Granby Farm 95 homes move closer as developer buys land

The construction of 95 homes on Granby Farm has moved a step closer after a housing developer bought the land.

Richborough Estates had worked with developer Redrow Homes to apply for planning permission from Harrogate Borough Council.

The council approved the plans in April 2021 despite complaints from residents that it would result in the loss of the last remaining link between the Stray and countryside.

It also faced complaints from residents of Redrow’s Devonshire Gardens who did not appreciate how the plans would see a street built over park Pickering Gardens.

Now it has permission, Redrow Homes has officially bought the 10.1 acre land from Richborough Estates.

The Stray Ferret asked both Redrow Homes and Richborough Estates how much the land was bought for but we received no reply by the time of writing.

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The plans for 95 homes will include a mixture of one, two, three and four-bedroom properties.

Workers have already started preparing the land for the development, which is to be known as Granby Meadows.

Jonathan Bloor, managing director of Richborough Estates’ Western Division, said:

“We’re delighted to have completed this sale to Redrow just months after they purchased our 18-acre residential site at nearby Kingsley Road.

“I’d like to congratulate our team for their huge commitment in bringing forward this former grazing paddock as a prime site for much-needed new homes.

“The project began in 2015 and has involved input from our planning, design and technical divisions as well as extensive stakeholder discussion and consultation.

“We’re now really looking forward to see construction getting underway and the new homes coming to life.”

John Handley, managing director of Redrow Yorkshire, said

“Redrow is delighted to have completed the purchase of this fantastic site in the heart of Harrogate, continuing our commitment to delivering high quality new homes in the town.

“We hope to have the first homes on sale off-plan early next year, closely followed by the first of the 146 homes planned for Kingsley Road.

Murderer’s ex-partner sentenced for stealing from Harrogate victim

The ex-partner of a convicted murderer has been sentenced after helping him steal £3,500 from his victim.

Dale Tarbox, 51, was jailed for 16 years after he murdered Harrogate woman Susan Howells in 2019.

A police investigation started in August 2019 when Susan, who was 51, was reported missing.

On Tuesday, Tarbox’s then partner Joan Arnold, 64, admitted theft at Bradford Crown Court.

The court heard how Arnold used Ms Howells’ bank card on numerous occasions after her murder.

Arnold was sentenced to an eight months jail term suspended for one year.

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She was also given 25 days Rehabilitation Activity Requirement to be completed, an electronically monitored curfew between the hours of 9pm and 7am for six months and ordered to pay a victims surcharge of £149.

The sentencing follows the imprisonment of Tarbox in December last year at Leeds Crown Court.

Tarbox, of Independent Street, Little Horton, was arrested in September 2019 in Doncaster and charged with the murder of Ms Howells at his home address in Bradford.

Dale Tarbox was jailed for 16 years for the murder of Susan Howells.

Dale Tarbox was jailed for 16 years for the murder of Susan Howells.

Police enquiries led officers to a caravan park when Tarbox was living. A few days later the police found human remains.

Further investigations led to the arrest of Keith Wadsworth, who was convicted of assisting an offender in preventing lawful burial.

Tarbox was jailed for 16 years for Susan’s murder and given two years to run concurrently in preventing her lawful burial.

Wadsworth, 61, from Doncaster, was sentenced to three years and seven months for assisting an offender in preventing a lawful burial.

Bilton artist sells paintings from his garage to millionaires abroad

Tucked away in a garage in Bilton is a local artist who, when not teaching, can be found splashing colour onto canvases for people across the globe.

Martin Sloan graduated from Sunderland University with a Fine Art degree in 1999. He said like many creative people he dreamed of making money out of his passion.

Now, he is the head of art at King James’s School in Knaresborough and sells his art for as much as £3,000 to hang in homes and offices around the world.

When he’s not teaching you will find him paintbrush in hand in his garage studio putting all his energy and emotion onto the canvas.

Mr Sloan uses wild and bright colours to create his abstract art and calls it “his escape and biggest passion”.

His studio in Bilton.

Living in Bilton for 16 years, Mr Sloan said his art sales have really picked up in the last year with one going a millionaire dollar mansion in New York.

He said:

“Art still really excites me, I’m surrounded by it all the time at school and then at home. Sometimes I’m inspired by a walk along the Nidd sometimes it’s a holiday in the South of France. That’s why I love it.”

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Mr Sloan puts his style of art down to his “transient lifestyle growing up in the military”. He says the abstract nature is a reflection of moving a lot and only settling to an area later in life with his wife and children.

He is often amazed by where his art ends up:

“It’s amazing that it comes from my garden shed in Bilton and they go all over the world.”

Hidden away in Bilton

Arsonists jailed for setting fire to Harrogate brewery

Two arsonists have been jailed for setting fire to a brewery in Harrogate causing up to £17,000 worth of damage.

