Homeless people are set to benefit from new purpose-built housing in Bilton after plans were given the go-ahead by councillors.

Harrogate Borough Council has approved its own plans to demolish 10 garages on Woodfield Close to make way for two homes providing temporary accommodation.

Maggie Gibson, housing needs manager at the authority, told a planning committee meeting yesterday that the single-bed properties will be for people who are unable to use shared accommodation because of their complex needs. She added:

“This is accommodation where they will reside in for an extended period of time, but it means they can move on and enable other people to also use the pathway.

“It could be up to two or three years that they stay there because people’s circumstances change.”

Using garage sites to bring forward new homes has been a tactic used by the council to tackle Harrogate’s housing problems, with plans for affordable homes recently approved in Pannal and Ripon.

The Woodfield Close site is located near the footbridge which connects to the Nidderdale Greenway, and some garages will be retained.

The area will also be resurfaced to provide five public parking spaces, with potential for electric vehicle charging points.

Read more:

• Councillors vote to defer decision on 53 homes in Bilton
• Majority of residents want 20mph speed limit, councillor says

No solar panels

There are, however, no plans for solar panels on the two properties after council officers said they ran into complications with tariffs and shared roof spaces.

Councillor Pat Marsh, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrat group, expressed disappointment over this and that the homes are to be heated by gas boilers and not more environmentally-friendly methods such as air source heat pumps. She said:

“I will support this because of the need for this type of accommodation, but I’m really upset that this local authority hasn’t thought of another way of using anything but gas.

“We know that in a few years gas boilers are being phased out by the government.

“This council has got to start to grasp that there is a climate emergency.”

People who have lost babies are being invited to light a candle or leave a message at St Peter’s Church, Harrogate next week.

Baby Loss Awareness Week, which runs from October 9 to 15, is an awareness and support campaign around pregnancy and baby loss.

One in four pregnancies ends in miscarriage and 250 babies are stillborn every day in the UK.

Reflect, a pregnancy loss support charity, will be holding a Light a Candle remembrance event from 12.45pm to 2pm on Tuesday at St Peter’s Church. People will be able to light a candle or leave a message in remembrance of their loss.

Baby Loss Awareness Week, now in its 20th year, enables those affected to come together to remember and commemorate lost children.

The week also provides an opportunity to raise awareness of the impact of pregnancy and baby loss and the importance of bereavement support.

Tanya Allen from Reflect charity said:

“We hope that our Light a Candle event will provide an opportunity for local bereaved parents and families to remember their precious babies. We also would like anyone dealing with the pain of pregnancy and baby loss to know that there is support available; at Reflect we provide free one-to-one support for individuals and couples.”

Baby Loss Awareness Week is observed internationally and culminates with the Wave of Light on October 15, when people across the world light a candle at 7pm local time and leave it burning to remember all babies that have died too soon.

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A decision on plans for 53 homes in Harrogate has been delayed after concerns were raised that the site is likely to be contaminated by coal and tar spillages from a former railway track.

More than 300 residents objected to the Knox Lane plans and also paid for their own experts to assess the site, which was once part of a railway that transported carriages between gasworks and Bilton Junction.

An agent for the developers Jomast told a Harrogate Borough Council meeting today that the firm had carried out initial ground investigations and was committed to providing more information to council officers who had recommended approval.

However, councillors said they could not support the plans until they had seen the full investigation outcomes for themselves.

The proposed development

There were also further concerns over flooding, the discovery of badger setts, a lack of public transport connections and that the development of the site near Oak Beck could cause “ecological damage”.

Councillor Robert Windass, a Conservative who represents Boroughbridge, said much more work was needed on the proposals which he described as “wrong, wrong, wrong”. He said:

“I’ve heard nothing from the developers or our officers that would make me wish to support this application.

“Unless I feel the applicant has done a proper contamination assessment and got a full report when it comes back to this committee, I’m afraid I won’t be supportive.”

The plans first submitted in April 2020 initially included 73 homes, but this was reduced to 53 after local complaints.

Despite further changes, residents have continued to strongly oppose the development with a total of 313 objections and no letters of support being submitted to the council.

