John Plummer, Author at The Stray Ferret

£1m Hookstone pollution penalty should have been spent in Harrogate, says councillor

A £1 million penalty paid by Yorkshire Water for polluting Hookstone Beck should have been awarded to a Harrogate group, according to the local councillor.

Yorkshire Water said last week it had agreed to pay £500,000 to York-based Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and £500,000 to Pateley Bridge-based Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust.

The payments were to atone for an unauthorised sewage discharge that polluted Harrogate’s Hookstone Beck in 2016 and killed fish.

Cllr Pat Marsh, a Liberal Democrat who represents Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone on North Yorkshire Council, said the money could have paid for “desperately needed” repairs in Hookstone Woods.

A photo of cloudy water in Hookstone Beck caused by pollution from an unauthorised sewage release by Yorkshire Water.

Cloudy water in Hookstone Beck caused by Yorkshire Water’s pollution.

Cllr Marsh, who is also chairman of Hookstone and Stonefall Action Group, said she was “outraged” by the pollution and the decision to spend the penalty elsewhere, without consulting local councillors, “rubbed salt in the wounds”.

She said volunteers at HASAG, who look after the Pan Handle, Stonefall Park and Hookstone Wood, were trying to raise money to rebuild the willow bridge that connects two ponds in Hookstone Wood.

Cllr Marsh said:

“This is so close to where the spill occurred. Why shouldn’t they be supported rather than some area not even in the Harrogate area?

“Consultation with Harrogate councillors should have happened. Again this is another reason why we need a Harrogate Town Council. So we suffer the mess and receive nothing to compensate.”

Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust will use the funding on developing the iNidd campaign to improve the River Nidd.

GALLERY: Late night festive fun in Boroughbridge

Hundreds of people turned out last night for the annual Christmas late night shopping in Boroughbridge.

The event is organised by Boroughbridge and District Chamber of Trade to give businesses a pre-Christmas boost and to foster community spirit.

About 45 shops in a town with a high percentage of independent traders stayed open late.

A visit by Santa Claus, courtesy of Boroughbridge Lions, plus Christmas carols, mulled wine and roasted chestnuts created a festive feel.

The Christmas tree lights were also officially switched on.

Besides shops in the town centre, the nearby Tap on the Tutt pub on Horsefair took part by hosting about a dozen market stalls outside their premises.

Hairdressers Watkins Wright beat 20 other entrants in the shop window display competition, which adopted the theme ‘Christmas chart hits – with a Christmas theme’.

Here are some photos from last night’s event.

The hog roast sold out.

Carol singers

The Crown Hotel looking festive.

Hundreds of people turned out last night.

The Christmas tree lights were officially switched on.

The Tap on the Tutt hosted about a dozen stalls.

Plans to convert ‘unviable’ pub near Pateley Bridge refused

Plans to convert an “unviable” 110-year-old former pub near Pateley Bridge into a holiday home have been refused.

The Birch Tree, at Lupton Bank in Glasshouses, closed in March 2020.

Planning permission was granted to convert the majority of the pub into three holiday flats while retaining a small public bar.

A subsequent application to convert the remaining pub into a two-bedroom cottage has now been refused.

Planning documents by Dacre Banks-based firm Yarntex Two said the building had attracted “no local interest or expressions of interest from further afield”.

They added:

“Sadly, there appears to be no viable future for the pub and provision of a further holiday cottage to supplement and enhance the others is surely the best option for the building.”

But North Yorkshire Council rejected the proposal this week.

The council said it was “not satisfied that the pub has been marketed at a suitable value”. Pateley Bridge Town Council had raised the same concern during the consultation period.

North Yorkshire Council’s decision report added:

“No details have been provided of the sales particulars, value it has been marketed at and original sale price. Additionally trading accounts, license details and opening hours have not been provided. Marketing of the pub has not continued for 12 consecutive months.”

It also said the interior of the pub had been stripped, which would “put off potential buyers” and no attempt had been made to market the pub for alternative community uses.

Late night Christmas shopping in Boroughbridge tonight

Boroughbridge will hold its annual late night Christmas shopping event tonight (December 6).

About 45 shops and businesses will be open late and judging will take place for the shop window display competition, which was won last year by estate agency GSC Grays. Twenty-one organisations have entered this year under the theme ‘Christmas chart hits – with a Christmas theme’.

The event will begin with the official switch-on of the Christmas tree lights in Hall Square at 5.30pm by radio presenter Georgey Spanswick and Boroughbridge mayor Sean Hynes.

Organised by Boroughbridge and District Chamber of Trade, there will be children’s rides, a hog roast, mulled wine and roast chestnuts.

