John Plummer, Author at The Stray Ferret

Knaresborough named as up-and-coming British destination

Knaresborough has been named as one of Britain’s up-and-coming travel destinations in a new survey.

Holiday rental website HomeToGo published the names of 10 places today tipped to be rising star travel spots during 2024.

The locations were chosen based on the percentage increase in searches and the cost of accommodation.

Knaresborough, which is the highest ranked place in Yorkshire, came eighth. Glenridding, in Cumbria, was first.

Searches for Knaresborough increased by 64% and the survey lists the median average nightly price as £138.04.

People visit Knaresborough, it says, for “rowing boats on the River Nidd, breathtaking views from Knaresborough Castle, and the intriguing Mother Shipton’s Cave”.

Mother Shipton’s

The top 10 is:

1 Glenridding

2 Kirkby Lonsdale

3 Ross-on-Wye

4 Kendal

5 Norwich

6 Solihull

7 Tynemouth

8 Knaresborough

9 Orkney

10 Hebden Bridge

New plans for 146 homes in Harrogate

Plans have been submitted to build 146 homes in Harrogate.

Cumbrian housebuilder Story Homes has applied to North Yorkshire Council for permission to build the homes on land east of Otley Road in Harrogate.

A media release by Story Homes today said the land is allocated for housing in the Harrogate District Local Plan 2014-35, which outlines where development can take place.

The development would be built in partnership with housing association Home Group and 40% of the homes would be classed as affordable.

The scheme would include landscaped open space and a £500,000 community infrastructure levy, which is a charge levied by local authorities on new developments.

The site off Otley Road.

Today’s media statement said:

“The scheme proposes a mix of high quality, high specification homes designed for modern living, with open plan living spaces and enviable kerb appeal.

“Properties will range from one-bedroom apartments to six-bedroom detached homes and will include fully fitted designer kitchens with A-rated appliances, as well as luxurious finishes throughout.”

Hannah Richins, planning manager for Story Homes North West said the scheme would “introduce our beautifully crafted homes into a new housing market”.

Home Group, under its brand Persona Homes, has already delivered over 220 homes on Skipton Road in Harrogate.

Kitson Keen, director of development at Home Group said:

“Story Homes deliver high quality properties which will enhance the availability of quality affordable homes in Harrogate.”

£15m bid to transform Harrogate’s Grove House into care home approved

A £15 million transformation of Harrogate’s Grove House into a major new care home and community facility has finally been approved.

Grove House, a grade two listed building opposite the fire station on Skipton Road, was the home of Victorian inventor, philanthropist and mayor Samson Fox.

It was later used as a hospital during the First World War and as the headquarters of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes.

Harrogate’s Graeme Lee, chief executive of Springfield Healthcare, bought the six-acre site from the Buffaloes for more than £3m in 2017.

Samson Fox lived at Grove House.

Plans were submitted five years ago to create what Mr Lee calls “the holy grail of care”, combining high quality facilities for residents with extensive community use.

Now, after a lengthy planning process, North Yorkshire Council has published a decision notice approving the application, subject to conditions.

It means Grove House can undergo extensive conversion work to create a care home consisting of 24 flats. In addition, a 62-bed care home and eight houses providing supported living for over-65s will be built on land alongside Grove House.

How the site will look.

An aerial view of the site.

Grove House, which is hidden from traffic on Skipton Road, has stood derelict for years.

Talking about the project last year, Mr Lee said schoolchildren from nearby Grove Road Community Primary School will be invited to participate in activities alongside residents and use the gardens for study and play, and the site would also host an annual garden party for the community.

He said it would become “one of the best examples of developing relationships between older people and young people in the UK”.

Mr Lee’s company already owns seven care homes, including Harcourt Gardens in Harrogate,

Harrogate’s Crimple bought by Weetons food hall owner

The Stray Ferret understands that the owner of Harrogate firm Weetons has bought Crimple, the garden centre, food hall and gift shop in Pannal.

Crimple underwent a £6 million refurbishment and rebranding in 2021.

It’s not known how much the TGH Property Group, which is owned by Tim Whitworth, has paid to acquire Crimple.

Weetons on West Park

TGH, which is based at Bramham, near Wetherby, also owns Weetons, whose flagship Harrogate food hall on West Park opened 20 years ago.

Last year it also began operating in Leeds.

We will bring further details of this story when available.

