Planning permission to convert a Bishop Monkton pub to residential use has finally been granted on appeal – just days after one of the applicants died. 

Landlords Trevor and Carol Pawson had spent three years trying to get permission to create five new homes from the Lamb & Flag Inn, but Mr Pawson died on March 25. The couple’s appeal was approved on April 5, the day before his funeral. 

Mrs Pawson told The Stray Ferret she intended to press ahead with development work, but did not yet know when it might start. She said:  

“We won, so I’ll carry on, but for the time being I’m just taking one day at a time.”

Mr and Ms Pawson bought the Lamb & Flag Inn 30 years ago and ran it as a village pub until declining trade and ill-health forced them to close it permanently at the start of the covid pandemic in 2020. 

In the autumn of that year, they applied for planning permission to create five new dwellings – two from the conversion of the pub, one from the conversion of some holiday lets in an outbuilding, and two to be built in the pub car-park.  

They withdrew that application a few months later, but reapplied in April 2021, only to be turned down. Harrogate Borough Council planning officers refused the application on the grounds that “insufficient marketing” had been done to demonstrate that the pub could not be used for community use. 

The Pawsons appealed, providing evidence of marketing, leading planning officer Paul Cooper to conclude that there was “no compelling evidence that operation of the facility would be financially viable”. 

In his decision, Mr Cooper added: 

“The proposed dwellings would have a neutral effect on the conservation area and not […] be harmful by their design or impact on the landscape or settlement as a whole.” 

The Lamb & Flag dates back at least to the 1830s and was at one time one of seven pubs in the Bishop Monkton parish. Only one now remains – the Masons Arms, which still opens five days a week. 

Read more:

• Redevelopment work begins on site of famous former Ripon pub
• Former pub near Boroughbridge to be converted into flats
• Bishop Monkton residents fear 125 new homes will exacerbate flooding

A special meeting has been convened to discuss whether to proceed with the £11.2 million Harrogate Station Gateway.

The new North Yorkshire Council has organised a meeting of its Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee on May 5.

The sole item on the agenda is the gateway, which would see James Street partly pedestrianised and some of Station Parade reduced to single lane traffic to encourage cycling.

The 15-strong committee comprises of nine Liberal Democrats, five Conservatives and one Green.

Area constituency committees are advisory bodies to North Yorkshire Council, whose Conservative-controlled executive retains the final say.

But Cllr Keane Duncan, the Conservative member for highways and transportation at the council, has pledged to abide by the area constituency committee’s decision.

Cllr Duncan said this would fulfil the council leadership’s pledge of “double devolution” whereby more decisions would be taken locally.

But some Liberal Democrats think the Conservatives have given them a hospital pass by passing on responsibility for such a hot political potato that has divided local opinion.

How James Street would look

To date the Liberal Democrats have been quiet on whether they will back the gateway.

The Stray Ferret asked area constituency committee chair, Cllr Pat Marsh, the Liberal Democrat for Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone, whether her party would support the gateway.

On March 9, she said:

“Until we have a group meeting to discuss it I am not prepared to comment.”

We asked Cllr Marsh again on Friday whether the Lib Dems had formulated a position. She replied:

“We will let everyone know our opinions on May 5.”

Speaking at a Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce meeting on March 14, Cllr Duncan said:

“I will implement whatever decision is taken. It’s right that Harrogate and Knaresborough councillors have their say.”

He told the meeting the scheme would see the removal of 40 parking spaces — 20 on James Street and 20 on Station Parade.

He added the Station Square water feature had been removed from the scheme “due to practical and cost constraints”. It would have cost £500,000.

Cllr Keane Duncan (centre) at the chamber event

Cllr Duncan committed to four pledges if the scheme goes ahead:

1 To conduct a full review of car parking in Harrogate town centre.

2  To manage disruption, adding: “It cannot be denied there will be disruption. We will draw up a construction management plan.”

3 No compromise on quality of construction materials.

4 Traffic flows will be revisited and reassessed.

The meeting at the Civic Centre in Harrogate on May 5 will take place at 10am and is open to the public.

