Councillors approve Simon Graeme garage expansion near Hampsthwaite

Councillors have granted planning permission for a new MOT and servicing building at a garage near Hampsthwaite.

North Yorkshire Council’s Skipton and Ripon planning committee met on Tuesday in Ripon to consider an application from Simon Graeme Auto Services Centre, which has operated at Graystone Plain Lane off the A59 for 30 years.

The current garage is located within the Nidderdale National Landscape (formerly called the AONB), which has strict planning laws.

The proposed new building, which would house two MOT bays and five servicing bays, sits on land just outside the National Landscape.

Plans were brought before councillors at the previous meeting in November but a decision was deferred following a request for more information about around planting, drainage and renewable energy.

At the previous meeting, Mr Graeme told councillors that the new building would future-proof his family business and allow it to service and repair electric vehicles.

Since November, an updated landscape plan and strategy has been submitted to the council, as has a drainage report and proposals to add solar panels to the site.

It was enough to satisfy councillors who unanimously approved the plans with Ripon Minster and Moorside Cllr Andrew Williams describing the changes as a “victory for common sense”.

He said:

“What we’ve now arrived at is a sensible position which everyone can hopefully subscribe to.

“It’s important the countryside isn’t a museum, it’s a place where people can live and work.”

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Relief for Henry Jenkins pub campaigners as latest conversion plan refused

Councillors have refused a plan to convert an outbuilding on the Henry Jenkins Inn site at Kirkby Malzeard.

Campaigners breathed a sigh of relief after the meeting and claimed the application was designed to shatter their hopes of ever reopening the former pub, which dates back to the 18th century but has been closed since 2011.

North Yorkshire Council’s Skipton and Ripon’s planning committee met yesterday in Ripon to consider an application to convert a building next to the former pub into one holiday cottage.

However, there has been a dispute over whether the building was ever used by the pub, with pub owner David Fielder arguing it was instead used as a piggery for livestock.

Crucially, the application also includes a large grassy space behind the former pub which would be used as a car park for the holiday cottage.

But campaigners insisted this would mean any future pub would be unable to accept beer deliveries or hold any outdoor community events, leaving it unviable.

The Henry Jenkins Community Pub group has hopes of taking over the pub as a community-owned venue and has been locked in a bitter battle with Mr Fielder over the building’s future for several years.

The group has raised £220,000 in shares from local people and in September was awarded £330,000 grant from government to help them achieve their dream.

Mr Sadler told councillors the campaign to buy the pub is now at a “critical point” and the application to convert the outbuilding was a “tactic to scupper our plans”.

He said:

“How can anyone expect a pub to survive when it can’t get vehicles in for deliveries? It would be very hard to see how it can be viable again. That is the purpose of this application.”

David Fielder, who owns and operates several pubs in Yorkshire, bought the pub after it closed and has had several attempts to convert it into housing refused by Harrogate Borough Council.

A government inspector dismissed an appeal earlier this year and stated that running the pub as a community-run project was financially viable.

At the meeting yesterday, Mr Fielder rejected Mr Sadler’s claim that the outbuilding conversion was to harm the viability of the pub, thus making it easier to convert into housing.

He also insisted the outbuilding was used for pigs and historically has been unrelated to the pub. He added:

“The building doesn’t even have pedestrian doors, how could they possibly be used [by the pub]? They had pig traps in them.”

However, councillors were unconvinced by the merits of the application and refused it by three votes to one, with one abstention.

Andy Brown, Green Party councillor for Aire Valley said:

“If you have this as a holiday cottage there is no right remaining for delivery access and insufficient space for all the things planned for the community pub.

“If all they had was a vague idea [to reopen the pub] I’d be saying ‘forget it mush’ — but they’ve got £220,000 in pledges and government funding”.

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Council threatens compulsory purchase to rescue 4,000-home Maltkiln scheme

North Yorkshire Council is prepared to compulsory purchase land as a “last resort” so the 4,000-home Maltkiln settlement can be built, according to a report published today.

The potential town and two primary schools would be constructed off the A59 towards York near the villages of Cattal, Whixley, Green Hammerton and Kirk Hammerton.

But the future of Maltkiln was thrown into disarray in January when a key landowner, which owns fields around Cattal train station making up around half of the proposed site, pulled out.