Residents’ concerns are so strong that they commissioned a toxicology specialist to examine the proposals.

Read more:

• Controversial Knox Lane housing plans recommended for approval
• Bilton garages set to be demolished for housing

Dr Damien Bowen told today’s meeting that he believed “extensive investigations” were needed due to the health and environmental risks of the likely presence of contamination. He said:

“While the potential land contamination is considered, concerns over polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), other toxic metals and their known adverse health effects cannot be dismissed.

“Humans may be exposed to PAHs in the air, water and food, and when such a site is distributed these compounds are distributed into the environment.”

The field earmarked for development.

Ward councillor Paul Haslam also argued that these concerns have not been taken seriously enough by the council, which he claimed had taken no notice of “compelling” evidence that the plans should not be approved. He said:

“The developer’s hands seemed to have been held throughout this process, whereas residents have been ignored.”

The proposals – which include 30 homes classed as affordable – will be brought back to another meeting of the council’s planning committee in the coming months.

Another day of strikes on the rail network means no trains on the Harrogate and Knaresborough line.

Roadworks are affecting several key routes in Harrogate, Ripon and Knaresborough. The wet condition are also likely to cause problems.

Roads

Delays are likely due to roadworks at York Place in Harrogate. according to North Yorkshire County Council’s live roadworks map.

Roadworks are also scheduled for Duchy Road and the lane closure remains in place at Crescent Road.

The roadworks on Dragon Road are due to be in place until Friday.

Delays are also expected due to work outside the Curious Cow pub, where Otley Road meets Skipton Road.

The A59 York Road, between Station Road and the A658 at Goldsborough, remains closed overnight until October 6. A diversion will be in place.

The closure will be in place while North Yorkshire County Council carries out resurfacing work. The council website says the work will be  carried out between 8pm and 5am but one reader told us yesterday it was until 6am.

At Blossomgate in Ripon, work is due to take place to replace and reset the kerb and improve the road.

Trains and buses

There are no Northern trains today due to a rail strike.

The company is not operating trains today and says there will be “a very limited service on Saturday and customers are advised not to travel” when another strike is planned.

Services are also expected to be affected on Sunday, especially in the morning.

The Harrogate Bus Company has produced a guide to alternative travel on strike days. You can read it here.

A man was rescued from a flat that caught fire above a Ripon restaurant today.

Ripon firefighters were called to the first flor flat on High Skellgate in the city centre at 2.59pm this afternoon.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service‘s incident log said:

“Crews rescued a male occupant inside the flat.

“He was left in the care of ambulance with smoke inhalation and burns.”

The incident log added that fire damaged the kitchen and the rest of the flat suffered heat and smoke damage.

Firefighters wore breathing apparatus to tackle the blaze.

Read more:

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A three-year project to create a planetarium in the Harrogate district could come to fruition next month.

The planetarium is based at the Lime Tree Observatory at Grewelthorpe, near Ripon.

The observatory, which opened to the public in 2016, has a 24-inch telescope, screen and sound system and hosts presentations for up to 25 people

Self-confessed planetarium geek Martin Whipp and several other enthusiasts are now close to finalising their latest ambitious venture. It will be one of only about 20 fixed planetariums in the country, and the closest for miles around.

A barn has been converted but the electricity supply needs upgrading before the project can start, and Mr Whipp said he hoped this might happen by mid-November.

Mr Whipp has been to about 100 planetariums around the world and even booked a cruise on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 because it has a planetarium.

Martin Whipp

He said the one at Grewelthorpe would be an interactive facility rather than “one where someone just presses play and you watch”.

But because all those involved are volunteers, it will be open mostly for private bookings at set times.

The observatory is holding three Halloween-themed events during half-term at the end of the month as part of the Dark Skies Festival.

All three have sold out, but the observatory plans to stage three more Christmas-themed events on December 19, 20 and 21.

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Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee has deferred a decision on whether to allow 53 houses to be built on Knox Lane in Bilton.

At an unusually busy and noisy meeting this afternoon, attended by some residents, Cllr Rebecca Burnett, who chairs the committee, had to appeal for members of the public not to applaud or heckle.

