Overnight closures on A1(M) between Boroughbridge and Wetherby

National Highways has announced a series of full overnight closures on the A1(M) between Wetherby and Boroughbridge.

Drivers planning to travel on the A1(M) in North Yorkshire are advised to plan their journeys in advance as a bridge is due to undergo essential maintenance from April 29.

National Highways is repainting steel beams on Moor Lane Bridge, which carries the A168 over the A1(M) near Walshford. At the same time, it will be carrying out further maintenance on the A1(M) in this area.

To ensure this is carried out safely, full overnight closures will be in place between junctions 46 (Wetherby) and 48 (Boroughbridge).

Closures and diversions

The overnight closures will begin on April 29 on the A1(M) northbound between junctions 46 and 48 over up to three weeks. During these nights, the southbound carriageway will remain open.

From May 18, this work will switch to the southbound side, with overnight closures on the A1(M) southbound between junctions 48 and 46 for a further period of around three weeks. The northbound side will stay open.

The closures will be in place each night, Monday to Friday, and every other weekend, between 8pm and 6am. The A1(M) will remain open during the day, and no road closures will take place over the May bank holiday weekends.

All work is subject to weather conditions and may be rescheduled if poor weather prevents it going ahead.

Drivers are advised to follow the signed diversion – and not rely on their satnavs. The northbound diversion will be via B1224 and A168, with the route reversed for the southbound work.

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Bus operator defends itself after parents’ frustrations over new Boroughbridge service

A bus operator has responded to concerns raised by Boroughbridge parents about a new service serving schoolchildren.

East Yorkshire Motor Services Ltd, which trades as East Yorkshire Buses, this week took over the 22 service, which French-owned Transdev ran between Ripon and Boroughbridge.

The move, funded by North Yorkshire Council, means Boroughbridge High School pupils now have to use the 82 or 83.

However, parents claimed they were “not informed” about the change of operator and pupils’ pre-paid Transdev tickets were no longer valid.

The Stray Ferret put these concerns to East Yorkshire Buses. A spokesperson yesterday said:

“East Yorkshire Motor Services commenced operation of several public service routes on April 8, 2024, following a contract award from North Yorkshire Council. On our first day of operation of one of these services which calls into Boroughbridge High School, we became aware that some customers possessed period tickets issued by the previous operator which were yet to expire.

“To prioritise customer satisfaction and ensure a smooth transition, we took immediate action to accommodate these existing tickets for a grace period of one week. This decision was made to afford customers ample time to transition onto our service offerings seamlessly.”

Duncan Gray, whose granddaughter is a pupil at the school, told the Stray Ferret some children were “were initially refused to travel” with Transdev tickets, but after “protests from parents” they were permitted.

The spokesperson said in response:

“We have not been made aware of any reported instances where customers were denied travel due to possessing tickets from the previous operator. In fact, during the inaugural journey to Boroughbridge High School from Ripon, all such tickets were accepted without issue, as confirmed by our managing director who was present onboard.

“To further reinforce this commitment, a senior staff member was onboard the service this morning, and all legacy tickets were once again accepted without hesitation. We have also reiterated this message to our drivers and controllers to ensure that there are no issues.”

Another parent Tasha Newcombe, who also expressed concerns to the Stray Ferret following the change of operator, today said ticketing was “not the issue” now — instead the problem is “how late the bus is running”.

She added:

“On Tuesday they arrived at school at 9.30am as it was so late, and yesterday after school the children were waiting for 40 minutes to be picked up. It’s just ridiculous, some of these children, I believe year 7, have had exams this week which they have been late to.

“The timings really need sorting as this is going to impact on their education, and being late after school means missing clubs etc.”

Mr Gray reiterated Ms Newcombe’s concerns, adding his wife is driving their grandchildren to school this week as the bus has been “15 to 20 minutes late in the mornings”. He also said:

“The situation has to change otherwise the kids will be late every morning!”

East Yorkshire Buses said its priority was the “provision of reliable, efficient and customer-centric transport solutions”.

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£1.3m to be spent resurfacing pothole-ridden roads in Harrogate district

Anyone who has driven around the Harrogate district recently will have noted the poor state of the roads, with a prolonged spell of wet weather making the pothole problem worse.

But there are now hopes the situation could finally improve for road users after the government announced that £1.3m previously allocated for the rail scheme HS2 will be spent resurfacing roads in the area including in Knaresborough, Boroughbridge and Ripon.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak scrapped the northern leg of HS2 last year and pledged to use money intended for the scheme on improving transport in the north.

Today the Department for Transport has revealed which local authorities across Yorkshire will benefit from the latest tranche of funding for road resurfacing, which it says will result in £991 million in reallocated HS2 funding for the region.

