The government has no current plans to house migrants at a former RAF base on the edge of the Harrogate district, Immigration minister Robert Jenrick has said.

The government scrapped plans last year to house 1,500 asylum seekers at Linton-on-Ouse after a fierce backlash from local people and politicians.

The former airfield is nine miles from Boroughbridge, 13 miles from Knaresborough, and even closer to Harrogate district villages such as Great Ouseburn, Little Ouseburn and Nun Monkton.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick told the Commons yesterday the government was now considering housing migrants at at Catterick Garrison in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s constituency.

Ex-military bases in Essex, Lincolnshire and East Sussex are also being assessed for suitability as part of plans to cut down on hotel use.

Former Home Secretary Priti Patel, who was behind the Linton proposal, said the proposed Essex site “is no different in rurality and village size from a former site, Linton-on-Ouse”, adding:

“Why is it deemed appropriate for asylum seeker accommodation for single men to be placed in a rural village in Essex, where there is no infrastructure and no amenities, when it was not appropriate for somewhere like Linton-on-Ouse?”

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In response, Mr Jenrick said:

“We do not have a current plan to proceed with the Linton-on-Ouse proposition, but the sites I have announced today are just the first set that we would like to take forward, because we want to remove people from hotels as quickly as possible and move to this more rudimentary form of accommodation, which will reduce pull factors to the UK and defend the interests of the taxpayer.

Labour shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper described the announcement as “an admission of failure” on asylum policy.

A new fish and chip shop is set to open in Knaresborough.

Fish-a-rama is expected to begin serving customers at around Easter on the site of a former Chinese takeaway on York Place.

Owner Aytach Sadik ran a fish and chip shop in London before moving to Harrogate 22 years ago.

Since then he was been involved with Chico’s and Bambino’s takeaways in Harrogate.

Mr Sadik said he had spent about £200,000 on the new family-run business, which he said will be a family business selling the best fish and chips around:

“We will only use fresh fish. The quality isn’t there with frozen fish. We will also serve grilled sea bass and bream on a barbecue.”

“Everything is brand new – from the electricity and gas to the fittings. We knocked it back to the bare walls.”

The family-run business is preparing to open.

Mr Sadik said the business intended to apply for planning permission to open an outdoor seating area with a retractable roof on the large forecourt outside.

In the meantime, customers will be able to take their orders and eat them at tables on the patio at the front.

Mr Sadik, who is 67, is coming out of retirement for the venture. He said:

“I did retire two years ago but it’s just not for me. How many days can you play golf?”

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A Knaresborough voluntary group has bought four plots of farmland totalling 61 acres to turn into a community green space and nature reserve.

Renaissance Knaresborough launched a fundraising campaign in December to acquire privately-owned land between Knaresborough and Starbeck.

The land between Beryl Burton Cycle Way and the A59 Harrogate Road is not currently accessible to the public and there were fears it could one day be used for development.

The campaign aimed to prevent that by reinstating part of the ancient Knaresborough forest, with the land owned by individual shareholders and open to the public for recreation and conservation.

The campaign received £160,000 of pledges from individuals and organisations and a £410,000 donation from the George A Moore Foundation in Leeds. George Moore, a successful businessman who died in 2016, was born and raised in Knaresborough.

An interest-free philanthropic loan by We Have The Power, an organisation set up by impact investor Julia Davies to empower community groups to improve local biodiversity and tackle the climate crisis, enabled a bid to be submitted to the land agents.

However, the campaigners now need to raise about £300,000 to pay back the loan. They hope to raise the sum within six months.

Liz Baxandall, chair of Renaissance Knaresborough, said:

“The combination of the loan, substantial donations and community pledges have enabled Renaissance Knaresborough to realise its dream of protecting the greenbelt and delivering such a wonderful legacy project.

“Julia’s last-minute loan enabled us to secure all the land, a goal we had thought was unrealisable.

“We are so very grateful for all the amazing support we are receiving to protect over 60 acres of beautiful greenbelt countryside between our towns.”

Campaigners celebrate the land purchase

The campaign is similar to the successful Long Lands Common initiative that raised £375,000 to buy 30 acres of land near Nidderdale Greenway.

Fears over green belt

Ms Baxandall said there were major concerns about the amount of building going on and the protection of green belt land.

Knaresborough Forest Park, she said, would “involve all ages working together to create a really special haven for nature and humans”, adding:

“We will pay off the philanthropic loan with the money people are pledging so please keep those pledges coming in.

“Pledges to buy community shares send a very clear message that Knaresborough Forest Park is hugely important to people. Over 900 people have already pledged. We cannot thank you all enough.”

