John Plummer, Author at The Stray Ferret

Councillors approve staff accommodation plan above Chinese restaurant in Ripon

Councillors have approved plans to create living accommodation for staff above a Chinese restaurant in Ripon.

North Yorkshire Council’s Skipton and Ripon planning committee met this afternoon at Ripon Town Hall to consider an application from Mr Wang, who took over The Dragon Inn on the market square in 2021.

The restaurant is part of a five-storey grade two listed building and according to planning documents, the first, second and attic levels are bedrooms for staff with a communal kitchen and bathrooms.

However, planning permission was never obtained to use the building as a house in multiple occupation so the application was part-retrospective.

It’s the second time plans have come before councillors following a deferral at a previous meeting in September.

At the time, councillors raised concerns about access to the rear of the building and fire safety.

Since then, the plans have been amended to remove the rear access and create a second internal staircase.

Architect Jonathan Green told councillors the applicant had addressed issues raised by councillors. He said:

“The Dragon Inn was dilapidated but has been much improved.”

“If approved, Ripon would benefit as the whole building would be in use. It would be a small step towards a marketplace full of occupied properties.”

Despite being recommended for refusal by a council officer, councillors unanimously voted to approve the plans saying it would create much-needed affordable housing in the city centre.

Councillors visited the site before the meeting with Andy Brown (Green Party, Aire Valley) describing it as a building that “had not been loved in a very long time.”

Cllr Barbara Brodigan (Liberal Democrat, Ripon Ure Bank and Spa) said:

“There are so many buildings where the ground floor is occupied, and upstairs is a storing room or dumping ground.

“We’re told there’s a housing shortage in the city, certainly for people on lower incomes. This is accommodation for their workers. It’s bringing people back into the city and will preserve this building.”

Cllr Robert Heseltine (Conservative and Independents Group, Skipton South) said he could find “no sound reason” to refuse the plans. He added:

“We have to put ourselves in the applicant’s shoes. They will invest a substantial sum of money to bring it back into use.”

Harrogate Spring Water submits controversial expansion plans

Harrogate Spring Water announced today it has formally submitted plans to expand its bottling plant.

The company wants to fell 450 trees, including some planted by schoolchildren in the 2000s, to develop its site off Harlow Moor Road in Harrogate.

Harrogate Spring Water is a major local employer and one of the town’s best known brands. But its bid to remove trees from Rotary Wood to create more plastic bottles has generated national controversy.

The Stray Ferret has been following the issue closely. We published this summary of the long-running saga in November shortly after Harrogate Spring Water said it planned to create a publicly accessible 1,200-tree woodland to offset the loss of trees.

The firm, which is owned by French multinational Danone, held a consultation event later that month, which attracted protestors from the Save Rotary Wood campaign group, which accused the company of greenwash.

Today Harrogate Spring Water said it had submitted plans and “is now working with the authority to progress the proposal”.

The 1,200 saplings would be planted on two acres of land immediately next to Rotary Wood and to the rear of the existing Harrogate Spring Water operations.

Richard Hall

Richard Hall, managing director at Harrogate Spring Water, said:

“As a business whose success is rooted in the town of Harrogate and its people, it is really important for us to work in partnership with the local community.

“The local community has been very clear in expressing their concern about the potential loss of trees from part of Rotary Wood which an expanded production facility could bring.

“This is why at the heart of our reserved matters application is a new community woodland which will be fully accessible to the public and we hope will become a valued resource for the local community for many years to come.”

Harrogate Spring Water has also pledged to plant 260 trees on the current Rotary Wood site where it aims to expand its production facilities.

Its press release today said “taken together with the new community woodland, this means that any trees in Rotary Wood which are removed as a result of the proposed expansion will be replaced by a ratio of 3:1”.

The release added the company was working alongside forestry experts to identify other locations in Harrogate where an additional 1,500 trees will be planted, further improving the replacement rate.

The company’s headquarters on Harlow Moor Road.

The expansion would help to create more than 50 jobs plus 20 more during construction.

Harrogate Spring Water secured outline planning permission for its expansion in 2017 from Harrogate Borough Council, which means the principle of development has been established.

The reserved matters application put forward now to North Yorkshire Council contains details on the size and design of the expanded production facility as well as information on matters including landscaping.

Councillors on the Liberal Democrat-controlled 13-person Harrogate and Knaresborough planning committee will decide whether to approve the application.