Photographs of Jimi Hendrix and Mick Jagger that have been reworked as part of a collaboration between a famous photographer and artist will be unveiled in a Harrogate gallery.

Photographer Gered Mankowitz has teamed up with oil painter Christian Furr to bring the exhibition to RedHouse Gallery.

The two became friends more than a decade ago, and have combined Furr’s distinct painting style with some of Mankowitz’s most iconic photographs.

The exhibition, entitled In Wonder, will include reworked images of rock royalty, and will stand alongside unseen portraits of the likes of Kate Bush, PP Arnold and Marianne Faithful.

A screening of the artists in conversation will also be featured in the exhibition, as well as original darkroom photographs and recent paintings by Furr.

A portrait of PP Arnold included in the exhibition.

Mr Mankowitz was the official photographer for The Rolling Stones in the 1960s and has seen the likes of Eric Clapton, Elton John, Oasis, and Duran Duran down the lens of his camera.

Mr Furr gained an international audience in 1995 after becoming the youngest artist commissioned to paint Queen Elizabeth II.

He said he is “dedicated to keeping oil painting fresh and alive as a contemporary medium”, so the collaborative exhibition seemed a natural progression.

Mr Furr said:

“It probably goes back to when we first became friends. I painted a portrait of Gered, and Gered took a photograph of me in my studio.

“We had this idea to work together as artists and try and fuse the world of photography and art and do something with that as an idea, and I just think Gered’s amazing archive has really lent itself to us creating a whole new thing together…”

David McTague, of RedHouse Gallery, said:

“We are excited to welcome Gered Mankowitz and Christian Furr back to RedHouse.

“They are two incredible artists in their own right, so we are thrilled to be unveiling new work from their 45RPM collaboration, fusing the mediums of photography and painting.”

In Wonder runs from Friday, April 21, until Saturday, May 27. The exhibition is free to attend and all works will be on sale.

Read more:

• Julian Lloyd Webber among big names set for Harrogate Music Festival
• History group to show archive footage of Ripon and Harrogate

Police investigating the disappearance of Jesus Moreno have found the body of a male.

The body was found by a police search team yesterday afternoon on land close to the River Wharfe in the Harewood area.

West Yorkshire Police announced the discovery in a statement this afternoon. It added there were no suspicious circumstances. The statement added:

“The family of Mr Moreno have been informed of this development and enquiries are ongoing to confirm the identity of the deceased.”

Mr Moreno, 41, who worked at a Leeds brewery, was last seen more than eight months ago in August 2022.

A poster in Harrogate appealing for help

He was spotted on CCTV catching a 36 bus to Harrogate at Leeds bus station at 6.10am on Monday, August 1.

He got off the bus at Swindon Lane near Dunkeswick, just north of Harewood bridge on the A61, at 6.39am.

He was then seen on CCTV near the bridge at 8.14am.

Today’s news comes two weeks after West Yorkshire Police said it had “exhausted every possible line of enquiry” and issued a fresh appeal for help.

Police had searched the countryside and river near where Mr Moreno was last seen.

Drones were used and the family even used a psychic to try to help.

Read more:

• Police: All lines exhausted into missing man last seen on A61 near Harewood Bridge
• Search continues for missing man last seen on A61 near Harewood bridge

Tory-run North Yorkshire Council has accused the Department for Education of “extremely slow” action and unfair funding of school spaces for vulnerable youngsters with special educational needs.

An officers’ report to leading members of the council highlights the government awards the county just 61% of the national average figure for special schools building schemes.

At the same time, the council faces a shortfall of about 100 places from September and 350 places over the next three to five years.

The report states using DfE data and criteria for specialist provision funding, North Yorkshire ranked 118th out of 150 councils.

Officers said this academic year had seen “a very marked increase” in requests for pupils to be assessed for SEN.

So while 700 new assessments had been a reasonably stable level for a number of years, forecasts of the likely number of requests for this year were between 980 and 1,090.