Read more:

• Campaign to create Knaresborough Forest Park issues urgent plea for support
• £405,000 campaign to restore public access to 41 acres of the old Knaresborough Forest

The fields were once the eastern end of the ancient Royal Forest of Knaresborough. The land adjoins Long Lands Common at one end and drops down towards the River Nidd at the other.

George Eglese, a director of Knaresborough Forest Park, said:

“The land is already home to many species of flora and fauna with magnificent old hedges, streams, wetlands, and grasslands.

“There are panoramic views, taking in the town, the castle and St. John’s, which provide a fantastic opportunity to tell tale of ancient Knaresborough and the forest.

“The community has come together and achieved something to be incredibly proud of, something that will be there for many generations to come.”

David Simister, chief executive of Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce, is seriously ill in hospital.

The business organisation said on its website yesterday Mr Simister had suffered a “serious medical episode”.

It added:

“I am sure all our members, and friends in the wider business community of Harrogate will join us in wishing him and his family our thoughts and prayers for a positive outcome and want him to know that we will all be with him on his road to recovery.

“We are deeply saddened by the news and greatly miss David’s infectious enthusiasm and dedication.”

The message added the chamber’s management team led by president Sue Kramer and vice-presidents, Martin Mann, Sam Oakes and Jackie Snape would continue to support and represent chamber members.

Former journalist Mr Simister is well known in Harrogate. He co-founded the Harrogate communications firm Different PR and is a former councillor.

The Stray Ferret sends our best wishes to Mr Simister and hope for his speedy recovery.

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Not-for-profit care provider Harrogate Neighbours has opened a care home in Boroughbridge.

Heath Lodge Community Haven is a 31-bed home providing residential and dementia care.

The site was previously a North Yorkshire County Council-run care home called Springfield Garth.

Harrogate Neighbours acquired it as part of a swap agreement that saw the council take over the voluntary organisation’s former 28-bed Heath Lodge care home on Pannal Ash Road in Harrogate.

Harrogate Neighbours hopes its Boroughbridge home will eventually offer the same services as those provided at The Cuttings, its 55-flat development in Starbeck that includes domiciliary care as well as meals on wheels to older and vulnerable people living nearby.

It spent £500,000 refurbishing the York Road site with the help of Yorkshire interior design firm Design Tonic, which donated furniture and staff time to help create a warm and welcoming environment for residents, relatives and staff.

Design Tonic advised on colour palettes to create a calming and comfortable atmosphere and refurnished the ground floor bedrooms with fresh paint and new curtains and carpet. It also re-designed the entrance area using splashes of gold and built a feature reception desk.

Sue Cawthray, chief executive of Harrogate Neighbours said:

“We can’t thank the wonderful team at Design Tonic enough. As a not-for-profit organisation, we rely on the generosity of local businesses.

“The staff, residents and relatives have all commented on how fantastic the entrance area looks – we’re so grateful for all their hard work.”

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Design Tonic founder Amanda Cook, said:

“Working with Harrogate Neighbours and seeing first-hand the impact the transformation has had on residents and staff is why we do what we do.

“We work with a number of local charities that we align ourselves with and it’s great to share our expertise and give something back – particularly when we know what a huge difference it makes.”

Heath Lodge Community Haven received a ‘Good’ rating in all areas following a recent Care Quality Commission visit.

A Knaresborough man has turned his passion into a career by opening an aquarium store in Harrogate.

Wave Aquariums will join the many independent retailers on Commercial Street when it welcomes its first customers tomorrow.

It specialises in saltwater coral reefs and marine life, such as venomous lionfish, clownfish, anemones and bamboo sharks.

Store manager Jonny Rhodes, who has kept fish tanks since he was 14, returned from 10 years in London as a website designer to pursue the venture.

He and dad Ken, who owns the business, and mum Irene have been transforming the unit that was previously a nail salon next to Harrogate Town’s club shop.

Besides tanks, accessories and equipment, it will also sell coral reefs and have a large e-commerce offering on its website.

Mr Rhodes, who studied marine biology at university at Cambridge, said:

“I’ve been debating whether to do it for years and finally decided to bite the bullet and go for it.”

He said there was a gap in the market for marine aquariums between Leeds and York.

Harrogate Aquatic, at Moorland Nurseries on Forest Moor Road in Knaresborough specialises in tropical fish and the two businesses would complement each other, he added.

Wave Aquariums is one of 80 official retailers of Red Sea Fish products in the UK and also stocks products by other aquatic companies, including Reef Factory, Ecotech Marine and D&D Aquarium Solution.

Clownfish in the store

Besides catering for specialists, Mr Rhodes said he hoped the shop would appeal to children and passers-by and was keen to offer advice to anyone interested in keeping fish or corals.

Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones will officially open the store on Saturday afternoon at 2pm.

