Ambitious plans to transform one of Harrogate’s most historic buildings into a care home and community facility look set to be determined within weeks.

Grove House, a grade two listed building off Skipton Road, was the home of Victorian inventor, philanthropist and mayor Samson Fox.

Harrogate businessman Graeme Lee, chief executive of Springfield Healthcare, bought the disused six-acre site four years ago for more than £3m.

Mr Lee plans to convert Grove House into 23 independent living apartments and build a 70-bed care home and eight houses providing supported living for over-65s on land alongside it.

How the 70-bed facility alongside Grove House will look.

He also wants to host an annual garden party for locals and let schoolchildren from nearby Grove Road Community Primary School participate in activities alongside residents and use the gardens for study and play as part of his vision for a new type of inter-generational and community care facility.

After months of delays in the planning process, Mr Lee said he was expecting a decision in the next month or two. He added:

“This a great opportunity for the council to bring this gem of a building back to life. The history around it is amazing.

“It will be brilliant for the community and would be a great way of honouring Samson Fox’s legacy.”

An artist’s impression of how Grove House would look.

It would be Springfield Healthcare’s eighth care home in northern England and second in Harrogate.

Mr Lee, whose company employs 1,600 staff, said he hoped work would start in autumn or winter and be completed by September 2025.

He said:

“The quicker we can get this under development the better. Grove House is deteriorating at a rapid rate and it would be a travesty if it didn’t happen.”

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A woman from Harrogate has been jailed for six months for threatening a person with a hammer.

Angela Gromett, 53, of Wetherby Road, pleaded not guilty to the offence, which occurred at her home in December last year.

But Gromett, who also uses the name Angela Bennett, was found guilty following a summary trial and was sentenced on Thursday at Harrogate Magistrates Court.

Court documents say she was jailed because it was “an unprovoked attack of a serious nature”.

Gromett was also ordered to pay £156 towards victim services.

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A Harrogate woman has published her first book, focussing on coercive control.

Emily Trisk wrote the novel, called Fractured Lives, to raise awareness of the issue.

The book focuses on Kate McConell, a mother of a 16-year-old, who realises that her life has been made unbearable by her abusive partner.

While the novel is not the story of Emily’s own experience, she hopes it will help to bring the issue to the forefront of people’s minds.

She said:

“Coercive control is an extremely important subject, the signs of which everyone should become more aware of.”

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Emily, a qualified teacher of children with severe learning disabilities, was the victim of domestic abuse herself.

However, despite the trauma, she said she “has always tried to look on the bright side of life”.

The novel is Emily’s first and she is currently researching material for her second book.

Fractured Lives is available on Amazon now. You can find out more information here.

An event aiming to celebrate disability and promote living life in the way people wish will come to Harrogate next month.

The Slightly Alternative Seminar is organised by Disability Action Yorkshire (DAY) and will see high-profile names tell their own stories of life as a disabled person.

‘Punk Chef’ Scott Garthwaite and TEDx speaker Pippa Stacey will take to the stage, along with Bafta-winning screenwriter, director and journalist Charlie Swinbourne.

Disability Action Yorkshire chief executive Jackie Snape said:

“We are so excited to be holding our second Slightly Alternative Seminar. The feedback from our first event was amazing and we have built on that to bring together some fantastic speakers who have some remarkably interesting stories to tell. We are looking forward to a wonderful day.”

The event takes place at Pavilions of Harrogate on Friday, May 5, from 10am to 3.30pm.

Ms Snape said the charity is aiming to grow it year on year, as a unique event for members of the disabled community and people who support them.

She added:

“There are few events aimed specifically at disabled people apart from those selling equipment.

“The people we work with were telling us that they wanted information on a variety of subjects that matter to them, not just where to buy a wheelchair, and we listened and we responded.”

The Slightly Alternative Seminar is free to attend and includes free refreshments. Attendees can attend for all or part of the day.

As well as British Sign Language interpreters on hand, the venue has step-free access and a hearing loop.

To book a place, email Hanne Jackson at Disability Action Yorkshire or call 01423 855420.

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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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