In addition, the report states resources available to the council to invest in key maintenance projects have reduced significantly in recent years, so North Yorkshire Council only receives about £6.3m to maintain 200 schools.

Exacerbating this, all of the council’s applications to secure government rebuild programmes at its special schools have been unsuccessful.

Officers said capital funding from the government for high needs pupils had been “significant but disappointing in comparison to other authorities”.

Pupils in Kensington and Chelsea get five times more

They said they had “significant concerns” about how the DfE allocated £88 per pupil in North Yorkshire compared to £483 per pupil in Kensington and Chelsea.

The report states several schools are in pressing need of repairs and Welburn Hall School, near Kirkbymoorside, has been identified as being “at risk of catastrophic buildings failure”.

However, the report states the authority has insufficient funding to tackle “significant concerns about the suitability and condition of our special schools”, adding its “overarching priority with the limited capital resource envelope available is to respond to create more classroom spaces”.

The report adds although the DfE approved the council’s bid for funding to create a Special Free School four years ago, the latest estimated opening date for the school was 2025.

The officers wrote:

“Whilst we were successful in securing the Selby Free School through the DfE Special Free School programme, DfE’s delivery of the school has been extremely slow.

“This is disappointing given that the 100 places that the school will create are urgently needed to address overlap capacity shortfalls and provide access to a local provision to families from the Selby area.”

Read more:

• The Harrogate school providing children with additional support
• Headteacher of King James’s School in Knaresborough leaves after 15 years

A government spokesperson said delays in delivering the proposed new Selby school had included reaching agreement with the council for its contribution to the access road and abnormal works, and an unsuccessful procurement of a contractor to build the permanent school.

The spokesperson said it had strived to distribute high needs provision capital funding fairly and efficiently between local authorities based on both their size, and their share of estimated growth in demand for high needs provision between academic years

She added:

“Every child deserves to have access to education that meets their needs. Our recent improvement plan will reform the support system for children with special educational needs and disabilities, prioritising earlier intervention and creating consistent high standards across the country.”

A pay-as-you-feel cafe will open in Killinghall next month thanks to food waste organisation Resurrected Bites.

It will run its weekly cafe in the newly-refurbished Killinghall Methodist Church every Thursday from 11.30am to 2pm.

The grand opening takes place on Thursday, May 11, when the team of volunteers will be serving hot meals made using food that would otherwise have gone to landfill.

Customers are invited to pay whatever they can afford for their lunches, as well as a selection of hot and cold drinks, pastries and cakes.

Ian Booth, who has run the kitchen for the organisation’s cafes in Harrogate and Knaresborough for the last two years, previously told the Stray Ferret:

“Often, people don’t come because they think it’s just for people who are struggling. We’re absolutely dependent on people who can afford to give generously.  

“At the same time, it’s great when people come who can’t afford to, knowing that someone who is struggling has had a good hot meal.” 

As well as the weekly cafe, a new toddler and parent creative group is being launched to run in the morning. Therapeutic Creatives will offer creative sessions for children as well as activities for parents and carers, aiming to make the first few years of parenthood easier.

Participants will then have an area set aside in the cafe for them to enjoy lunch together and build new friendships.

Resurrected Bites, a community interest company, also runs community groceries in Harrogate and Knaresborough. They allow people who are struggling to afford food to get a weekly shop for a small sum.

The organisation uses food from supermarkets and other commercial businesses to fill its grocery shelves and create its cafe menus. All the food is still safe to eat, but does not meet the exacting requirements of retailers.

The Stray Ferret supported Resurrected Bites as part of our first ever Christmas appeal in 2022. With support from the public and match funding of £5,000 from Harrogate firm Techbuyer, we raised more than £32,000 in just four weeks.

Read more:

• Refurbished church aims to meet needs of growing Killinghall community
• Killinghall Nomads opens cafe named after ex-player Rachel Daly

Two footballers who started out on pitches in Harrogate and Knaresborough will be bidding for a place in the Women’s FA Cup final this weekend.

Leah Galton and Rachel Daly have risen from local leagues to play as strikers for two of the biggest clubs in the country.