Boroughbridge Lions will host Santa and his sleigh and there will be performances by three school choirs from Boroughbridge Primary, Roecliffe Primary and Boroughbridge High School.

Independent of the chamber’s event, The Tap on the Tutt pub on Horsefair is organising some temporary market stalls outside their premises tonight too.

The chamber said in a statement:

“Last year’s event was truly marvellous, with an amazing number of people turning out in support of the event – it will certainly be a challenge to top that.”

River Nidd clean-up campaign boosted by £500,000 from Yorkshire Water

A campaign to clean-up the River Nidd has received a £500,000 boost — from a penalty paid by Yorkshire Water for polluting Harrogate..

Yorkshire Water revealed last week it had agreed to give £1 million to charities for polluting Hookstone Beck in Harrogate.

The sum — to atone for an unauthorised sewage discharge that killed fish in the beck — was divided equally between Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust.

A meeting in Knaresborough yesterday heard Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust, which is based in Pateley Bridge, will use the funding to lead the iNidd project to clean-up the River Nidd.

Charlotte Simons, senior project manager at the trust, told the meeting:

“The sad thing is we have the money because something went wrong.

“But we have been given a lump sum that can lead to long-term improvements on the River Nidd.”

Yesterday’s meeting in Knaresborough.

The trust, which runs improvement projects across the catchments of the Swale, Ure, Nidd, Wharfe and Ouse, will work with anglers, academics and wild swimmers as well as Yorkshire Water and the Environment Agency on the iNidd scheme.

Andrew Jones, the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, is also involved through his campaign to achieve bathing water status on the Nidd at Knaresborough Lido.

The trust previously led the iWharfe project to improve the River Wharfe.

Yorkshire Water’s iNidd funding will pay for water quality schemes and other initiatives, such as habitat improvements and tackling invasive non-native species.

Nidd Action Group organised yesterday’s meeting at the Centre on Gracious Street, which gave members of the public the chance to quiz those involved in the iNidd campaign.

It followed a previous meeting at the same venue in spring this year, which marked the start of the clean-up campaign.

David Clayden, chair of the action group, said:

“We have achieved a lot in six months. I expect to see plans come together in the next six months that are collaborative and will make a difference.”

Man jailed for possessing cocaine in Harrogate

A drug dealer has been jailed for two years and two months after police intercepted his vehicle in Harrogate.

Bakar Ranian, 45, of Conway Grove, Harehills, Leeds, was jailed by York Crown Court today (December 5) after pleading guilty to possessing cocaine with intent to supply.

North Yorkshire Police said in a statement today officers on proactive patrols in and around Harrogate spotted a vehicle that had been making regular trips between Leeds and Harrogate on November 11.

It said its movements were consistent with an organised crime group involved in the supply of class A drugs.

Officers from North Yorkshire Police’s county lines Operation Expedite team, stopped the vehicle, a BMW 1 series, in Harrogate and asked the driver to explain his movements.

The driver was Bakar Ranian, originally from Hackney in London but who had recently become a resident of Leeds.

The police said his account was implausible and vague and it began to change when challenged by officers.

Ranian was detained for a search under Misuse of Drugs Act, as was his vehicle. He was subsequently arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply cocaine after officers found drugs on him following the search.

Some of the seized drugs.

A search of his vehicle led to officers finding £100 cash and a large quantity of suspected class A drugs, all concealed in various compartments in the vehicle.

They recovered three large snap bags that each contained multiple deal snap bags inside them.

They located a further four large snap bags each containing multiple deal bags of white powder, inside in a bag wrapped in a hat, concealed in the boot.

A single bag of white powder was also located within the glovebox. Police then conducted a search of his address where approximately £2,000 cash was found and further evidence of his drug dealing activities.

In total officers recovered 109 packages of cocaine and four bags of MDMA with a combined street value of approximately £5,000.

PC Michael Haydock of Operation Expedite, who lead the investigation said:

“Bakar Ranian was working for a county line with the sole objective of selling highly dangerous and addictive drugs on the streets of Harrogate.

“He has knowingly broken the law and has clearly made a significant financial gain from his criminal activity. This has now been taken away from him. He, like many others before him, have sold these drugs without the slightest bit of thought or consideration for the wider implications of their actions.

“I am pleased to see that he has been imprisoned for his crimes and hopefully, he will now see the error of his ways. Similarly, anyone who believes they can commit drug crime in North Yorkshire should see this as a warning that drug dealers will be pursued and sent to prison”

Police say Seb Mitchell murder sends ‘clear message’ on knife crime

The senior investigating officer in the murder of Harrogate teenager Seb Mitchell has said the outcome of the case “sends a very clear message to anyone who may consider possessing a knife”.