Roads in the Harrogate district that will be resurfaced are below along with how much each set of works will cost:

Councils across Yorkshire will now be required to submit quarterly reports from June, announcing work which has taken place over three months.

The government says it means residents will be able to scrutinise the progress of the works as these reports will be published online.

Transport secretary Mark Harper said:

“We’re on the side of drivers, which is why this Government is getting on with delivering our plan to invest £991 million in Yorkshire and the Humber as part of the biggest-ever funding increase for local road improvements, made possible by reallocated HS2 funding.

“Alongside this unprecedented funding, which is already being used to improve local roads, we’re making sure residents can hold their local authority to account and see for themselves how the investment will be spent to improve local roads for years to come.”

Meanwhile, it was announced last month that North Yorkshire Council will receive £3.5m from HS2 to put on extra buses across 20 different routes.

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Parents outrage over Ripon to Boroughbridge school bus change

Parents at Boroughbridge High School have expressed concern about the lack of information on changes to a Boroughbridge bus service.

Duncan Gray, whose granddaughter is a pupil at the school, contacted the Stray Ferret after the number 22, which formerly took students from Ripon to the school, ceased operating.

French-owned Transdev, which operated the route, has handed over the service to East Yorkshire Buses. According to East Yorkshire Buses’ website, the changeover has been funded by North Yorkshire Council, and pupils now must use the 82 or 83 to get to school.

The new service runs between Ripon bus station and York, via Boroughbridge and surrounding villages.

However, Mr Gray said parents were “not informed” about the change of operator and he added pupils’ Transdev tickets were no longer valid on the new service.

He said:

“The timetable has changed, meaning the kids arrive at school five minutes before start time. My granddaughter and dozens of other kids didn’t get to school until 9.30 today.

“There was no consultation on this transfer of service.”

Mr Gray also said pupils with Transdev tickets were initially refused to travel on the new service. However, after “protests from parents” the pupils were eventually permitted, he added.

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Another parent, Tasha Newcombe, also expressed concern about the short time pupils now have to catch the bus after school.

She told the Stray Ferret the changeover had been an “absolute shambles”, adding:

“I know that on pick-up in the afternoon the new bus gets there slightly earlier, meaning the children are now having to rush as soon as the end of the day bell goes.

“The [new] bus is smaller, so on the way home yesterday the kids were all stood up all the way back on country lanes.

“There were a lot of anxious children yesterday when they saw the new bus and were told their pre-bought tickets were not valid for the new bus.”

The Stray Ferret contacted Boroughbridge High School to ask about the new service, including whether the school was aware of the change, but it declined to comment.

We also approached Transdev and East Yorkshire Buses about the move, but neither firm replied by the time of publication.

The news comes after major changes to several Harrogate district buses were announced last week. However, the termination of the 22 was not included in the listed changes.

The Stray Ferret to move to a subscription service

The Stray Ferret is to introduce a small subscription fee shortly after we launch our new website and app in May.  

The new website and app will include many features that readers have asked for — more investigations, notifications, more lifestyle content and the ability to comment on stories on the website rather than just on social media.  

Subscribers will also benefit from exclusive discounts from local businesses which aim to cover subscription costs and will not be offered anywhere else. 

Since 2020, we have taken pride in covering the stories that matter most to residents across Harrogate, Ripon, Knaresborough, Boroughbridge, Masham and Pateley Bridge.

We passionately believe that a quality, local news service for the area provides an important, trusted platform for debate and information for local people.  

The media landscape is financially tough and while we’ve previously adopted an advertising only model, it has not been enough to meet our costs.  

We have watched as other local news organisations have cut the number of  journalists, lowered the quality of the stories they publish and covered pages with pop-up ads which make it unreadable. We didn’t want to do this.  

By paying a small fee you will be investing in an improved news service. By keeping adverts, we can keep the subscription price to readers as low as possible.  

We did not take this decision lightly, but we feel this is the only way to keep serving the area to the standard it deserves, by providing a platform to raise awareness about issues that affect local people.  

We’ve also moved into Harrogate town centre, so we can help anyone who has problems with signing up to the subscription service, the app or newsletter.  

So from May we will be asking readers to subscribe to the Stray Ferret for £4.99 a month. Or you can pay annually at £49.99 which would save you about £10 a year.

In the coming weeks, we will be explaining how the subscription service will work and how to sign up, as well as tackling any frequently asked questions.  

We hope you subscribe — by doing so you will be investing in quality, local journalism.  

New software improving local gully maintenance, says council

North Yorkshire Council says a new software has helped to improve maintenance of the county’s gullies.

A council report, which was written by Nigel Smith, head of highway operations at North Yorkshire Council, will be presented to the transport, economy, environment and enterprise overview and scrutiny committee next Wednesday.