Galton, who began as a junior with Knaresborough Celtic and then played for Harrogate Railway, has banged in 29 goals for Manchester United Women since she joined them from Bayern Munich in 2018.

She is the joint third highest scorer in the Women’s Super League this season with eight goals.

Manchester United Women will line-up against Brighton & Hove Albion Women at 5.15pm today.

United, who have never won a major women’s trophy but are top of the Women’s Super League, will be fancied to beat lowly Brighton.

Tomorrow, Daly’s Aston Villa Women will take centre stage in the second semi-final against Chelsea Women at 2.15pm.

Daly, who started at Killinghall Nomads and won Euro 2022 with England last year, is second on this year’s leading scorer list with 13 goals.

If Manchester United and Villa win, it could result in the remarkable prospect of two local women playing up front in the cup final at Wembley.

Both semi-finals will be televised live on the BBC.

Read more:

• Harrogate’s Rachel Daly on target as England win Finalissima
• Harrogate’s Leah Galton wins WSL Player of the Month

The owner of the Motorhouse car dealership on the Ripon Road near Killinghall says he is sad to be selling the business and retiring.

Seventy-seven-year-old John Steele has been trading cars on the landmark site for a quarter of a century, and this week the Stray Ferret reported that the site is to be sold at auction.

Mr Steele said he has loved his work:

“I love what I do – I’ve been here 25 years. I don’t really want to retire but my good lady says we need more quality time together.

“If we sell it, I’ll be sad. The building has been here years and years. Years ago it was a tea room and then a petrol station and then the showroom was added on. It’s a landmark being on the main road.”

Mr Steele’s love of cars began in his childhood. His favourite car is an E-Type Jaguar which as a young man he’d always dreamed of owning. He went on to own quite a few of them.

Over the past 25 years, the trade has changed. He began in 1967 by simply putting a van-for-sale advert in his local newspaper. Now the internet means he’s had buyers from all over the world:

“The farthest we’ve sold a car is to Australia. One was a Ford Cosworth 500 – the other was a BMW. Just from the internet. And also to the Outer Hebrides.

“That’s the power of the internet. I never even met the people who bought the cars.”

As his car dealing career comes to a close at the site, Mr Steele says he recently sold his most expensive car, a Rolls Royce Ghost for £90,000.

Predictably for a man who loves cars, Mr Steele owns a few and plans to enjoy taking them to car shows and doing the odd bit of trade with some friends.

The property is now up for auction with Myrings estate agents – with a guide price of £800,000. Called Harrogate View Grange, it includes Motorhouse’s showroom with garage and workshop, a 25-car forecourt, and a three-bedroom house with undercroft garaging.

Asked what he thinks will happen to the site, he said:

“I think it would suit many other things rather than cars – there is also the house here which is empty at the moment. It would suit many other trades. It’s a landmark..”

The auction is due to close at 2pm on Thursday, April 27.

Read more:

• Landmark Harrogate business put up for sale
• Driver fined for seriously injuring pedestrian in Killinghall

A model boating club is to vote this week on whether to continue following the decision to install a fountain in Harrogate’s Valley Gardens.

Model boating has taken place on the boating lake near the cafe for 99 years.

But in one of its final acts before abolition, Harrogate Borough Council spent £6,000 on a new fountain.

Claro Marine model boating club pleaded with the council not to press ahead with the water feature, warning it would jeopardise their hobby.

Boats could run aground if they hit the fountain and their engines could be damaged by the spray.

But the council brushed aside the concerns and the fountain is now active.

The fountain in Valley Gardens

Claro Marine appealed last week for access to a new lake but so far nothing has transpired.

Club secretary Dave Finnegan said members would meet on Tuesday night to decide whether to continue.

“Some members, including myself, are members of other clubs. The only bad part is the distance — at least two of our members do not drive.

“There is a real chance Claro Marine modellers will close.”

Read more:

• ‘The council have destroyed 99 years of model boats in Harrogate’
• Model boating must continue, says Friends of Valley Gardens