Dylan Cranfield, 17, was sentenced to a minimum of 11 years in jail at Leeds Crown Court yesterday for murdering Harrogate Grammar School student Seb with a kitchen knife in February this year.

Cranfield will be eligible for parole in a little over 10 years.

Dylan Cranfield

Detective superintendent Wayne Fox, of North Yorkshire Police’s major investigation team, described the case as “an absolute tragedy”.

He added:

“The life of a young man has been needlessly taken in circumstances which escalated as a result of the defendant arming himself with a lethal weapon in retribution for causing a very small amount of damage.

“No sentence can bring back a young person, who had such a bright future ahead of him and so much to look forward to in life.

“The defendant’s actions in resorting to the use of a knife, have been catastrophic, taking Seb’s life and changing beyond recognition the lives of his family, friends and loved ones.”

Det supt Fox added:

“There are no words that can sum up the devastation caused by young people who think nothing of picking up a knife or other weapon and using it. I hope that the outcome of this case sends a very clear message to anyone who may consider possessing a knife that no good can come from such action.

“Our thoughts remain very much with Seb’s family and friends. We hope that the conclusion of the proceedings brings a semblance of closure for them at such a difficult time.”

The Stray Ferret published articles yesterday about Cranfield’s sentencing and also the family’s reaction to the conclusion of the case.

Firefighters called to kitchen blaze in Starbeck

Firefighters were called to a kitchen fire in a bungalow at Starbeck today.

Crews from Harrogate and Knaresborough were summoned to Forest Way at 9.30am this morning.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service’s incident report said:

“The fire originated on a cooker hob when an air fryer was placed on top and the hob was switched on.

“The fire spread to nearby kitchen utensils, and subsequently caused one square metre of fire damage, and 20% smoke damage to the kitchen.

“Two occupants were out of the building on arrival of the fire service.”

£20,000 feasibility study to begin on Knaresborough cliff lift

A £20,000 study is to investigate the feasibility of a cliff lift in Knaresborough.

The idea of a lift connecting the steep divide between Waterside and the town centre has long been debated.

Now the government’s shared prosperity fund has awarded a £20,000 grant to conduct a feasibility study into the idea, a meeting of business group Knaresborough Chamber heard this week.

Peter Lacey, an executive member of the chamber, said in January the organisation and Knaresborough Town Council had agreed to work together to build a business case for better connectivity in the town.

Mr Lacey told this week’s meeting that £20,000 had now been awarded and the firms Carey Tourism and 56 Degree Insight would lead the market research.

The community group Renaissance Knaresborough promoted the cliff lift idea pre-covid and Ben Carey, of Carey Tourism, worked on an interim report on behalf of the now-defunct Harrogate Borough Council.

Mr Carey told the meeting he suspected the lift would be a long-term project costing about £5 million and connectivity would be key to its success. He said:

“We can produce the most wonderful, iconic structure but nobody is going to fund it unless you can show it will be transformative to Knaresborough.

“It’s all about connectivity — how you can make sure people spend more time and money in local businesses.”

Mr Carey also said it was essential that North Yorkshire Council extended the lease of Knaresborough Castle otherwise nobody would invest in the scheme.

The castle land, which is leased from the Duchy of Lancaster, is likely to host the lift.

Cllr Matt Walker, a Liberal Democrat who represents Knaresborough West on North Yorkshire Council, told the meeting the lease had nine years left and he was pushing for it to be extended.

GALLERY: Christmas tree festival gets underway in Knaresborough

About 75 Christmas trees decorated by community groups, schools and businesses have gone on display in Knaresborough.

The Knaresborough Christmas Tree festival is believed to be a unique event in the north of England for the way it showcases so many festive trees in a church.

Held at St John the Baptist Church in Knaresborough, which dates back to the Norman period, this is the festival’s 10th year.

It got underway at a preview event last night that included singing by female choir The Songbirds, mulled wine and minced pies.

Each tree is decorated individually, usually reflecting each organisation’s purpose. For instance, running club Knaresborough Striders’ tree is decorated with running shoes.

Brian Robinson, the artistic director of the festival, curates the exhibition by deciding how to display the trees to best effect.

The festival lasts until December 23. Admission is free from 10am to 5pm on Saturdays. noon to 4pm on Sundays and 12 to 5pm on Mondays to Fridays.

The trees will remain in place after December 23 for Christmas services at the church, including the Nine Lessons and Carols Service on Christmas Eve.

The church, whose director of music is town crier Mark Hunter, hosts music throughout the festival, including an Advent carol service tomorrow (Sunday) at 5pm.

The Stray Ferret attended last night’s preview event. Here are some photos.

A previous version of the article incorrectly stated singing was provided by the Northern Songbirds when it was in fact The Songbirds.