Yorkshire Water and North Yorkshire Fire Rescue Service have warned against the dangers of reservoir swimming in the Harrogate district.

The warning comes amid reports of a ‘mass swim’ planned for Swinsty Reservoir.

In an email to Washburn Parish Council, which has been seen by the Stray Ferret, the company told the council it had been made aware of a swim in the reservoir this Sunday (April 23).

Yorkshire Water said it would be making its on-site contractors aware of the plan and inform “blue light control rooms and their communications teams”.

It is unclear who has organised the proposed swim or why it is planned to take place.

Meanwhile, both Yorkshire Water and North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue have reiterated the dangers of swimming in reservoirs.

Read more:

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Yorkshire Water estimates 277 accidental drowning deaths took place in reservoirs in 2021, 23 of which were in Yorkshire and five in North Yorkshire specifically.

Swimming is not permitted at the company’s reservoirs.

As a result, the company has backed a campaign by the National Fire Chiefs Council to urge people not to enter reservoirs.

Alastair Harvey, lead countryside and woodland advisor at Yorkshire Water, said: 

“Tragically we’ve already seen the dangers of open water in our region this year. With the weather set to improve we’re expecting to see a rise in people entering our reservoirs, whether that be those intending to swim or people deciding the water looks inviting. We are once again backing the NFCC campaign to raise awareness of the dangers open water poses.

“It is vital those visiting our sites stay out of the water, no matter how tempting it may appear. Cold water shock, undercurrents and operating machinery all pose dangers to people deciding to enter the water.

“If people see others in difficulty in the water, they should contact the emergency services on 999 as they are trained to deal with such events.”

A statement from North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue said:

“Reservoirs are large, often open areas of water which are used to store water prior to treatment.

“We have several in North Yorkshire and on hot days they often look tempting to cool off with a swim.

“Although they can look like a lovely way to stay cool, please don’t be fooled. They can be extremely dangerous and swimming in them can soon become serious, or even fatal – even if you are a ‘strong swimmer’.

“Within minutes of a swimmer disappearing beneath the surface it is often too late for the emergency services to help – because of the location of most reservoirs, specialist equipment is needed we may need to wait for this to arrive.”

Temporary traffic lights will be in place near a key junction in Harrogate for the next week as Yorkshire Water connects a new housing development in the area.

Work to connect developments on Skipton Road is affecting the B6161 Otley Road near the roundabout joining the A59 Skipton Road.

It is causing lengthy tailback at the Curious Cow roundabout on the edge of Killinghall.

The work is scheduled to last until next Friday, April 28, though Yorkshire Water said there will a short break this weekend. A spokesperson said:

“Our teams are on site to complete a connection for a new housing development. Traffic lights are in place to allow this work to be carried out safely.

“We have work closely with North Yorkshire Council highways team and to minimise disruption as much as possible the traffic lights will be removed on Saturday and reinstated on Monday for work to continue. We apologise for the inconvenience this may cause.”

Meanwhile, CityFibre is installing fibre optic cables for broadband along the A61 Ripon Road between Harrogate and Killinghall.

The work, which is being carried out between 7pm and 6.30am, has already begun and is scheduled to continue into next week.

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A sculpture symbolising eternal friendship and loyalty will be unveiled in Harrogate’s Valley Gardens this weekend.

The Maori pikorua symbol forms part of the newly-refurbished New Zealand Gardens, along with a new bench and an information board.

The garden was created in 1953 to mark the links between Harrogate and Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, forged during the Second World War. Four men from Wellington are among the 23 New Zealand Air Force crew buried in the Commonwealth war graves at Stonefall cemetery.

The refurbishment – the first work for more than a decade – has been funded by individual donors, along with support from North Yorkshire Council, including local councillors Sam Gibbs and Peter Lacey.

It follows the deterioration of the previous installations in the area, including wooden sculptures and a bench which were affected by the weather and targeted by vandals in 2020.

Dennis Richards, chair of Harrogate International Partnerships, which oversees Harrogate’s twinning programme, said:

“It’s not a memorial garden, but the trigger for it was the New Zealand air crew buried at Stonefall. It was a vision of the two towns to create this garden which celebrates history, culture and friendship.

“It has taken a long, long time to get the money together to do the refurbishment.”

The unveiling of the garden will take place at 11am tomorrow, Saturday.

Flt Lt Dan Channon of the Royal New Zealand Air Force will represent his country and its capital, Wellington, at the ceremony.

Tewit Intermediate Band will play from 10.40am before the ceremony is opened by Mr Richards at 11am.

It will include short speeches about the history of the garden, its links to Stonefall, and the significance of the pikorua sculpture.

Among those speaking will be Fran Pride, the daughter of Tony Sissons who was instrumental in its development through his roles with the Friends of Valley Gardens and Harrogate in Bloom.

His widow, Bobbie, will officially reveal a new information board explaining the links between the towns, before Virginia Partridge, whose late father Alan Rollinson had strong links with both Harrogate and New Zealand, unveils the new sculpture.