Tim Forber set to be North Yorkshire’s new top cop

Tim Forber, the current deputy chief constable of South Yorkshire Police, has been named as the preferred candidate to become the next chief constable of North Yorkshire Police.

Zoë Metcalfe, the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for York and North Yorkshire, today announced she had identified Mr Forber to succeed Lisa Winward, who is retiring from the £154,000-a-year role at the end of March next year.

The appointment has been mired in controversy because Ms Metcalfe’s role will be abolished shortly after the candidate she hired is appointed.

The commissioner’s role will be taken over by whoever is elected Mayor of York and North Yorkshire in May 2024.

It means the new mayor will inherit a chief constable they didn’t appoint.

Lisa Winward will retire on March 31.

Ms Metcalfe rejected advice to delay the appointment by North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel, which scrutinises her performance.

The Conservative commissioner has also complained about Tory mayoral candidate Keane Duncan, who she claimed used “inappropriate language” to influence her chief constable recruitment. An investigation found no wrongdoing.

Today Ms Metcalfe’s office issued a statement which said Mr Forber had been selected “following a robust recruitment process” that ended yesterday.

The two-day process on December 11 and 12 involved a presentation to local internal and external stakeholders, a media exercise and a panel interview. It also included candidates having to design a presentation based on the results of an online survey conducted by Ms Metcalfe.

‘The right qualities’

Mr Forber joined South Yorkshire Police as assistant chief constable in December 2016 and was promoted to deputy chief constable in June 2021.

Ms Metcalfe will now put Mr Forber to the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel on January 11.

Ms Metcalfe said:

“His depth of experience and commitment to collaboration and local neighbourhood policing across rural and urban areas was clear from the interview process.

“I have every confidence he has the right qualities to drive forward North Yorkshire Police to be an outstanding service and to keep people safe and feeling safe.”

Mr Forber said:

“I am hugely honoured to be selected as the preferred candidate to be the next chief constable of North Yorkshire Police. I am looking forward to working tirelessly on behalf of the communities of York and North Yorkshire to ensure they have an outstanding police service. “

Man hospitalised after assault outside Ripon bar

A man was taken to hospital with facial injuries after being attacked outside a Ripon bar.

North Yorkshire Police said today the man was attacked at about 3.40am on Sunday morning (December 10) outside Wonderland on North Street.

Wonderland is a late night bar that stays open until 4am at weekends.

A police statement said:

“A male suspect was arrested and has been released on conditional bail.

“We would like to speak to anyone who witnessed the assault and has any information that can help with the investigation.”

You can email amy.sharrad@northyorkshire.police.uk, or call 101, select option 2 and ask for DC 618 Amy Sharrad.

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

Quote reference number 12230233886.

Beatles poster at Harrogate’s Royal Hall fetches £3,000 at auction

An original poster for The Beatles when they played at the Royal Hall in Harrogate has fetched £3,000 at auction.

The Fab Four performed their only Harrogate gig on March 8, 1963 — just as they were on the cusp of superstardom.

They were supported by two local Harrogate bands, The Apaches and The Mustangs.

One of the members of The Apaches kept this poster, and it was purchased in the 1980s by the vendor from a picture framer in Harrogate.

It sold for £3,000 at Tennants Auctioneers’ toys, models and collectables sale on Friday last week (December 8).

A copy of The Beatles White Album, autographed by Paul McCartney, also sold for £1,800.

The album was purchased by the vendor in 1968 from Wilson’s in Norwich, but he was able to get it signed by his musical hero in 2001 visited the University of East Anglia where he worked.

Tennants Auctioneers, in Leyburn, North Yorkshire, holds over 80 sales a year.

Were you one of the lucky ones who went to this concert and can remember it? Send us your memories on contact@thestrayferret.co.uk

Andrew Jones MP accuses Lib Dems of covertly targeting his movements

Andrew Jones MP has accused Liberal Democrats of covertly following him after his car was photographed in Harrogate without valid MOT.

Mr Jones has written to Lib Dem leader Ed Davey claiming the Harrogate and Knaresborough party has “gone off the rails” and is a “rogue political organisation”.

He has also contacted the police because of concerns of a breach of the nationwide security programme Operation Badger, which was set up to protect MPs in the wake of the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox in 2016.

The Lib Dems have described his claims as “unsubstantiated” and called his attack “bizarre”.