A 30-page report to councillors by case officer Andy Hough recommended they approve the application by developer Jomast,

But councillors were cheered when they raised concerns about issues such as flooding, contamination and housing sizes.

They voted to ask Joomast to come back with more detailed information — and warned if it wasn’t forthcoming they would be minded to reject the scheme.

Cllr Nigel Simms, a Conservative representing Masham and Kirkby Malzeard, told the meeting:

“I haven’t heard anything that will convince me that the landscape is not worth protecting from the builder’s cement mixer.”

Councillor Sue Lumby, a Conservative who represents Harrogate Coppice Valley, said the fact the application had received 320 objections highlighted the high level of concern. She said:

“Clearly local residents are very concerned about this on many levels.”

A full report on today’s meeting will be published on the Stray Ferret soon.

Read more:

• 53 homes on Bilton’s Knox Lane recommended for approval tomorrow
• GPs ‘extremely concerned’ Knox Lane housing will put pressure on health services

Harrogate pantomime star Tim Stedman will be returning for a 22nd season this festive season, it was announced today.

Mr Stedman has become as much a part of Christmas in Harrogate as the Bettys hamper and lights on the Stray.

He will return to play Wishee Washee in Aladdin, which runs from November 23 to January 15 at Harrogate Theatre.

This year’s performances include a socially distanced show on November 27 and a signed show on December 10.

Pantomime season is just around the corner and we’re delighted to announce our Aladdin cast! 🪔🧞‍♂️✨
⁣
First up, he needs no introduction. Back for his 22nd pantomime, Tim Stedman will be playing the role of Wishee Washee!🥳

🗓 WED 23 NOV – SUN 15 JAN
🎟 https://t.co/5vsJFP9Vjp pic.twitter.com/mHYYxbzG7c

— Harrogate Theatre (@HGtheatre) October 4, 2022

Panto regular Howard Chadwick will also be back, playing Widow Twankey, Ebony Feare will be the genie and Colin Kiyani takes the title role of Aladdin. Marcus Romer will direct the production at the town’s Victorian theatre.

It will be the first pantomime since 2019 not affected by covid.

David Bown, chief executive of the theatre, said:

“We are going back to the cast levels and production levels of 2019 and everything is going very well.

“Tim loves Harrogate as much as we live him. I’m excited to see the rest of the cast as well.”

Tickets are currently available for every day, but availability on some dates close to Christmas is extremely limited. Prices start at £18 on most days.

Spofforth Church of England Primary School has been rated ‘good’ in its first full Ofsted inspection for a decade.

Inspectors visited the school on July 20, at the end of the summer term, and said pupils were “confident and articulate” and “proud to attend this happy and welcoming school”. They said:

“Pupils are proud to attend this happy and welcoming school, where everyone knows each other by name. Christian values are at the heart of school life and reflected in the stated ambition to ‘love, learn, thrive’.

“Pupils are confident and articulate. They enjoy leading collective worship and performing in school productions.”

Senior leaders, they added, had “high expectations of what pupils can achieve”.

Children flourish in early years and have strong personal development, read a range of interesting books and follow a clear mathematics curriculum.

But the inspectors said “the curriculum is not as well developed” in some subject areas other than reading and mathematics and also noted:

“Some pupils behave inappropriately and are sometimes disrespectful to other pupils and members of staff. However, pupils have a good understanding of what bullying is and are adamant this does not happen.”

The 101-pupil school, which is part of the Follifoot and Spofforth Church of England Federation of Primary Schools, received a ‘good’ rating at its last full inspection in 2012. A short inspection in 2017 came to the same conclusion.

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David Harrington, chair of governors, said:

“Everyone at Spofforth CE Primary and across our federation is very pleased with the outcome of our most recent inspection.

“We are delighted that the inspector recognised the strong sense of community where everyone knows each other by name.

“We are particularly proud of the strength in our federation EYFS class where children from both schools access such high quality education.

“I would like to thank the children, parents, governors and staff for their hard work and support which is reflected in this report.

“As a school and federation we are ready to focus on the agreed areas for development in the report in order to ensure that all our children have the best possible education and love, learn and thrive across the federation.”