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A woman from Harrogate has been jailed for 10 weeks for failing to comply with a community order.

Claire Read, 28, of Fairfax Avenue, admitted the offence when she appeared at Harrogate Magistrates Court on Friday.

Read received a suspended sentence, which included a community order, on September 23 last year.

As part of this, she was required to attend an appointment on February 15 but failed to do so.

Court documents say Read was jailed for ‘wilful and persistent failure to comply with the requirements of a community order’.

The documents added her guilty plea was taken into account when the sentence was imposed.

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A 90-minute programme of archive footage of the Harrogate district has once again packed out the Odeon.

Two extra screenings were fully booked yesterday after tickets for September’s original viewings were also snapped up.

It means almost 1,000 people have watched the curated footage now.

The programme, which features clips held at the Yorkshire Film Archive in York, was commissioned by Harrogate’s Civic Society and FIlm Society.

It shows Harrogate and Knaresborough celebrating coronations in 1937 and 1953, the opening of the Odeon Cinema and Dustin Hoffman in Harrogate during filming of the 1979 film Agatha.

1970s fashion, Harrogate style

It also features the Harrogate Spa in 1930s, local railways in 1962, including the Ripon line that closed six years later, Knaresborough’s zoo and aquarium in 1968, the Knaresborough bed race in 1977, Disability Action Yorkshire, the Harrogate flower show and the Great Yorkshire Show, including a visit by the Queen in 1957.

Some of the highlights are available through the Yorkshire Film Archive website.

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• Harrogate Cricket Club launches £75,000 nets appeal

Criminals could meet their victims to apologise rather than go to court under a new restorative justice agreement in North Yorkshire.

The Community Remedy document aims to give victims of low-level crime and anti-social behaviour a greater say in how offenders should be held account.

The updated document was agreed by Chief Constable Lisa Winward and Zoë Metcalfe, the Conservative North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, after a six-week public consultation.

It lists actions that can be carried out without court proceedings by criminals who admit their wrongdoing.

The options include bringing victims and criminals together “in a safe and supported way” to allow greater understanding of each other.

Other options include criminals giving verbal or written apologies or signing acceptable behaviour contracts in which they pledge to improve their behaviour.

Those guilty of offences could also engage in reparations by repairing or paying for damage caused or litter picking, or agree to attend anger management programmes or mediation.

Ms Metcalfe urged victims to “carefully consider using the options so that offending can be addressed and community safety restored”, adding:

“Community Remedy provides a vital opportunity for victims to be consulted and input on the outcome and resolution to an anti-social behaviour offence.”

“The local options provide victims with the opportunity to ensure justice and reparation for an offence, as well as an important opportunity for perpetrators to learn about the impact of the offence and change their behaviour in the future, without being criminalised through court proceedings.”

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Chief Constable Winward said Community Remedy “can be a more meaningful resolution to some victims and perpetrators than other criminal justice outcomes and can be more effective in keeping people safe and feeling safe”. She added:

“Anyone who has been a victim of a crime or anti-social behaviour will inevitably feel the impact of that event in some way.

“In some cases, just being able to share how it made them feel with a perpetrator or for a perpetrator to reflect on their actions and offer to put things right can be extremely powerful in the healing process and allow people to move on.”

Community Remedy will only be used when criminals admit their offence and both parties agree to take part.

Harrogate Cricket Club has launched a £75,000 fundraising appeal to buy four cricket nets.

The nets would enable the club, which has four senior teams, 150 junior players and walking cricket for over-55s, to practise using some of the best facilities in the district.

It currently has only two overused nets in poor condition at its St George’s Road ground.

The crowdfunder campaign therefore initially aims to raise £30,000 and would make the new facilities open to the wider community.

The club has found donors willing to match fund that amount so the £30,000 target would generate £60,000. A further £15,000 may be required as the cost of the new nets could be as high as £75,000.

The existing nets were damaged in a recent storm.

The crowdfunding page said:

“We want to be able to provide some of the best cricket facilities in the north of England. But we’re currently falling well short of where we want to be.

“We only have two nets for hundreds of players and they are really old and tired. We have constant issues with net congestion, i.e. too many players and not enough nets and this significantly impacts our players’ ability to practise and develop.”

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The nets will, according to the club, “allow each cricketer to develop at their own pace, with enough ‘net time’ to discover their strengths and work on their confidence”.

The first team plays in the Yorkshire Premier League and is coached by former Yorkshire player Matt Pillans.

Female cricket has boomed in recent years and the club’s girls section now has three teams across three age groups.

A club graphic showing how the new nets would look.

The appeal adds:

“There is a real lack of quality net facilities in North Yorkshire. We believe we can build an outstanding facility that will serve our players, their families, and the broader cricketing community for years to come.”

You can support the campaign here.