North Yorkshire fire service buys ‘pre-loved’ fire engines to cut costs

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service has started buying “pre-loved fire engines” to replace its decades old appliances as a means of balancing the books.

A meeting of the North Yorkshire and York’s police, fire and crime panel heard yesterday the service was “very close to breaking” due to a lack of government funding.

This was despite charging residents three per cent more next year for fire services and making £540,000 of savings for the second year in succession.

The meeting heard the service, which protects 820,000 residents, had recently replaced part of its 20-year-old fleet with 11-year-old appliances from a fire service that was replacing its equipment with brand new vehicles.

Chief fire officer Jonathan Dyson said the national standard was for all fire appliances to be replaced by their 15th year because after that time it became “incredibly difficult” to replace parts, but North Yorkshire’s relatively low use of appliances meant fire engines faced less wear and tear.

He said:

“Whichever face I turn someone is unhappy about what we’re trying to do here. Everything is being directed towards frontline prevention or appliances and crew.”

Chief financial officer Michael Porter said the service had ordered 16 brand new vehicles, 12 of which would be delivered next year, and it was also in the process of trying to buy another 15 second-hand appliances.

He said:

“The age of those 15 will be in the region of six to seven years old, so that will mean we will have 31 which will be relatively new, that’s about three-quarters of our appliance stock within the service.”

Panel member and former judge Martin Walker told the meeting he was particularly concerned about the service’s ability to replace its ageing appliances.

He said:

“With the best will in the world, due to financial constraints, having to buy 11-year-old vehicles, however well maintained or well built they are, is a timebomb. Even with small fire engines, which are becoming more of the norm… we are not talking about a small amount of money.”

Mr Porter said even though the fire service had learnt it would receive about £400,000 more from the government than it had been expecting last month, it would face significant financial distress for years to come if the nationally agreed pay rise for firefighters was above three per cent.

North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime commissioner Zoe Metcalfe nodded as Mr Porter told the panel:

“It does continue to be exceptionally challenging and tight. The 2.99 per cent proposed increase is below what we expect inflation to be for the financial year and is certainly below what we’re seeing in our cost increases.”

Mrs Metcalfe said she had made “strong representations” to the Home Office about the impact of pay if it went above three per cent and that the government’s funding formula for the service needed reviewing.

She added:

“It’s really innovative practise to be able to buy pre-owned… it’s going to save the service in the long-term millions of pounds. It’s really thinking outside the box as unfortunately we’re not in the position our neighbouring fire services are in.”

Council leader says Keane Duncan can fulfil duties during campervan tour

Conservative council leader Carl Les has said Keane Duncan should have time to campaign to be mayor whilst fulfilling his duties as executive member for transport.

But he warned “if he’s not pulling his weight” whilst touring the county in a campervan he will speak to him about it.

Cllr Duncan is the Conservative candidate for the York and North Yorkshire mayoral elections on May 2 but is also in charge of transport in Cllr Les’s executive.

It has led to concern that he won’t be able to give his executive role full attention.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service at the launch of the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority on Thursday, Cllr Les said Cllr Duncan has been attending all informal and formal meetings of the executive since starting his 100-tour and has also been keeping in touch with council transport officers.

Cllr Les said:

“He believes he can do both. I’ve seen no evidence that he isn’t fulfilling his role as executive member.

“He’s given up his day job too, so he has more time available each week. I’m sure he’s an honourable person and if he can’t feel he can do both roles he’ll speak to me about it. If I feel he’s not pulling his weight, I’ll speak to him.”

Before embarking on his trip around North Yorkshire to meet the electorate, Cllr Duncan stepped down from his job as a journalist at the Daily Star.

Cllr Les added:

“What he does need to do is because he’s a member of North Yorkshire Council’s executive he needs to make sure he doesn’t breach protocols about using council resources to promote himself.

“At the moment, I have no evidence he is and he needs to continue to do the job that I’ve asked him to do on the executive.”

If Cllr Duncan becomes mayor, Cllr Les will be one of two North Yorkshire councillors on the combined authority board with him. City of York Council will also have two members.

Cllr Les said Cllr Duncan didn’t need to ask his permission for the tour, which he described as eye-catching.

He added:

“He thinks that’s the right way to deliver his campaign and reach out to people. The acid test is, is he going to win and will that campaign find favour with the electorate?”

Who is standing to be mayor?