John Christopher Brown and Scott Spurr were loitering around Harrogate Brewing Company in Hookstone Chase before throwing a “flammable item” into the grounds, causing a blaze which quickly got out of control and tore through the compound, York Crown Court heard.

The fire melted two Portaloos and several beer kegs and smoke infiltrated the brewery itself as the two “drunken idiots” ran off, said prosecutor Rob Galley.

Firefighters arrived at the scene after the arsonists themselves called 999 shortly after the blaze took hold in the middle of the night. 

They brought the fire under control, but severe damage had been caused to the family-run business which was already reeling from the covid pandemic. 

CCTV footage of the incident at about 11pm on October 6 last year showed the two men climbing over the fence at the edge of the brewery. One of them remained on the outside and lobbed a “lit piece of something”, possibly a lit cigarette or papers, into the compound.

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A flash of light could be seen on the footage before the two men ran away.

The blaze caused between £14,000 and £17,000 of damage. The heat was so intense that the Portaloos had melted an inch into the ground.

Brown and Spurr, both 22 years of age, were later arrested and identified from the clothes they were wearing at the time of the incident. The two Harrogate men appeared for sentence on Thursday after admitting to the offence.

Mr Galley said:

“Two Portaloos were melted and unrecognisable.

“Several beer kegs melted (and there was) damage to the cooling system (used for refrigeration). There was damage to (the brewery) windows.”

‘Went up like an inferno’

Owner Martin Joyce, who was finance director at Rossett School in Harrogate before buying the brewery, said the scene when he arrived the following morning was “horrendous”.

The toilets and stock room inside the building had suffered smoke damage and the windows had melted. 

Damage had been caused to stock and the rooms needed complete redecoration. The Portaloos, thought to be the source of the fire, “went up like an inferno”.

Mr Joyce, who only bought the business in January last year, said the incident had a “huge and traumatic effect” on his family.

He said the business had lost £5,000 in takings alone because he was initially unable to reopen the tap room.

Despite insurance pay-outs for the damage, they were still left with a loss of about £4,000 and their premiums had doubled.

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The business – which produces award-winning craft ales to bars and clubs in North Yorkshire – was still dealing with structural damage caused by the blaze, notably melted plastic which had seeped into the drainage system.  

Mr Joyce, known to friends and colleagues as Joe, said he had “no idea what the motive was”.

Adam Walker, for Spurr, said his client was a hard-working man with no previous convictions.

He was “truly remorseful” for the attack which was carried out while he was “heavily in drink”.

Alasdair Campbell, for Brown, said his client had acted like an “immature, drunken idiot” but that he had tried to put the fire out before fleeing.  

Judge Sean Morris blasted the two men for “setting fire to somebody’s livelihood”.

He added:

“These people worked hard to set up their business and you set fire to it.

“What resulted was serious economic impact to their business and it’s had a devastating effect on their lives. You two were a pair of drunken idiots that night.”

Brown, of Avenue Place, and Spurr, of Prospect Road, were each jailed for nine months. 

Car reverses into stationary vehicle then drives off in Harrogate

Police are appealing for information after a car reversed into a stationary vehicle then drove off without stopping.

The incident happened at the temporary traffic lights on Harrogate’s Ripon Road at about 5pm on September 18.

North Yorkshire Police said in a statement today:

“Police are keen to trace the owner of a dark coloured vehicle that reversed into a stationary car before driving away.”

Anyone with information can call the force control room on 101, select option 2, and ask for PC 1211. Or email robert.howe@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk.

To report information anonymously, call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

The North Yorkshire Police reference number is 12210207408.

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Controversial Dunlopillo apartment plan approved

A controversial plan to demolish the former Dunlopillo office block in Pannal to make way for apartments has been approved.

Harrogate Borough Council has given the go-ahead for the plan, which was submitted by Leeds-based Johnson Mowat Planning.

The proposal will see the 1961 office block replaced by 48 one-and two-bedroom apartments.

Under the plans, the site will be split into two blocks, one with four storeys and another with six.

There will also be one car parking space per apartment plus additional spaces for visitors at the back of the building.

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However, the plans have proved controversial with residents, the parish council and Harrogate and Knaresborough MP, Andrew Jones, all criticising the development.

In a letter to the borough council, Pannal and Burn Bridge Parish Council said it could “give no credence” to the proposal.

It said:

“The current Dunlopillo building has suffered decades of neglect and exists as an eyesore within its environment. 

“Councillors and parishioners support its long-overdue demolition but can give no credence to the replacement and erection of a structure which – at a proposed 18 metre height, three metres above the current height – would exert an over-dominance and “mass” in its surrounds.”

Meanwhile, Andrew Jones this week called for a special planning committee to consider the development which he said. 

He also wrote to Michael Gove, communities secretary, to ask for him to intervene “should the council’s local planning powers not be sufficient to enable full scrutiny of the application”.

Mr Jones said the development should not have been lodged under the permitted development rights, which the application has been made under.