The land in question also forms the “village centre” at the heart of Yorkshire-based developer Caddick Group’s vision for the new town.

The scheme does not yet have planning permission but is the largest allocation for housing in the Harrogate district’s local plan, which sets out where housebuilding can take place until 2035.

This gives the council a say in how the scheme is developed and officers have been working on a development plan document for several years ahead of a submission to government.

Building homes near the railway station has been the unique selling point of Maltkiln due to its links into York, Harrogate and Leeds.

It was one of the reasons the defunct Harrogate Borough Council picked the Maltkiln area ahead of Flaxby near Knaresborough following a bitter row that lasted years and ended up in the High Court.

But a report that has gone before the council’s Conservative-led executive ahead of a meeting next Tuesday warns that Maltkiln would no longer be deliverable without the land around the station.

It says work on the development plan document might then have to stop, essentially ending the scheme in its current form as the report says the landowner has “made it clear” they don’t want to sell.

To break the impasse, the report says the council would therefore be willing to use a compulsory purchase order as a “last resort” to ensure that Maltkiln is built.

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Although it adds there is still a possibility the landowner may yet change its mind and sell up without it getting to that stage.

Officers have explored expanding the boundary of the settlement but concluded this would mean Maltkiln can no longer deliver its “key principle” regarding sustainable travel opportunities for residents at the train station.

It also says changing the boundary of the scheme would be problematic as roads may need to be rerouted.

The report says if the executive resolves to potentially use the council’s compulsory purchase order powers, it would “provide evidence” to government that Maltkiln is still deliverable and work on the development plan document can continue, despite the key landowner refusing to sell.

This would then allow the council to submit the development plan document for inspection by the government’s Planning Inspectorate in 2024.

According to the report, Caddick Group have agreed to discuss underwriting the costs of the CPO.

If the council were to purchase the land through a compulsory purchase order, it could also enter agreements with other developers such as the government’s housing agency Homes England.

The report said: 

“The new settlement at Maltkiln presents an opportunity to deliver a significant number of homes in a sustainable location on an existing railway line, and in a manner that ensures that infrastructure and facilities can be provided on site.

“National planning policy makes clear that development should be genuinely plan-led and so halting the development plan document, or ‘going back to the drawing board’ would miss an opportunity to capitalise on the work (including community consultation) undertaken so far and deliver much-needed homes in the area.”

Arnold Warneken, Green Party councillor for Ouseburn, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the compulsory purchase order proposal “cannot be justified” and that the council should drop the scheme from its county-wide Local Plan.

Cllr Warneken said:

“It’s coming across as desperation to justify all the work and cost so far. If this was so robust why was the landowner allowed to bow out? I feel that was totally their decision and we don’t need to question that.

“So much emphasis has been put on the rail link which is in theory a great idea but this has always been the wrong setting for this to enable the stated benefits for climate and biodiversity.”

New bar could open in Knaresborough industrial estate

Harrogate Brewing Company has proposed to open a new bar at Hambleton Grove Industrial Estate in Knaresborough.

The family-owned brewery specialises in craft ale and operates from a different industrial estate on Hookstone Chase in Harrogate.

Plans are underway to expand into Knaresborough with a taproom and outside beer garden area in the heart of a residential area.

Councillors on North Yorkshire Council’s licensing sub-committee will meet next Monday to consider whether to grant an alcohol licence which would be valid from midday until 10pm all week.

The applicant has agreed conditions with North Yorkshire Police including installing a CCTV system and ensuring staff are fully trained.

Applicant Martin Joyce wrote in an application that drinkers would sample beers on-site as well as also being able to buy bottles to take home.

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Mr Joyce added that during the summer months, the business may hire a food truck and use the outdoor area as a temporary bar.

The application received one objection from a nearby resident due to the potential for noise when revellers leave the bar late at night.

They said: 

“Given that it’s in a residential area, it is highly inappropriate that residents should have to tolerate noise from a pub between midday and 10pm 7 days a week.”

The objector also said a long-standing problem of parking in the streets surrounding the industrial estate would be made worse by the new bar.

They added: 

“The estate itself has numerous daily deliveries from HGVs. It is hard to see how these could be accommodated alongside the parking of cars, not to mention the potential risk to pedestrians using the site.”

