27
Jun
Ripon MP hopefuls give views on cathedral scheme and leisure centre
Candidates vying to become Skipton and Ripon MP clashed last night over Ripon Cathedral and the Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre.
All eight candidates to become the next member of parliament faced wide-ranging questions from the audience at the Stray Ferret hustings at Holy Trinity Church in Ripon.
The event, which was chaired by Stray Ferret editor John Plummer, was a chance for voters to hear from their would-be representatives ahead of polling day on July 4.
Ripon Cathedral annexe
Among the questions put to the candidates was whether they supported Ripon Cathedral’s controversial plan to build an £8 million annexe.
The cathedral paused its planning application in January amid widespread concern about the loss of 11 trees and the impact on local businesses.
Malcolm Birks, Labour candidate for the constituency, said the topic was “clearly a difficult issue” and that application was “under review”.
He said:
I think we have to wait to see what the changes are and then we can make that judgement.
Meanwhile, Ryan Kett, Yorkshire Party candidate, said he was against the plan in its current form.
He said:
I am going to come out against the plans as they stand. It needs to go back to the drawing board.
John Plummer (centre) with the eight candidates standing in Skipton and Ripon.
The Liberal Democrats’ Andrew Murday said he was in favour of the project and that the cathedral should be allowed to carry out development.
He said:
I think it is important that the cathedral is allowed to be developed.
Another supporter of the project was Guy Phoenix of the Heritage Party. He said the cathedral was a key landmark in the city and that such a project would help tourism.
Mr Phoenix said:
I had some visitors from America over and the first place I took them was to the cathedral.
Julian Smith, the Conservative candidate who is standing to be MP for a fifth time in Ripon, said the cathedral should be supported to develop but that it needed to be done in consultation with others.
He said:
Get together and resolve this issue and get on with the development.
However, Keith Tordoff, independent candidate, said he felt the plans were not up to scratch and that people in the city should decide whether the scheme goes ahead.
Mr Tordoff said:
The plans do not work. I believe that the people of Ripon should decide. It has become a contentious issue.
A show of hands when the audience was asked if it supported the cathedral's plans revealed a slight majority in favour.
Ripon leisure centre
Among the other topics the candidates faced questions on was the ongoing saga over the Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre.
Remediation work at the centre to stabilise the land has so far cost taxpayers £8.5 million.
The candidates were asked how much more money should be put into the scheme to stabilise the site.
Mr Smith said the project needed to be finished, but called for the engineering companies to come clean on what advice had been given over the site.
Mr Smith added:
I think we should try to complete it with proper advice. We should be getting free advice from these companies who advised it was okay in the first place.
The audience at Holy Trinity Church in Ripon.
However, Mr Tordoff called for the whole project to be suspended. He said the scheme was “throwing £20 notes into a hole”.
Mr Tordoff added:
We are putting hundreds of thousands of tonnes of concrete into something that could still collapse even further.
Mr Birks described the issue as “another difficult situation” and one which needed questions asked of it.
He said he would "certainly be asking some questions of the engineers involved".
Meanwhile, the Green Party’s Andy Brown told the hustings that any prospect of an alternative site for the centre would be “remarkably small”.
He added:
I would be in favour of facing down the problems and seeing it through to completion, despite all the stupidity of the original plan.
Simon Garvey, who is standing for Reform UK, said his party would cut “wasteful” government spending.
He said:
We are aiming for a £50 billion saving per year and I think that this project would be a good place to start.
The full list of candidates for Skipton and Ripon is as follows:
- Malcolm Birks, Labour
- Andy Brown, Green Party
- Simon Garvey, Reform UK
- Ryan Kett, Yorkshire Party
- Andrew Murday, Liberal Democrats
- Guy Phoenix, Heritage Party
- Julian Smith, Conservative and Unionist Party
- Keith Tordoff, Independent
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