It says maintenance has reportedly improved since the roll-out of a pilot scheme using software from a company called Kaarbontech in 2021.

The Stray Ferret is often flooded with messages expressing concern about the infrastructure of local gullies. These only increased during the sodden winter.

But the council has said the new software helps to determine the number of gullies that need to be attended each year and where they are located based on the previous year’s figures.

Mr Smith said:

“The analysis of this data ensures that the gully crews only need to attend gullies that require attention, therefore saving time and costs associated with gully maintenance.”

The report says the previous system was “much less reliable”, adding when some locations were attended the crews would find the gully was “silt-free and water in the pipework running freely”.

But, since using the software, it adds the attendance-to-gullies figure increased to 85% in 2022 and 2023, which was a 10% increase from the year prior.

The report also says of those gullies attended in the same period, a total of 93.2% of gullies needed cleaning, which suggests the “data-led programme was working”. It adds:

“Our surveys show that there are 164,171 gullies on the highway network.

“Data collected and sense-checked indicates that as of March 11, 2024, the total number of gullies attended was 92,554 based on information to the end of the previous week. This represents 87.11% of the programme, meaning the 2022/23 figure (85%) has already been exceeded.”

Mr Smith also notes the data collected was taken “against a backdrop of ten named storms during the winter season”, adding more than 10,000 gullies were attended in addition to those included in the Kaarbontech programme.

The report forecasts the attendance figure to increase to 93% by the end of this year.

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Council leader defends North Yorkshire Council record one year on

The leader of North Yorkshire Council has defended its record as it marks its one year anniversary since being established.

The authority replaced the now defunct Harrogate Borough Council in April 2023 with the promise of making savings.

One year on from its launch, the Stray Ferret has looked at how the council has changed governance in the county and if people feel it has improved.

Among those we spoke to was Lord Wallace of Saltaire, a Liberal Democrat peer, who was highly critical of the move 12 months ago. He remained concerned that the authority felt detached from its constituents.

The Stray Ferret put the concerns to Conservative leader of the council, Cllr Carl Les, and asked what he felt the council’s achievements were over the last 12 months.

He pointed to £30 million worth of savings, which he said had been used to “protect vital services”.

Cllr Les said the money had been saved by streamlining services from the seven districts, plus various staff and management reviews. 

He described the move as a “local government reorganisation dividend” which had allowed the authority to protect frontline services.

Part of the protection of local services was also down to increasing council tax by 4.99%, he said. However, Cllr Less added that this was necessary.

He said:

“There are councils across the county that would want that dividend.

“There will also come a point that members can have a real good discussion about the council tax needed to run the authority. But, at the moment, we have used that money to protect services.”

Residents ‘not detached’ from council

Much of the criticism around the new council has that it is too remote.

This week, Lord Saltaire told the Stray Ferret that he stood by criticism he made about the authority in the House of Lords 12 months ago.

He said he felt that people feel detached from their local council and that councillors could not cope with the number of constituents within their divisions.

Lord Saltaire added that a district and county council model still worked, despite being criticised as “inefficient”.

He said:

“We still have county councils and district councils in some places. That in some ways is less efficient, but it does at least give people a connection.

“People do not feel any connection with their local authority.”

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In response, Cllr Les said he disagreed with the notion that the authority is detached from its residents.

He said that residents across North Yorkshire still had representatives that they could reach out to and that the council was responsive.

Cllr Les said:

“I have been a councillor for a number of years, both district and county, and I do not think my constituents would feel that they are detached from their representatives.

“Everybody still has a councillor.”

Cllr Les previously described the establishment of North Yorkshire Council as a “wastershed” moment for public services in the county.

The move was the first reorganisation of local government in the county since 1974.

He said it was still early days for the unitary council, but he felt it would last as long as its predecessor.

Cllr Les said:

“At the moment, we are only over a year into the new council. The last one lasted 50 years. I think this new authority will last 50 years.”

Harrogate village shocked after 30ft topiary cockerel cut down

A village between Harrogate and Ripon has been left in a state of shock after its most famous sight — a 30ft topiary cockerel — was cut down.

Bishop Monkton has crowed about its magnificent bird for more than 100 years.

Standing proudly in front of a 300-year-old home known as Cockerel Cottage, it attracted visitors and even national media coverage.

Photos on local history website Bishop Monkton yesterday show the bird outside the cottage, whose proper name is Burngarth, in the 1920s.

Pic: Bishop Monkton Yesterday

But it disappeared this week, leaving some villagers horrified, and wondering what had led to its demise.

The Stray Ferret spoke to Gary Cross, landlord of the Masons Arms in Bishop Monkton, to find out more.

