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17
May 2023
Council leader backs River Nidd bathing water campaign
The leader of North Yorkshire Council has said he will back a proposal to designate bathing water status to the River Nidd.
Cllr Paul Haslam, who represents Bilton and Nidd Gorge, asked Cllr Carl Les whether he would support the application at a full North Yorkshire Council meeting in Northallerton today.
If designation is successful, government agencies would be obliged to take action to improve water quality at Knaresborough Lido. This would also improve water quality on a much wider stretch of the river.
The campaign comes after reports of numerous bathers falling ill last summer.
Cllr Les said today:
He added he would back a motion by Cllr Haslam on the matter, which is due to be brought before a meeting in July, and “do whatever we can to further that cause”.
Read more:
- River Nidd testing begins as clean-up campaign gathers pace
- Yorkshire Water discharged sewage into River Nidd 870 times in 2022
- Andrew Jones MP appeals for help at ‘critical time’ for River Nidd bathing water bid
The application is due to be submitted to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs this year.
Nidd Action Group and Andrew Jones, the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, are leading the campaign.
Mr Jones recently issued a plea for volunteers to help monitor water usage.
In a three-minute video on his Community News website in April, the Harrogate and Knaresborough MP blamed the Victorian-era sewage system, run-off from agricultural land and drainage from housing estates for polluting the Nidd.
He said:
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