He said:

“Permitted development rights are to enable positive development and apply in specific circumstances to achieve a specific goal.  I do not believe that these rights were introduced for the situation in respect of this development in a semi-rural location.

“Such a significant proposal should go through the normal planning process, be thoroughly appraised by council officers and scrutinised by the councillors at a committee meeting where the public can also have their say.”

Johnson Mowat said in its planning documents submitted to the council that the scheme would be an improvement on the current empty office block, which has been deteriorating for several years.

Harrogate Hydro set for major refurbishment

Harrogate Borough Council wants to build a new two-storey extension to The Hydro swimming pool as part of a major refurbishment of the ageing facility.

The council has submitted a planning application this week to upgrade the building, which opened in 1999 and replaced Coppice Valley pool.

The council is proposing to demolish the current ‘drum’ entrance and replace it with a larger structure that includes a bigger café and reception area on the ground floor and a new 400 square metres fitness suite on the first floor.

Plans also include a refurbishment of the changing rooms and pool hall. Five electric vehicle charging points would also be added.

The Stray Ferret asked the council how much the works will cost, and whether it will affect opening hours at the pool, but we did not receive a response at the time of publication.

The Hydro’s ‘drum’ entrance would be demolished and replaced.

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The application has received the backing of Sport England, which said:

“An improved and modern leisure facility in this sustainable location delivers a series of benefits, including increasing the opportunity for physical activity, increasing membership and usage and encouraging better interaction with the facilities and services on offer”.

Other Hydro projects

There are now several building projects underway at The Hydro.

In July, the council confirmed it is to buy a new diving platform to replace the damaged one that has kept divers out of the pool for eight months.

This month, the council was also given approval for 420 solar panels to be installed on the roof of the pool.

The Hydro is now run by Brimhams Active, a new arm’s length leisure company set up by the council this year. It has taken over the running of 12 leisure facilities in Harrogate, Knaresborough, Ripon and Pateley Bridge.

Driver shortage causes bus cancellations in Harrogate district

A Harrogate district bus company has said a shortage of drivers has forced it to cancel “a small number” of services.

Transdev, which operates the Harrogate Bus Company, said in a statement today is has 95 trainee drivers waiting to get out on the roads.

It said the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, which conducts tests, was taking three times longer than usual to confirm test dates and provide licences.

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Transdev has said it has been forced to cancel 0.8% of services for the Harrogate Bus Company as a result.

Delays to drive training is a national problem. The Confederation of Passenger Transport has warned that the delays have caused a shortage of 4,000 drivers.

Alex Hornby, chief executive of Transdev, said:

“We understand entirely how frustrating it is when journeys are cancelled, and it’s the last thing we want to do.

“Right now, we have 95 new colleagues at The Academy, our in-house driver training facility in Yorkshire and Lancashire.

“They just want to be out on the road serving our customers – but instead, they’re waiting over three times longer than usual to get licences

“Most of our buses are running as normal and we are attracting new drivers, so the current delays to licensing and testing are very frustrating.”

Transdev has asked the government to speed up the licence application process and free up the availability of theory and practical tests.

New Skipton Building Society branch in Harrogate approved

Skipton Building Society has been given approval to open a new branch on Cambridge Street in Harrogate town centre.

The company, which currently has a branch on Princes Street, will refurbish the central unit of the former Topshop outlet in the town centre.

The units at 33-37 Cambridge Street, which were also occupied by Miss Selfridges, are to be split into three.

Skipton Building Society plans to lease the central unit and refurbish it to include open plan public space, office spaces, toilets and staff space.

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It has also proposed to fit five air conditioning units to the back of the building facing Petergate.

A spokesperson for the company confirmed to the Stray Ferret the proposal will see its current branch relocated.

In documents submitted to Harrogate Borough Council’s planning department, which have the scheme the go-ahead, the company said the proposal will ensure the “continued life of the building”.

It added:

“It will also ensure the property does not become unused or rundown which is important for its position.”

In July, the council approved plans for Sainsbury’s to occupy the largest unit on the street.

More double yellow lines for Harrogate

New double yellow lines are set to be painted on Harrogate’s roads to stop cars waiting on streets and causing a hazard.

A new order by North Yorkshire County Council will see new yellow lines appear on some roads across Harrogate, Pannal and Burn Bridge as well as others being lengthened and shortened.

The council has said the new measures are to encourage road safety and avoid obstructions in some busier areas.

Some of the roads included in the measures are:

The times parking is restricted and whether there will be double or single yellow lines can be found here.

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Melisa Burnham, highways area manager at the council, said:

“Traffic regulation orders of this type are commonplace. These orders relating to Harrogate, Knaresborough, Pannal and Burn Bridge are to prevent motor vehicles being left on yellow lines for various reasons, predominantly road safety, by preventing obstructions or regulating vehicle movement or parking.

“All these ordered were publicised and comment invited in April. This included responses from residents.

“The restrictions will come into force at the earliest opportunity, as soon as specialist road marking contractors can undertake the work.”