:

• Hundreds of fish killed by pollution on Harrogate’s Oak Beck
• Oak Beck will take three years to recover from pollution, says Harrogate conservationist

A war veteran is set to launch Harrogate war memorial’s centenary commemorations this year.

The 12-week commemorations will begin on September 1 and mark 100 years to the day after the memorial was unveiled in Prospect Square.

World War Two veteran Sheila Pantin, who lives in Harrogate and will celebrate her own 100th birthday in October, will launch the programme.

She won a scholarship to Leeds Girls’ High School aged 11, and went on to become one of the first women in this country to earn her public service vehicle licence.

Sheila joined the army aged just 17 and trained as an ambulance and staff car driver with the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women’s branch of the British Army, rising to the rank of sergeant.

She was also one of the first British service women to enter a German concentration camp in April 1945.

The Harrogate war memorial.

After being posted abroad in autumn 1944, she was detailed to lead a convoy of about ten three-tonne Bedford lorries across France and Belgium entering into Nazi Germany from Holland.

When she got there she was asked if she wanted to work in the camps.

Reflecting on the time, Sheila said:

“I thought they meant barracks but it turned out they didn’t mean that at all. There was the camp with this huge entrance and an awful lot of huts surrounded by barbed wire fencing.

“We were entering Belsen. I could see our boys digging out mass graves to give the bodies proper burials.

“The only people left alive were in rags and were in a terrible state. They didn’t even know how to eat.”

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It was Sheila’s job to look after the survivors in the camp, to clean them, dress them, show them how to use a knife and fork, to try to restore a little humanity after the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust.

As part of the war memorial centenary commemoration programme, a series of events will be held including 15 illustrates talked running from September 1 to Remembrance Sunday on November 12.

Meanwhile, to mark the anniversary, the names of 1,163 service men and women who died in the two World Wars and are etched onto the Harrogate memorial will feature in a multimedia exhibition called More than a Name on a Memorial.

Sheila will also give a talk on her experience during the war on Wednesday, September 27.

The exhibition and talks will be held at the West Park United Reformed Church and are free to attend.

More details of the centenary commemorations are available here.

A Knaresborough business meeting is set to give an update on a number of projects in the town.

Knaresborough and District Chamber will meet tomorrow (August 2) at The Mitre pub at 7pm.

The meeting will include a chance for networking and new businesses to introduce themselves.

It will also include updates on electric vehicle parking spaces, Feva window competition and the Christmas market.

For more information on how to attend the event, visit the chamber website here.

Harrogate hairdresser shortlisted for regional award

A Harrogate hairdresser has been named as a finalist at a regional awards ceremony.

Joseph Ferraro of Joseph Ferraro Hair has been shortlisted for the North Eastern Hairdresser of the Year title at HJ’s British Hairdressing Awards.

The ceremony, which will be held at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House in London in November, aims to celebrate the creative and technical skills of stylists from across the United Kingdom.

Mr Ferraro is one of just six finalists, each shortlisted having submitted four photographic images demonstrating the breadth of his hairdressing expertise.

He said:

“Our industry is full of such talented creatives, so to be shortlisted alongside names I admire so much feels very special.

“I’m incredibly proud of my collection and hope the judges will see the passion and time that has gone into creating it.”

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New foster carers in the Harrogate district will be offered a £500 “golden hello” payment if they are approved to look after young people.

North Yorkshire Council’s fostering service, Fostering North Yorkshire, is offering the payment to newly approved carers until December 31.

The move comes as the council is launching a recruitment drive for more foster carers over the summer.

Cllr Janet Sanderson, executive councillor for children and families at the council, said:

“We are delighted to announce the ‘golden hello’ for all newly approved foster carers between now and the end of December.

“Our foster carers are there day in, day out giving our local children a loving home and offering them support and guidance.

“Our foster carers are very much appreciated, and we are fully committed to ensuring our foster carers are properly supported and rewarded. We would encourage anyone who has been thinking of fostering to enquire now.”

Read more:

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The service currently has 181 carers looking after children in care.

However, the council said more children are coming into care and there is a national shortage of foster carers.

Those who join will receive training and support from the authority. Anyone aged over 21 can foster.

There are also payments and allowances for every night a carer fosters, most of these are tax-free.

For more information on fostering, visit the North Yorkshire Council website here.

Police have appealed for witnesses after a sexual assault in Harrogate.

Officers said the incident happened at a pizza takeaway on lower Station Parade in Harrogate at 2.30am on Saturday, July 29.

A women was approached by a man who offered money for sex, tried to kiss her and then sexually assaulted her.

Police arrested a man in his 40s in relation to the allegation of sexual assault and he has been released on bail pending further enquiries.

In a statement, North Yorkshire Police said:

“We are requesting the public’s assistance to help establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident.

“Officers would particularly like to speak with two men who were not involved but were in the pizza shop at the time the assault took place.

“Anyone with information that could assist the investigation should email Michael.crawshaw@northyorkshire.police.uk

“You can also call North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option 2, and ask for Michael Crawshaw.

“If you wish to remain anonymous, you can pass information to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

“Please quote the North Yorkshire Police reference number 12230141013.”

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