The national anthems of both countries will be performed, with soloist Amelia McQuire singing New Zealand’s.

Alongside the garden refurbishment, Harrogate International Partnerships is working to build stronger links between the people of Harrogate and the communities in their twinned towns.

As well as Wellington, Harrogate has twinning agreements with Barrie in Canada, Bagneres de Luchon in France, and the Unesco world heritage site of Montecatini Terme in Italy.

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Residents and councillors who are facing the prospect of thousands of homes being built around Harlow Hill have called on North Yorkshire Council to remove sites from its new Local Plan.

Around 50 people attended the Green Hut on Harlow Avenue last night for a meeting of Harlow & Pannal Ash Residents Association (HAPARA).

Up to 4,000 homes could be built in the Western arc of Harrogate but there have been long-standing concerns that the area’s roads, schools and healthcare facilities will not be able to cope.

Residents were dismayed at the publication of a ‘parameters plan’ document last year that was drawn up by Harrogate Borough Council to identify infrastructure requirements for the area.

Plans for 770 homes and a primary school on land behind RHS Harlow Carr has already been submitted by Anywl Land and Redrow Homes.

On the other side of the road, Homes England has submitted plans to build 480 homes.

The homes would be built in phases meaning residents living in the area could face a decade or more of disruption.

Neither application on Otley Road has been approved yet and residents at the meeting said there was a glimmer of hope that North Yorkshire Council could remove the sites when it develops its new county-wide Local Plan.

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Harrogate Borough Council’s Local Plan will be replaced by the document before 2028.

Malcolm Margolis said HBC’s plan was “obviously out of date and needs changing.”

He said: 

“I read about 50 local authorities have cancelled their Local Plan and started again. I can’t understand why North Yorkshire cant take a similar approach and revisit all this.”

One woman said: 

“The government says we don’t need as many houses as before. It seems sensible to me as a layperson why aren’t these plans revisited and some sites taken out?”

Conservative councillor for Oatlands & Pannal, John Mann, said he will be pushing the new authority to reconsider sites that have not already been granted planning permission. 

He said:

“I will be insisting we look afresh at some of these sites that are in the plan and have not yet come forward and I will call for these sites to be revisited.”

However, chair of Haverah Park with Beckwithshaw Parish Council, Derek Spence, said residents would have to be realistic as the new Local Plan is five years away from completion and in that time developers would look to secure planning permission. 

Cllr Spence said:

“If they see that door closing what are they going to do? Commercially, they’ll start putting in planning applications. It’s pretty obvious. If you were them that’s what you’d have to do to protect your investment.”

A nine-year-old boy has raised more than £1,000 for a cause close to his heart — and helped the environment too.

Owen Sutcliffe set himself the challenge of collecting 100 bags of litter in just six weeks to raise money for K’Rescue Knaresborough.

The animal enthusiast went out in all weathers to ensure he completed his challenge – often helped by his friends and family. Mum Clare said:

“It should be an activity for kids, because all of Owen’s friends have joined in. They’ve got right into it.

“I can’t get over how much they’ve all loved litter picking!”

Owen told the Stray Ferret:

“I’m the coolest kid in my class. I’m saving the planet and the animals!”

Owen filled his final three bin bags at the weekend before returning to school after the Easter break.

Asked whether he was proud of his achievement, he added:

“Yes – but my arms hurt!”

Over the last six weeks, Owen has picked litter from parks and footpaths across the Harrogate area, from near his primary school, Hookstone Chase, out to Ripley and Killinghall.

He and his friends have made some interesting discoveries in the undergrowth during that time, including half a pram, a broken lawnmower and an open packet of unused nappies.

Alongside online donations of £900, further contributions in cash have brought the total raised to £1,100.

Owen with Dan, right, and K’Rescue volunteer Anna

Owen has now told the rescue centre’s owner, Dan Holmes, how much he has raised. The money will be used to help cover the £1,500-a-month running costs and to carry out some essential maintenance work

Dan said:

“We are very grateful for all Owen has done. He is one of the few that have done such a big fundraiser to support us and it’s fantastic what he has achieved.”

Mr Holmes said the rescue centre welcomes visitors during its opening hours. Visits are free, but donations are welcome. Many of the animals are also available for adoption.

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Traffic will be prohibited on several roads in Harrogate on Sunday afternoon for the annual St George’s Day parade.

The parade, which was held for the first time in three years last year, sees hundreds of Scouts, Guides, Brownies, Cubs and more join together in uniform to mark the occasion.

North Yorkshire Council, the highways authority, has issued temporary prohibition of traffic orders lasting from 1.30pm to 3pm.

It covers Victoria Avenue and parts of West Park, Beech Grove, Station Parade, Marlborough Road, Queen Parade, North Park Road, Coach Road and Christ Church track.

Victoria Avenue is among the roads affected.

Alternative routes will be signposted.

The closures do not apply to emergency vehicles.

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It’s time to join the Stray Ferret Business Club. The fourth in our series of networking events, with Banyan Bar & Kitchen, is a breakfast event on April 27 from 8am.

