The introduction of a banking hub was among plans unveiled by Ripon Business Improvement District at its annual review meeting this week.

Sine the BID launched in autumn 2021, banking facilities in the city have reduced with the closure of the Barclays and Halifax branches, leaving HSBC as the only high street bank with a presence in Ripon.

A banking hub would provide a counter service where customers of major banks and building societies can carry out cash transactions. One is set to open in Knaresborough after it lost its last high street bank.

BID manager Lilla Bathurst told Monday’s meeting at the Old Deanery:

“We are seeking to bring a banking hub to Ripon to enable businesses to access and deposit cash more readily than they can at the moment.”

The HSBC Bank on Westgate.

The BID, funded through a £170,000 annual levy raised from businesses in Ripon and the surrounding area, is also looking to support the fight against crime.

Ms Bathurst said:

“We plan to invest in a Radiolink scheme for businesses to reduce shop theft and antisocial behaviour, by having a means of sharing information with each other about suspicious characters or perceived threats that they see.

“We will also ensure that all night-time economy businesses are offered this.”

The review meeting marked the BID’s second year of operation.

Ms Bathurst said the highlights included a reinvigorated events calendar featuring live music, street parties run as part of the Totally Locally campaign instigated by independent traders in Kirkgate and support for the Ripon Theatre Festival in June, which saw an 86 percent increase in audience numbers.

The BID supported the festival in its inaugural year of 2022 and this year and will again be a sponsor in 2024.

Other BID activities in the year included the installation of new boundary signs and the creation of walking maps that encourage visitor flow around the city and work in conjunction with refurbished noticeboards that contain mapping, tourist and regularly updated events information.

A huge search operation involving hundreds of people is continuing in Ripon  to find a missing eight-year-old Cocker Spaniel.

Ella went missing at about 11.30am with her younger sister Holly on Friday, October 13.

They were in a group of dogs being exercised by a professional dog walker in the Clotherholme Road wooded area on the Royal Engineers’ barracks site,

But while three-year-old Holly was found safe 35 minutes later, the search for Ella, launched by her distraught owners Andy and Jo Coombs, who live in the Ripon area, has been ongoing day and night since.

Holly, pictured with Andy Coombs, was found but the search goes on for Ella.

Co-ordinated by Mandy Butler of the Lost Dog Trapping Team Search & Rescue Network, the operation has involved the use of tracker dogs, drones with thermal imaging equipment, monitoring of live cameras, checking cctv footage, the production and installation of hundreds of ‘missing’ posters and an appeal for assistance on social media.

One of the posters.

On Sunday, 60 members of the community, including a large contingent of dog owners, carried out a detailed search of the route where Ella had been walking on October 13.

Mr Coombs told the Stray Ferret:

“My wife and I are trying to remain hopeful and putting our full energies into finding her.

“Since she went missing there has been a massive gap in our lives, that will only be filled when she returns to us. “

He added:

“The response of the local community has been incredible, with hundreds of people stepping in to help us in whatever ways that they can, from putting up posters, to reporting potential sightings that we have been following up.”

Anybody with information that may help in the search is asked to contact Mandy Butler on 07947 866 582 or via Ella’s Facebook page that can be accessed by clicking here.

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• North Yorkshire Council seeks to plug £25 million black hole
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A Harrogate-based housing developer has warned that a 60-home scheme near Ripon is “undeliverable” because of the terms being imposed.

V & A Homes has planning permission to develop a 6.8-acre site in Back Lane, Sharow (pictured).

But the section 106 agreement agreed between the developer and the local authority setting out planning obligations has proved to be a stumbling block.

The agreement requires 40 percent of the homes to be classed as affordable housing.

Besides this, the section 106 agreement requires V & A Homes to make a number of other financial contributions ranging from supporting education provision and traffic calming measures to funding improvements for Sharow Village Hall.

The site in Sharow earmarked for 60 homes.

Working on behalf of V & A Homes, consultants Continuum have submitted a financial viability assessment to North Yorkshire Council planners, after conducting detailed appraisals relating to the scheme.

The report, which has been uploaded on the North Yorkshire Council planning portal, said:

“Continuum conclude that the scheme cannot support any section 106 contributions (including affordable housing) as required by the current section 106 agreement and the section 106 agreement should be modified in order to allow for the scheme to be deliverable.”

The consultants added:

“The appraisals show that the proposed scheme makes a significant loss if the section 106 agreement’s contributions were not modified. Based on this, if contributions are not reduced, the scheme would be undeliverable.”

The report listed other factors, including increased developer finance rates, rising interest rates, a slowing residential market and ‘abnormal’ costs on site, which have impacted on  the viability of the development.

The developer is now seeking to modify the terms of the section 106 agreement.

The report said:

“At the time the application was being considered, our client highlighted that there were issues with the viability of the scheme due to cost inflation and abnormal costs.

“Harrogate council however informed that our client could undertake a viability assessment after receiving a planning consent instead of delaying the granting of a planning consent.