The meeting will take place next Monday at 1pm at the Civic Centre in Harrogate and it will be streamed live on the council’s YouTube channel.

Council quashes hopes of west Harrogate bypass

North Yorkshire Council has no plans to build a western bypass in Harrogate, with one councillor saying the move would “reopen old wounds”.

Business group Independent Harrogate published a document this month called A Vision for Harrogate that set out an alternative course of action for the controversial £11.2m Station Gateway scheme.

The document, written by retired architect Barry Adams, also puts forward suggestions to tackle congestion, such as establishing a park and ride scheme and building a western bypass.

A bypass proposal has been debated for decades, with Independent Harrogate arguing it could be key to link west and north Harrogate and reduce congestion.

Cllr John Mann, the Conservative councillor for Oatlands and Pannal, asked Cllr Keane Duncan, the council’s executive member for highways, if North Yorkshire Council would commit to building the bypass as a long-term project.

Cllr Mann said:

“I do know that congestion in Pannal and Oatlands would be much relieved if a relief road would be constructed.

“I think there’s merit in the idea, as we’ve only built 700 out of 4,000 scheduled homes for western Harrogate.

“Congestion is already quite severe and dangerous to motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.”

However, Cllr Duncan poured cold water on the idea and said the council’s predecessor, North Yorkshire County Council, held a widely publicised consultation about congestion in 2019, which rejected more roads being built in favour of sustainable travel, like improved cycling or walking routes.

The council abandoned unpopular plans to build a relief road by the Nidd Gorge following the consultation.

Cllr Duncan said:

“The results resoundingly favoured sustainable transport and demanded management solutions to congestion rather than the provision of new roads. The council then determined to respect that outcome and the council does not now plan to reopen old wounds.”

The council is working on a document called the Harrogate Transport Improvement Programme that will set out improvements to walking, cycling and bus infrastructure.

A report is expected in spring 2024.

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Harrogate hospital says strikes ‘significantly impacting’ cancer treatment

The boss of Harrogate District Hospital says improving its record in delivering timely cancer treatment is being made more difficult due to doctors going on strike.

Jonathan Coulter, chief executive of Harrogate & District NHS Foundation Trust, made the comments in papers published ahead of the organisation’s board meeting in Harrogate yesterday.

Mr Coulter admitted the hospital was facing challenges in delivering the “standard that we would want to” but added that several waves of industrial action have taken their toll.

Across England and Wales more than one million treatments and appointments have been cancelled due to the strikes with waits for cancer treatment being particularly affected.

NHS England says a patient should start treatment within 31 days of an urgent cancer diagnosis and referral by a GP.

Statistics published by the hospital reveal 9 in 10 patients are receiving treatment within this target.

However, after 62 days since a referral, only 7 in 10 patients have begun treatment.

Mr Coulter added: 

“It is fair to say that this is the area that has been most significantly impacted upon by the industrial action, with clinics cancelled, but if we assume that there will be no further service interruptions due to strikes, then we have plans in place to deliver the overall Faster Diagnosis Standard expected by the end of the year.”

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Both consultants and junior doctors took part in industrial action at the hospital in the first week of October.

The BBC reported this week that a fresh pay offer has been made to NHS consultants which could end future strike action.

The government is also in negotiation with junior doctors although a deal has not yet been agreed.

Mr Coulter added: 

“We need to always remember the impact that this industrial action is having and the cost to patients who have services disrupted and delayed, the actual financial cost of cover, and the more significant opportunity cost, as management time is necessarily taken up with planning and managing these periods of strike action safely. We know in particular that this has had an impact on our cancer pathways as clinics have been cancelled.

“And at a time when the NHS is being criticised in some quarters for poor productivity, we know that staff morale and goodwill – so important in the delivery of safe, productive services – is not helped by this ongoing dispute.”

Council approves multi-million pound Bewerley Park upgrade

Senior councillors have given the go-ahead for a major investment in its outdoor learning centres at Bewerley Park and East Barnby.

North Yorkshire Council’s executive yesterday approved spending £4.2m on an 84-bed accommodation block at Bewerley Park, near Pateley Bridge, and improvements to the accommodation block and dining room at East Barnby, near Whitby.