Don’t miss out on this chance to network with businesses from across the Harrogate district. Get your tickets by clicking or tapping here.

A Harrogate environmental firm has agreed a contract to deliver services to the Defence Infrastructure Organisation.

Adler and Allan, which is based on Station Parade, confirmed the contract with VINCI Facilities to carry out maintenance work across the Ministry of Defence’s fuel infrastructure in the south east.

The work comes as part of the Future Defence Infrastructure contract with the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, which oversees the MoD’s estate.

Charles Price, fuel infrastructure director at Adler and Allan, said: 

“We look forward to a successful working relationship with VINCI Facilities over the coming years. Adler and Allan is committed to ensuring day-to-day delivery of great customer service and performance across the remit of our work at the 58 MoD sites under VINCI Facilities FDIS Built Estate Contract in the South East.

“Our experience working with MOD facilities across the design, build, installation and ongoing maintenance of fuel infrastructure, and our continued account management and sustainability credentials, positions Adler and Allan as a key supply chain partner for FDIS primes.”

Truth Legal launches new website

A Harrogate law firm has launched a new website.

Truth Legal, which is based on Victoria Avenue, set up the site to make the firm’s services “easily accessible”.

The Harrogate firm specialises in personal injury, immigration, clinical negligence and employment law.

However, the new site also includes information on the company’s professional negligence and business services.

Louis MacWilliam, director at Truth Legal, said in a post on the firm’s site:

“It has been carefully designed to make our wide range of services and free legal resources easily accessible to all.

“And with its open, clean, and vibrant style, we believe it perfectly reflects our values of truth, morality, and the determined pursuit of justice.”

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A stunning golden cloak, crown, orb and sceptre fashioned out of flowers is one of the star attractions at this year’s Harrogate Flower Show.

Today’s first day of the show saw around 15,000 enthusiastic visitors. This year’s theme was the coronation of King Charles III.

The show, which is organised by the North of England Horticultural Society, is the first big gardening event on this year’s UK calendar. More than 50,000 people are expected over the four days.

Nick Smith , show director, told the Stray Ferret:

“We’re so pleased to see the amount of quality horticultural we’re seeing here today. After such a miserable winter, it’s just fantastic to see everybody come here and celebrating spring.

“Some might think the principle of floral art is quite old fashioned, but flower arrangers have created fantastic things – to see the range and quality in the Floral Pavilion is just amazing.”

The royal cloak, crown, orb and sceptre were designed and created by Harrogate florist, Helen James – who is no stranger to winning awards for floral artistry.

This display however, was not made to be judged but to promote the show and has done its job — images of her work graced the front pages of the national press this morning, much to the delight of show organisers.

A close up of the cloak’s beautiful floral fabric

Helen James has created promotional displays for the show for the past eight years but she said this one in particular seemed to have captured people’s attention:

“We’ve started off with a base cloak of fabric and then overlaid it with organza to create a luxurious, padded look and then applied the floral material onto that. The flowers were either stitched on or we used special glue.

“The colour inspiration came from something regal but it’s also fitting for springtime. The flowers are orchids, anthuriums, craspedia, kangaroo paws and mix of ferns and foliage, some have been coloured to fit the colour scheme.”

The work took Helen and her team four days to create, then the cloak was gently draped over a table, put in the back of a van and taken to the Great Yorkshire Showground.

A 99-year-old tradition of model boating looks set to continue in Harrogate’s Valley Gardens.

Members of Claro Marine Modellers and a representative from North Yorkshire Council held talks at the boating lake today about a new fountain.

The model boating club was concerned the fountain would damage boats and bring an end to their hobby in Harrogate.

But Adrian Selway, the new club secretary who has been sailing model boats for 30 years in Valley Gardens, said the talks had reached a solution.

Mr Selway said the council had agreed the fountain will not operate when club members sail their boats on Sunday mornings all year round and on Wednesday evenings during summer.

He added:

“It was a very amicable meeting and the outcome was favourable. The council was anxious to support the club.”

Harrogate Borough Council’s decision to spend £6,000 installing the fountain prompted concerns of boats running aground on the structure.

There were also fears spray from the fountain could ruin boats.

Harrogate Borough Council was abolished at the end of last month. North Yorkshire Council has inherited its assets, including Valley Gardens.

Read more:

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A lorry driver who lost control on the A59 at Blubberhouses on Tuesday was three times over the drink-drive limit.

Jacek Borowski, 51, from Poland lost control of his HGV heading down the hill.

His vehicle blocked the road completely for most of the day, causing significant disruption on the main route between Harrogate and Skipton.

Nobody else was involved or injured.

The lorry blocked the road for most of the day.

North Yorkshire Police said in a statement today Borowski had been banned within 24 hours of the incident. It added:

“Officers breathalysed the driver who blew 92 micrograms of alcohol in 100 milligrams of breath – almost three times the legal limit.

“He was remanded into custody immediately and put before York Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday 19 April where he pleaded guilty to driving over the prescribed limit and was disqualified from driving for 23 months.”

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