“Subsequently, since the granting of the planning consent, our client has requested that they be able to run a viability case to reduce the section 106 contributions through a section 106 modification. This has been accepted by North Yorkshire Council and this financial viability assessment forms the basis of the evidence behind the modification of the section 106 contributions.”

In November 2022, a planning application for the Sharow development was submitted to Harrogate Borough Council as a joint proposal by V&A and non-profit developer Broadacres Housing Association Limited. The application was approved by North Yorkshire Council planners in April.

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• North Yorkshire Council seeks to plug £25 million black hole
• Maintenance work starts on Ripon bypass bridge

Six electric vehicle charging points are now in operation at the North Yorkshire Council controlled Cathedral Car Park in Ripon.

They add to a number of other locations across the city where drivers can re-charge their batteries. They include Blossomgate Car Park, Booth’s Supermarket at Marshall Way Retail Park, the Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre on Dallamires Lane, M & S Food at Rotary Way, Morrisons Supermarket on Harrogate Road and Phoenix Business Centre at Low Mill Road.

North Yorkshire Council’s executive agreed a new county-wide strategy for electric charging points this year.

The strategy showed there are almost 4,000 electric vehicles registered in North Yorkshire but just 225 publicly available charge points.

It is forecast that 3,161 charge points need to be installed and just under half of these need to be funded by the public sector at a cost of approximately £10.3 million. It is expected that at least half of the publicly funded chargers (724) will need to be ready by 2025 to meet demand.

The council has secured £3.2 million from the national Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) pilot scheme to install 150 charging points across the county.

They are being installed alongside battery storage units, charged by solar panels.

Routine maintenance work, scheduled to take up to three months, has begun on the underside of the Ripon bypass Duchess of Kent bridge.

Scaffolding has been put in place under the bridge to give workers access to parts of the substructure where painting is taking place.

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Council told the Stray Ferret:

“We are repainting the bridge. Work will take up to 12 weeks and the pedestrian underpass will remain open.”

In late June 2021, essential maintenance work was carried out over a two-week period, involving replacing the expansion joints and surfacing works to remove the depressions at each end of the bridge.

The work took place outside of peak traffic hours to minimise disruption, but the current maintenance activities will not impact on road users.

The bridge, which spans the River Ure, is named after the Yorkshire-born duchess and was opened by her in March 1996.

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Remembrance Sunday is three weeks away and Ripon is wrapped in a ribbon of red, with poppy displays at key locations and routes into the city.

Ripon Community Poppy Project, founded by Hazel Barker and former mayor of the city Stuart Martin, created its first display in 2018 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the armistice signed in November 1918.

Every year since then thousands more poppies have been produced by a team of tireless knitters, whose painstaking work adds to the displays that respectfully honour the dead of two world wars and other conflicts.

In addition to Ripon Town Hall, the knitted poppies adorn the bandstand (pictured above) and gates (below) at Spa Gardens, where a Remembrance Sunday Service will be held at 11am on November 12.

The display at the junction of Kirkgate and Duck Hill.

The poppy displays can also be seen on planters outside the cathedral, railings in the city, at roundabouts and all access routes.

On November 9 the Community Poppy Project is holding a Concert of Remembrance at Ripon Cathedral.  Starting at 7pm, it will feature Ripon City Band, the Dishforth Military Wives Choir and a performance from Brackenfield School, Harrogate.

Tickets costing £13.50 are available from Stuff 4 Offices on Fishergate and the Wakeman’s House Cafe at Market Place South. Proceeds from the event will help to support the project’s continuing work.

A defibrillator installed this week at the newly-opened Ripon Inn will provide a fitting reminder of the work of former paramedic Martin Faulkner.

Mr Faulkner, who worked for Yorkshire Ambulance Service and was one of its first personnel to serve as a paramedic, died in October 2022 after a long illness.

On Monday, the defibrillator purchased in his memory, was unveiled by his widow Patricia and son Chris at a ceremony also attended by Ripon Inn general manager Dan Chrisp, Eleanor Hartas and Alec Lutton of Defibs Ripon, Joanne Watson of Yorkshire Ambulance Service, Roger Fay of Zion Baptist Church and Cllr Pauline McHardy.

Martin Faulkner was one of Yorkshire’s first paramedics.

The life-saving device, was paid for with money raised by the Faulkner family and a donation from the Zion Baptist Church in Blossomgate, where Ms Faulkner is a member.

She said:

“Martin was a quiet man who didn’t seek recognition, but he would be proud of what has been achieved today.

“Our hope, as his family, is that this defibrillator placed outside the Ripon Inn, will help save the life of someone’s loved one, perhaps over the years, many lives.”

Mr Lutton, pointed out:

“This is the 23rd defibrillator to be installed in the Ripon area and I thank the Faulkner family and Zion Baptist Church for this wonderful gesture.”

Three-times Mayor Of Ripon, Cllr Pauline McHardy, added:

“I was delighted to be invited to today’s unveiling and it’s reassuring to know that the number of defibrillators we have in the city makes it one of the safest places to be if you have a heart attack.

“Having worked for more than 40 years as a nurse in the NHS, I know that swift action is essential and does save lives. With this in mind, it is also important for people to  go on the training courses provided by the Yorkshire Ambulance Service to learn how they can use a defibrillator.”

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• The Ripon Inn opens after multi-million pound refurbishment
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The Ripon Inn re-opened today after a multi-million-pound refurbishment.

The venue, previously known as the Spa Hotel, had been closed for three years.

It now has 58 bedrooms, as opposed to 40 previously, which will significantly boost the city’s accommodation offering. The inn, which also has two bars, will employee 78 staff.

Olympic gold medal-winning diver Jack Laugher joined VIPs at a preview event on Thursday, ahead of today’s official opening date.

It was the third and final local historic hotel to be re-opened this year by The Inn Collection Group, after the St George Hotel in Harrogate and the Dower House in Knaresborough were unveiled under new names The Harrogate Inn and The Knaresborough Inn.

Like the other two venues, the Ripon Inn has undergone a major overhaul inside and out.

Jack Laugher pulls a pint at the VIP preview event last week.

Undertaken in partnership with Silverstone Building Consultancy and STP Construction, the new look adopts The Inn Collection Group’s bid to create ‘inns with rooms’ rather than hotels.

It means The Ripon Inn, which is situated in six acres of gardens, will attempt to attract local people for food and drink as well as provide accommodation for tourists.

Formerly referred to as the Turf Tavern, The Ale House is a real ale hub within the inn with six pumps serving a range of beers including those produced locally by Black Sheep, Rooster’s Brewing Company and Theakston’s.

Sean Donkin, group chief executive of The Inn Collection Group, said:

“The Ripon Inn is a fantastic addition to our estate. It has huge potential and I think our teams and our partners have realised the exciting vision that we had for the property when we bought it back in 2021.

“Following on from the well-received re-openings of The Harrogate Inn and The Knaresborough Inn, I am excited for Ripon to open and for the revitalisation of this classic, landmark site to start in earnest.

“We’ve created what we hope is a welcoming place to enjoy food, drinks and company whilst at the same time, taking care to retain the unique, historic character of the building.

“Adding 18 new bedrooms, we now have 58 on site which is a significant boost to the city’s overall occupancy, and I am excited for our teams giving our guests a warm welcome to our latest inn.”

Ripon Rugby Club’s plan to build a 100-seater stand at its Mallorie Park ground has moved a step closer.

If approved by North Yorkshire Council, the new spectator facility will be paid for from a legacy left to the club by former first team captain and president Tim Wray, who died in 2018.

At its full Ripon City Council meeting on Monday, members gave their support to a planning application, which also includes a request to build pitch-side shelters/dugouts for coaches, players and disabled supporters.

Other planned improvements are a new shed for ground maintenance equipment,  a security fence and creation of a new entry route into the site.

Should planning consent be granted, the stand, alongside the club’s first team pitch, will be named The Tim Wray Stand as a lasting tribute to the club’s benefactor.

Ripon Rugby Union Football Club, is approaching its 140th anniversary, having been founded in 1886.

The club, which has 800 members and its own clubhouse, has two men’s and one women’s teams, along with one of the largest junior sections in the north of England.

In addition to its focus on rugby, it hosts Ripon Runners and provides facilities that are used by community groups and organisations.

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A total of £10 million has been budgeted to cover items in a Section 106 agreement being drawn up by Homes England for the 1,300-home Clotherholme development at the Ripon Barracks site.

The money will fund a number of areas, including off-site highway adjustments and contributions towards primary and secondary education provision and primary healthcare.

In addition, under the legally-binding agreement, the government’s housing and regeneration agency, is required to put a strategy in place to “secure military heritage within the site”.

On Monday, Homes England project manager Martin Wilks and senior planning and enabling manager David Rowlinson, met with city councillors to provide a progress report on the major scheme, that will eventually increase  Ripon’s population by 20%.

In February, Harrogate Borough Council planning committee said it was minded to grant planning consent for the Clotherholme scheme and Mr Wilks, pointed out:

“The next stage on the planning process is to present the Section 106 agreement to North Yorkshire Council for approval.”

He added:

“The Section 106 monies have been set at £10 million to cover areas including off-site traffic interventions and contributions to education provision,”

The 21 Regiment of the Royal Engineers is scheduled to vacate the site by March 2026 and enabling works for the homes development will start in 2025.

In the meantime, Homes England is drawing up a sustainable drainage plan for the scheme with Yorkshire Water and working on a design guide for the development with Ripon Civic Society.

Meetings have been held with Ripon Military Heritage Trust regarding the protection and preservation of historically-important buildings and bridges on the site and a further meeting with them is planned for November 7.

Matters raised by councillors included the significance of the site’s rich military Heritage, increased traffic generation and the impact it will have on the city’s roads infrastructure and the additional strain that an increase in population will put on healthcare provision.

In view of the number of issues put forward, it was agreed that Mr Wilks and Mr Rowlinson will hold  further meetings with councillors to focus on specific concerns that they have in relation to the development.

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