Bewerley Park was built in the 1940s and has been used by North Yorkshire schoolchildren for decades. Its activities, which include canoeing, rock climbing and orienteering, enable young people to learn life skills and have fun.

The council’s outdoor learning service charges between £145 and £170 per night to attend Bewerley Park but it has struggled to record a profit since 2015.

This year it hiked the charge by up to £30 a night due to inflationary pressures.

The council’s Conservative executive member for finance, Gareth Dadd, said the service was “on its knees” but the investment has rescued the two sites “from the jaws of death”.

He added: 

“We were ready to send bulldozers in. Let’s make no bones about it.

“Officers and staff have responded and come up with what is a sustainable business model. Credit to them all in developing that.”

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Further works at Bewerley Park could take place at a later date with a decision expected by 2028. Cllr Dadd said any future expansion will be dependent on the success of the new accommodation block.

The council will still need to obtain planning permission for the work but it says the centres will remain open during construction.

Cllr Annabel Wilkinson, the council’s executive member for education, learning and skills, added: 

“This is an exciting project. For decades both centres have proven very popular, being visited by generations of families. Thousands of children and young people visit the centres each year and leave with positive, happy memories.

“It’s vital that our centres continue to deliver wonderful experiences in a more modern environment.”

Councillors push ahead with scaled-back £11.2m Harrogate Station Gateway

Senior Conservative councillors have agreed to drastically scale-back Harrogate’s £11.2m Station Gateway in an effort to rescue the troubled scheme.

This morning North Yorkshire Council’s executive said it will remove the part-pedestrianisation of James Street from the plans and will end its hopes of reducing Station Parade to single lane traffic so it can build cycle lanes.

The council said a rethink was needed because Harrogate-based property firm Hornbeam Park Developments, which owns several commercial properties on James Street, issued a legal challenge in the summer that left the original vision in tatters.

The council admitted that it made a technical error during the consultation stages of the proposal.

It means the council’s flagship active travel scheme for Harrogate is still set to go ahead but may only include a redeveloped One Arch and Station Square, better traffic signals, a bus lane on lower Station Parade, new paving for pedestrians and cycling parking at Harrogate Station.

North Yorkshire Council said it will explore the possibility of creating south-bound segregated cycle on Station Parade although this is not guaranteed.

The council is also developing gateway schemes in Skipton and Selby worth a combined £42m with funding from the government’s Transforming Cities Fund.

The council’s executive member for highways, Cllr Keane Duncan, said today:  

“Delivering capital projects of this scale in an era of high inflation and supply chain issues is not straightforward and not easy. It’s important we as an executive do not shy away from that reality. It’s important we are clear and realistic about what we can achieve.

“Our revised proposals focus on the core elements with the most public support and are built on cross-party engagement and frank and honest conversations.

“We are not reneging on the ambition and scale of our overall vision. The update today represents positive progress and puts us in the best possible position to deliver this landmark package of investment whilst avoid potential pitfalls, delays and constraints that we’re being very honest about.”

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Due to inflation, the Station Gateway project will still use its entire £11.2m budget, despite key elements being removed.

A report that went before councillors ahead of today’s meeting warned there are financial risks in developing a revised scheme.

This point was reiterated by executive member for finance, Cllr Gareth Dadd, who said the authority could be left “on the hook” if costs spiral.

The Department for Transport previously insisted that all projects must be built before March 2025.

This leaves a tight window for the council to get the project finished in time. The council also does not know if the government will agree to the changes.

The council must now undertake more public consultation, publish updated Traffic Regulation Orders and submit a new business case to West Yorkshire Combined Authority, which won the initial funding. It expects this process to take another five months.

If the business case is approved next summer, construction could begin by Autumn 2024.

Council defends putting EV charge points in Knaresborough car park after furore

North Yorkshire Council has defended the controversial installation of electric vehicle charge points in a Knaresborough car park after traders claimed it was putting shoppers off visiting the town.

Ten of the 56 regular parking bays in the town centre Chapel Street car park were turned into electric vehicle-only spaces with charge points at the end of 2022 by the now defunct Harrogate Borough Council.

Since then, however, there have been reports of the spaces reserved for EVs laying empty, which has angered traders particularly on busy market days when it is hard to park.

A petition set up by hairdresser Kelly Teggin against the move has been signed by over 500 people. In September, Harrogate and Knaresborough councillors made several requests to North Yorkshire Council regarding the car park.