Mr Jones’ intervention comes after the Stray Ferret published an article last month showing his car parked in Starbeck without valid MOT.

We were sent the photo from a person calling themselves Mrs T Neale, Lady Blueberry Blower of Ripon Town.

The Conservative MP said at the time he was “embarrassed by my oversight” but his letter to Mr Davey, seen by the Stray Ferret, says it “appears I may have been followed to a remembrance event” and this was “a covert act”.

It adds it was part of a pattern of behaviour.

The letter says:

“We can disagree on policy. That is normal in politics. But none of these things have been about policy. When the police have had to be involved I am sure you recognise that something has gone very wrong with standards.

“Your Liberal Democrat association in Harrogate and Knaresborough is a rogue political organisation.

“It is operating in an underhand and dishonest way. This is not merely a problem with one individual at one time. It is a systemic issue where within the organisation the norms of political discourse have been supplanted by attacks on the individual, anonymous briefings, campaigns to plant messages about me surreptitiously on social media and even the attempted weaponising of a person who most believe had severe mental health problems.”

Mr Jones’ letter said he first met the Lib Dems chief whip in 2013 about local political opponents “publishing lies about my expenses” and thought at the time “this behaviour was a one-off act of silliness – maybe even a mistake”.

But he said he had now concluded that subsequent actions indicate it can’t be anything other than “locally inspired by the Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrat association which has simply gone off the rails”.

The letter adds:

“These actions span a period of 10 years so it is clear that the behaviour is ingrained into their ways of working.

“Quite simply, this is a political organisation that has gone rogue.”

The letter was copied to Daniel Greenberg, the parliamentary commissioner for standards.

A spokesperson for the Harrogate Liberal Democrats said in response to Mr Jones’ claims:

“If Mr. Jones feels strongly about these unsubstantiated claims, then we would point him to our party’s independent complaints process.

“This is a bizarre letter, and surely it would be far better to have an MP focused on the issues which matter to local people, including a lack of NHS dentist appointments and a hospital with a crumbling roof.”

Harrogate and Knaresborough MP won’t say if he will support Rwanda bill

Harrogate and Knaresborough‘s Conservative MP Andrew Jones has declined to say whether he will support the government’s Rwanda bill tomorrow.

The Safety of Rwanda Bill aims to block legal challenges that prevent deportation flights of asylum seekers from taking off. The government is bringing forward the bill after the Supreme Court ruled its previous attempt to send asylum seekers to Rwanda was unlawful.

The verdict triggered the resignation of Home Secretary Suella Braverman and has led to threats of a rebellion from the right of the Conservative Party, which fears the new bill does not go far enough.

At the same time, some more centrist Conservatives are concerned the bill ignores international law.

If the Conservatives lose the vote, it would be a serious blow to the authority of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

The Stray Ferret asked Mr Jones if he would vote in favour of the bill.

He replied:

“We should not think of the Rwanda bill in isolation. It is part of a number of measures designed to deter people from making the dangerous journey across the English Channel.

“Among these measures are new returns agreements with Albania, enhanced deals with the French authorities, greater support for asylum application processing and more besides. These measures have led to crossings coming down by a third this year already.”

Mr Jones went on to say he “will be looking closely at the bill and any amendments which might be selected for debate by the Speaker”, adding:

“When considering those amendments my thoughts will be about how we break the people smuggling gangs and, most importantly, how we stop the grim certainty of more fatalities in our coastal waters.

“This issue is not confined to the UK; we see it again and again in the Mediterranean too. Breaking these gangs requires an international effort and I know we are working closely with partners on how this is done to the best effect.”

‘Two in one’ burglars strike in Harrogate

Thieves broke into a house in Harrogate and stole car keys before making off with a Kia Picanto.

North Yorkshire Police said today it was investigating the ‘two-in-one’ burglary on Lindrick Way, in the Jennyfields area,

It happened last weekend between 11.15pm on Saturday and 3am on Sunday (December 9 and 10).

A silver Kia Picanto, registration RE17 KNG, was taken.

“Police are urging the public to get in touch if they saw anything that could help the investigation or have any CCTV doorbell footage.

“If you can help please contact North Yorkshire Police on 101 and ask for PC822 Cleary.

“You can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”

Quote reference number 12230233921.

Read more:

Read more:

Read more:

Read More:

‘The right qualities’

Read more:

Read more:

Read more:

Read more:

Read more:

Read more: