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16
Oct 2022
Campaign launched to achieve bathing water status on River Nidd
Organisations have agreed to work together to achieve designated bathing water status on the River Nidd at Knaresborough.
Longstanding concerns about water quality were heightened in summer when people and dogs fell ill after entering the Nidd.
If the bathing water bid is successful, the Environment Agency would be obliged to put plans in place to monitor and protect the water.
Not a single waterway in North Yorkshire currently has bathing water status but the River Wharfe in Ilkley has achieved it.
Knaresborough has been chosen because of the amount of recreational river users it attracts, but if the campaign succeeds the rest of the Nidd would also benefit from the measures introduced.
Anglers, the Environment Agency, Yorkshire Water, Nidderdale AONB, Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust, Leeds University, councillors and Andrew Jones, the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, are among those involved after a meeting this month.
They must demonstrate the river attracts a large number of bathers and has support for such a move. Landowners must also support applications for privately owned sites.
Shan Oakes
Shan Oakes, a Green Party councillor in Knaresborough chairing the group, said the government was not setting high enough water quality standards and action was necessary. Ms Oakes, who is also on Knaresborough Town Council, added:
Read more:
- Meeting called to hear concerns about state of River Nidd
- UK's largest weir removal project begins on River Nidd at Scotton
Last week Hannah Gostlow, a Liberal Democrat who represents Knaresborough East on North Yorkshire County Council, agreed to chair a cross-party sub-group of the council's Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee that will examine the issue. She said:
Knaresborough lido, which is particularly popular with recreational river users, will probably be the focus of the campaign. Cllr Gostlow said:
She added she hoped the campaign might succeed by summer 2024.
Action by anglers
The Nidd Catchment Angling Group held a meeting in August to discuss concerns about the Nidd near Darley sewage treatment works.
A further meeting on October 3 was held to address wider concerns about the river.
David Clayden, honorary secretary of Harrogate Fly Fishers’ Club, said:
Mr Jones raised the matter in Parliament this week when he called for a debate on how to establish more designated bathing areas on rivers, However, he did not respond to questions by the Stray Ferret on the Nidd campaign.
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