The Green Party has chosen former soldier Kevin Foster as its candidate.

Keith Tordoff will stand as an independent after previously announcing he would run for the Yorkshire Party.

Keane Duncan, who is currently in charge of transport on North Yorkshire Council, is standing for the Conservatives.

Labour has chosen local business owner and chair of the York High Street Forum David Skaith.

The Liberal Democrats have not yet decided who its candidate will be.

New fine dining restaurant opens in Harrogate

A fine dining restaurant has opened in the premises above Sukhothai on Harrogate’s Cheltenham Crescent.

Rhubarb Harrogate serves modern British cuisine under Bradford-born head chef Varun Khanna. Silviu Hasna is the restaurant director.

It offers a tasting menu at £79, a three-course set lunch for £29 and an a la carte menu that includes dishes such as monkfish tail for £29 and venison haunch for £32.

The site has had a chequered recent history. After being occupied by Le Bistrot Pierre for many years. It was briefly Samsons, HG1 Grill and World Bar and most recently The Rooftop.

The latter — a Mexican restaurant and cocktail bar — closed after just two days in August last year.

According to the restaurant’s website, Rhubarb Harrogate is an “understated modern British restaurant, where carefully sourced local ingredients take centre stage” led by “a talented chef with serious culinary heritage”.

It adds:

“Varun provides a dining experience that epitomises quality, sourcing ingredients locally to showcase the very best produce Yorkshire has to offer.”

‘Warm and welcoming’ Dacre Braithwaite school rated ‘good’ by Ofsted

Dacre Braithwaite Church of England Primary School has been awarded a ‘good’ rating in an Ofsted report.

Inspectors visited the Nidderdale school in November 2023, and their findings were published on Friday.

The report rated the overall effectiveness of the school as good, but noted that early years provision required some improvement.

It described the school, which is four miles from Pateley Bridge, as a “warm and welcoming haven set in the Yorkshire Dales.”

The report said:

“It is a friendly, caring school. Pupils enjoy being part of the Dacre Braithwaite ‘family’. They say they are proud to attend here.”

It said children feel safe and behave well and the school is ambitious for pupils’ achievement.

Reading is “given high priority”, staff are “well trained” and “staff and pupils talk about phonics with confidence”.

Three areas of improvement were identified in the report, which said “children are not as well prepared for the next stage in their education as they might be”. Some activities can lack purpose, or are without sufficient challenge to the pupils, inspectors added.

Dacre Braithwaite, which has 84 children, is part of the Leeds Diocesan Learning Trust.

Headteacher Jo Dobbs said:

“We are very pleased with the results of the report.”

Car destroyed by fire on Harrogate street

A car was destroyed by fire on a street in Harrogate today.

Firefighters from Harrogate and Knaresborough were called at 11.20am to the vehicle, which was between Silverfields Road and Roseville Avenue, near Granby Corner in Harrogate.

According to North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service‘s incident report, the car was well alight by the time the crews arrived.

The report added:

“The car was destroyed by fire and fire had spread to fencing close by. Crews extinguished the fire using breathing apparatus and a hose reel.”

Pic: Bill Shaw

Earlier at 10am, Harrogate crews were called to a burst boiler in town that had flooded a property and had affected the electrics.

Firefighters isolated the electricity and helped the people at the scene.

Readers’ Letters: Keane Duncan’s campervan trip is ‘shameless narcissist photo stunt’

Readers’ Letters is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.

This letter follows a story published by the Stray Ferret about Tory mayoral candidate Keane Duncan’s campaign.

What on earth is Keane Duncan thinking? Oh, hang on, silly me I forgot… another shameless narcissist photo stunt.

The ridiculous campervan 100-night-sleep-in with ‘Peggy’, and suggesting this is how he will operate ‘if’ elected, probably proves how amateurish this chap really is.

Instead of the endless photo opportunities and self-indulgent ‘how cool am I’ posts, Keane really should focus on the job he currently has.

Apart from throwing shade on anything or anyone that has gone before him, what has he actually achieved?

The only time we really see this chap is when a camera is out.

Simon Ewing, Harrogate

Bill Hoult served the community with ‘great devotion’

This letter is in response to the death of Knaresborough councillor Bill Hoult, which the Stray Ferret reported on earlier this week.

It was with great sadness that I learned of the passing of Bill Hoult.

Although I can’t claim to have known him very well, I did have cause to call on his services on a few occasions concerning a variety of matters.

