Our journalism makes real life changes to your area

We have made this story free to read - but we couldn't make an impact on the local community without the support of our subscribers. Please consider supporting us today, for as little as 14p a day.

Think all we do is write stories that inform local people about their area? Think again. 

Our reporting changes the local area. Just this week, Ripon City Council revealed action had been taken to remove a car stuck in the River Ure for over eight months – and cited the Stray Ferret as a reason for the action.

Similarly, when we asked North Yorkshire Council for comment about a disabled lady being unable to get answers from them about her house’s overgrown garden, suddenly action was taken and her garden was tidied.

Another subscriber wrote to us about their frustration over the ‘shocking state’ of the war memorial on the Stray. We contacted the council to ask about its upkeep – the next day it informed us “the vegetation has been cleared”. Sure enough, it had.

Even today, we received a message from a local resident about an issue bothering them that the council has failed to respond to – stay tuned for updates on our attempts to resolve that.

We want to hear from you, our subscribers, about the things that affect you – because our job is to report on what matters to you, and hopefully make a tangible difference.

Sometimes, our reporting will lead to large scale change. Sometimes it will just change life for one person.

We work for you – but we can’t do it without your support. Your subscription funds our journalism – whether it be contacting the council, asking politicians the difficult questions or attending public meetings.

If you already subscribe, thank you, and please share our value with others. If not, please subscribe today – and tell us what else you want from us.