Mr Cross said the cockerel had been one of the main talking points in the pub in the days since it was cut down on Tuesday.

But he said that, contrary to appearances, it was not an act of wanton vandalism and could even return, Phoenix-like, after its shearing.

Mr Cross said he knows the owners, who we have not named, and understood the cockerel’s size and proximity to the house caused problems including blocking light  and was difficult to maintain. He added:

“It was a pretty big object and attraction. Some residents are very upset about it. But they don’t have to live next to it.

“With the beck flooding, a lot of their garden was subject to flooding and it held pools of water, which was difficult to deal with. The owners have been there two or three years and tried to work with the cockerel but it had just become so big.”

Mr Cross said a leading topiarist was hired to prune the bird down to its roots so it could regrow, although this would take years. He said:

“Some people are being rude and vicious but it has not been butchered, it was carefully cut.

“Most people think it’s a shame but when you pose the question ,’would you want to have to maintain it?’, the answer is usually ‘no’.”

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Government inspector to assess plans for new town in Harrogate district

Plans to build a town the size of Thirsk in the Harrogate district are to be assessed by the government’s Planning Inspectorate.

North Yorkshire Council said in a media release today it had submitted its draft new settlement development plan for Maltkiln to the inspectorate for independent examination.

The settlement, for a minimum of 3,000 homes, would be centred on Cattal rail station 10 miles east of Harrogate. Nearby villages, including Green Hammerton, Kirk Hammerton and Whixley, would be affected. The settlement would be built by developers Caddick Group.

The draft plan gives a broad 30-year vision for Maltkiln and a policy framework to guide how it is developed. However, many residents have concerns about the lack of detail that has been released so far.

They have also expressed concerns of feeling “bullied and threatened” after the council threatened to compulsory purchase land for the scheme after a disagreement with a landowner.

Cattal Station

‘Acute need for housing’

Nic Harne, the council’s corporate director of community development, said:

“We are acutely aware of the need for more housing across the whole of North Yorkshire to meet the demand for homes so that people can choose to live in the communities that they wish to.

“The Maltkiln development is a major scheme and is aimed at addressing the housing needs in the area.

“We have now submitted documents for the independent examination, and we will wait for the inspector’s comments to see how we can then hopefully progress the development.”

The draft plan, as well as accompanying evidence and consultation responses, will now be examined by an independent inspector to assess whether it has been prepared in accordance with legal and procedural requirements and if it is ‘sound’.

In most cases the examination will include hearing sessions which are held in public. The inspector will determine the appropriate format for these sessions.

At the end of the examination, the inspector will send a report to the council recommending whether or not it can adopt the plan, and if any modifications are needed.

Today’s statement said Maltkiln would be “heavily themed around sustainability and the environment and is set to provide local amenities and facilities alongside the new homes, as well as extensive areas of open space and landscaping”.

Cllr Arnold Warneken, a Green Party member who represents Ouseburn on the council, said:

“I want to stress to residents that if they made representation to the inspector on the original document they have a right to comment on this amended document.

“I still have serious concerns about its deliverability and viability, relying on including land that is not available and thus using compulsory purchase orders is fundamentally wrong.

“There is still no agreement with Network Rail which is required to make this so called exemplar in sustainability and environmental terms.”

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Village idiot visits Harrogate

A YouTuber who plans to visit all 10,474 civil parishes in England is turning his attention to Harrogate.

Andy Smith, who calls himself The Village Idiot, has visited more than 1,000 parishes since he started in 2020. He expects it will take him 30 or 40 years to complete his challenge.

Mr Smith uploads a video after each trip and last Friday he published a 14-minute account of his trip to Kirk Deighton. His escapades have attracted 9,300 subscribers.

He also visited North Deighton, Little Ribston, Spofforth with Stockeld, Follifoot, Plompton, Goldsborough and Flaxby on the same two-day trip, and will upload videos about each one on forthcoming Fridays.

Mr Smith said:

“The idea is to create a visual record of every single village and small town in the country, with some historical bits and quirky features thrown in to the mix.

“I’ve already been featured in national newspapers, the most notable being the Guardian. I’ve also appeared on Channel 4 on Steph’s Packed Lunch.”

Former teacher Mr Smith, who lives in Rotherham, said he usually spent two days a week on the road with his GoPro camera.

He plans to tick off all 139 parishes in the Harrogate district in the weeks ahead and upload the videos over time on to his YouTube site. He said:

“I plan to visit Sicklinghall, Pannal and Burn Bridge next and then move on towards Ripon.

“Before I came to Harrogate I didn’t know much about it. But I like going back. Every time I arrive I think it’s so clean and tidy and welcoming.”

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