Each time I contacted him, he listened very sympathetically to the issue and promised to do what he could to help me. He also promised to keep me informed – which he did.

Bill was an honourable, and above all, a very respected and decent man who served the community with great devotion.

Thank you and rest in peace. Sincerest condolences to his family and friends.

Colin Harrison, Knaresborough

Will housing at the former police training centre really be built?

This letter is in response to a recent story published by the Stray Ferret about final planning approval being given to build 200 homes at the former police training centre in Harrogate.

When we bought our house on Rossett Green Lane in 2013, the police college was empty and sealed off with barriers and security guards.

Plans for housing were already in place.

Now, over 10 years later, permission has finally been given for 200 houses, but there are already objections, quite properly, about local infrastructure, traffic problems, etc.

We have moved on now — will the houses get built this time round? How long will that take? Over 10 years so far and counting.

It’s easy to see why houses do not get built as required under our present system.

Tim Gray, Harrogate

Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.

Harrogate man recovers from loss of leg to play international padel tournament

Harrogate businessman Andrew Simister has recovered from the loss of a leg to take part in an international padel tournament.

Disability Action Yorkshire trustee Andrew teamed up with son Max at the Inclusive Padel Tour competition in Milan last month.

The tour, which involves 60 disabled players across five nationalities, creates tournaments where people with and without disabilities can play together.

Andrew suffered a broken back in a car accident and had his right leg amputated above the knee in 2022.

Until the accident, he was a keen sportsman who had taken part in two marathons in New York, played cricket and coached a junior Beckwithshaw Saints football team.

He was determined and continued to take part in sports after the accident with, as he describes – his “bionic leg”.

Andrew said:

“It was a fantastic weekend. It was incredible to be with so many other players ranging from amputees to wheelchair users.

“It’s the first time I’ve felt part of a community since my accident, and there’s a real sense of family and inclusion.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t get out of the group stages this time as the standard was really good.”

Andrew Simister in action

Andrew has exercised as much as possible since recovering from his injuries, and was introduced to padel tennis by friends.

The Stray Ferret previously reported he was seeking other amputee padel players in June, 2023. He often plays at Harrogate Spa Tennis Club and praised coach Carolyn Rothwell for her advice and encouragement.

His participation in the event came only months after discovering the existence of the tournament – and then contacting the organiser to become a competitor.

Andrew is keen to highlight the impact disabilities have on mental as well as physical health.

He said:

“Lying there, having my leg amputated, thinking my life was over and then accepting what happened and knowing I could recover. My leg had gone. I wasn’t going to die then and I knew it was going to be fine. I liken my situation to having an electric car. The destination is the same, but you have to plan your journey differently.”

“I was a victim of an accident, but I wasn’t going to be a victim.

“Recovery, and I spoke to a lot of people about it, is 20 percent physical and 80 percent mental.”

Andrew plans to travel to all remaining Inclusive Padel Tour tournaments this year with the final competitions taking place in Dubai and Nairobi, as well as continuing advocating for disabled people as part of Disability Action Yorkshire.

Disability Action Yorkshire, which was established in 1937 and is based in Harrogate, provides services for the disabled to aid them in achieving their aspirations.

Harrogate gets two new takeaways

Two new food venues are to open in Harrogate.

Pepe’s Piri Piri welcomed its first customers on Knaresborough Road this week while fish and chip shop Portside is preparing to open soon.

The piri piri chicken chain is known for its six different flavours, with options ranging from mango and lime to extremely hot.

Store manager Rana Hossain said after Thursday’s opening:

“I love the community, the customers were fabulous and polite.

“People seemed excited for Pepe’s coming to Harrogate, and seemed to really like the food.

“I was not expecting the sort of opening we had, to say we had not done much advertising and faced a complicated process in preparing for opening – but I am happy with the team and the nice Harrogate community.

“We have a big venue and huge variety on the menu.”

Pepe’s in Harrogate

Fish and chip business Portside already has premises in Leeds, Pontefract and South Elmsall.

The chain offers vegetarian and vegan options, and says it cooks all its fish and chips in vegetable oil.

Its arrival will increase competition in Starbeck, which already has Bradley’s Fish and Chip shop at 12 High Street, and Drakes on Knaresborough Road.

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Who is standing to be mayor?

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Bill Hoult served the community with ‘great devotion’

Will housing at the former police training centre really be built?

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