Requests included asking the council to renegotiate the contact with the charge point provider, so it can roll out the infrastructure in a more “phased” manner to enable people in non-EV cars to park in some of the bays.

Keisha Moore, senior transport planning officer at the council, responded to the petition and the requests at a meeting of Harrogate and Knaresborough councillors on Thursday.

Ms Moore referred to a report that was published ahead of the meeting but said the council’s approach to the charge points would not be changing.

The report warned any changes would “undermine” the council’s EV infrastructure roll out strategy, which aims to encourage the uptake of EVs and contribute to the council’s decarbonisation goals.

The council received a grant to install the charge points and Ms Moore added that any changes could lead to the government asking for its money back.

Liberal Democrat councillor for Knaresborough West, Matt Walker, expressed disappointment that there has been “no action” on the charge points and called on North Yorkshire Council to offer improved signage so residents better understand why they’ve been put there.

He said:

“The people of Knaresborough are crying out for a can-do council and the report goes short of understanding the issues. There’s no clear action on how we can make improvements to the parking and active travel for the town.”

Cllr Peter Lacey, who represents Harrogate Coppice Valley and Duchy for the Lib Dems and is also a member of the Knaresborough Chamber, said the council was “getting it wrong” by putting groups of charge points in the car park, rather than spreading them out across the town to encourage uptake.

The Chapel Street scheme was a pilot for the council and Ms Moore said the approach for installing charge points will differ across North Yorkshire.

She added:

“In order to get to a fair and equitable rollout across the county I don’t think we need to be putting 12 [charge points] in each and every car park.”

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Glut of housebuilding in Harrogate worsening Nidd raw sewage problem

A massive increase in housebuilding across Harrogate and Knaresborough is worsening pollution in the River Nidd, according to the Environment Agency.

Jamie Duncan, who has worked on the Nidd for 20 years for the public body, gave a wide-ranging presentation about the health of the river to Harrogate and Knaresborough councillors earlier today.

Yorkshire Water is allowed to release sewage into the Nidd when the sewerage system is at risk of being overwhelmed through what are called storm overflows.

It has led to human waste being released over thousands of hours, and sampling by the Nidd Action Group has reported that the bacteria E. coli is at “concerningly high” levels.

Mr Duncan’s message to councillors was stark as he warned the problem could get worse without a recognition of the impact that development is having, and improvements to the town’s creaking Victorian sewerage system.

He said the Environment Agency was trying to tackle historic pollution problems, such as peat bog erosion and metal mining, which wash into the river at Nidderdale and travel downstream.

But he said its attempts are being made more difficult due to the thousands of new homes that have been built in the outskirts of Harrogate over the last decade — and thousands are more planned.

He said:

“If you are building housing estates on the urban fringe, on greenfield sites that historically have sewers just for servicing a pub and a few farms… and you’re putting hundreds of houses into these pipes then you only need a very small amount of rain [for waste] to spill into rivers.

“That’s untreated sewage. You’ve sieved out contraception and sanitary products, nothing more.”

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During the 2010s the now defunct Harrogate Borough Council did not have a local plan for several years, which gave the authority little control over where developers chose to build.

Harrogate now has a local plan but Mr Duncan said North Yorkshire Council must give more consideration into what impact new housing is having on the sewerage system, which he said is struggling to cope.

He added that the situation is leading to more storm overflows and more sewage being pumped into the Nidd.

A working group of councillors was set up last year to tackle pollution in the river, following an incident last summer where several children ended up in hospital after swimming there.

A campaign is also underway to clean up the river so it can be designated with bathing water status. Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative MP Andrew Jones submitted an application to government last month.

North Yorkshire Council is also in the early stages of developing a new county-wide local plan that will set out where housebuilding can take place over the next 15 years.

Paul Haslam, Conservative councillor for Bilton and Nidd Gorge, said he hoped the council can view the sewage network as a “critical part” of infrastructure, like roads.

In the meantime, Mr Duncan urged councillors to factor in the sewerage system when granting planning permission for new developments.

He said:

“If you’re going to grant it, please understand the knock-on effects. Houses might be new, but the sewage pipes might run a very long way through central Harrogate to a very old system that’s at capacity.”