Boroughbridge sunflower field opens in memory of BBC radio presenter Dom Busby

A business near Boroughbridge has planted a 15-acre field with sunflowers to try and raise £40,000 in memory of their friend and BBC radio presenter, Dom Busby, who died this year.

Mr Busby, who worked for BBC Sport and BBC Radio 5 Live, died in June four weeks after he was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

The owners of The Log Shed, near Boroughbridge, had been planning a fundraiser with Mr Busby shortly before he passed away.

Rachel Sowray, who was friends with Mr Busby and is also one of the managers of Log Shed, said he would have wanted them to continue to raise as much money as possible.

Ms Sowray said:

“We wanted to do something for charities after such a difficult year for them. Dom was heavily involved and was going to be front of house on it all. Now we are doing it in memory of him.

“The field looks amazing, I really can’t wait for more people to see it.”

Visitors can walk around the field and pick their own flowers. The entry fee is £6 per person and 50% of funds raised will go to the two charities nominated by Mr Busby’s mum: Macmillan Cancer Support and Saint Michael’s Hospice.

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The flowers are expected to be in full bloom by the end of the week. The field will then be open for the public to come and walk round for three to four weeks.

For more information on when the field is open, visit this Facebook page.

Ripon paedophile jailed a second time

A registered sex offender from Ripon has been jailed for possessing videos showing girls as young as six being raped.

Andrew Burt, a former maintenance worker at Newby Hall, was on a strict court order which banned him from possessing any internet-enabled device without informing police, York Crown Court heard.

But when his monitoring officers turned up at his home in Skelton-on-Ure, which is between Ripon and Boroughbridge, they found two new devices which he hadn’t disclosed to police.

Police seized the devices, one of which was an LG mobile phone on which they found five video clips featuring the rape of young girls.

Burt was charged with possessing indecent images of children and two breaches of a sexual-harm prevention order which had been imposed in November 2017 for inciting an under-age ‘girl’ to engage in sexual activity.  He appeared for sentence on Thursday after admitting all three charges.

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Prosecutor Ms Hajba-Ward said Burt was a registered sex offender and still subject to the 10-year order when police called at his home earlier this month.

They found two unregistered devices including the mobile and a tablet of which police had not been notified.

The videos found on the phone were rated Category A – the worst kind of such material depicting the rape of pre-pubescent children.

Burt told police he had downloaded the images at a guest house “while drinking a lot of Strongbow (cider)”.

Caught by a vigilante

In 2017, Burt was jailed for 20 months after being caught by an online vigilante posing as a 14-year-old girl.

The adult decoy told police she had been chatting to a man on the internet who had used a false name and said he worked at Newby Hall.

Burt had sent her naked pictures of himself and a video of himself performing a lewd act.

He was ultimately identified by photos which showed that he was indeed a maintenance worker on the country estate.

The sexual-harm prevention order was imposed to prevent Burt cruising chatrooms and refusing a polygraph test.

Richard Reed, for Burt, said his client accepted he had a sexual interest in children and wanted help for his problem.

Judge Sean Morris jailed Burt for 32 months, of which he will serve half behind bars before being released on prison licence.

Mr Morris made a new sexual-harm prevention order for life. Burt will remain on the sex-offenders’ register, also for an indefinite period.

Plans to convert former Lower Dunsforth pub into flats

Plans have been submitted to convert a former pub and restaurant in Lower Dunsforth into three flats.

Stonefield Developments has applied to Harrogate Borough Council to convert the building, which was most recently a restaurant called The Hideaway Kitchen. Before that it was a pub called The Dunsforth.

The village is four miles from Boroughbridge.

The restaurant closed last year. Planning documents cite a “lack of customer trade and consequent viability issues” as the reason.

The documents add it was recently re-marketed as a restaurant but received no interest.

The upper floor of the building already has three existing flats, so if approved the building would have six in total.

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Two other nearby village pubs have had applications to convert them into housing over the past year.

In March 2021, Harrogate Borough Council approved plans to turn the former Green Tree pub in Little Ouseburn into housing.

The pub, which is on the main B6265 from Green Hammerton to Boroughbridge, closed in late 2019.

In the same month, the council also approved a plan to turn The Crown Inn pub in Great Ouseburn into a five-bedroom home.

Boroughbridge flood defences get £50,000 government boost

Boroughbridge’s flood defences are set to see a boost after the government offered £50,000 as part of a national investment into flood and coastal defences.

The investment will go towards the refurbishment of the Boroughbridge Pumping Station and flood defences. However, construction is not set to start until 2025.

The government has launched a Flood and Coastal Erosion Investment Plan in which £5.2 billion is being invested over the next six years to protect homes and business across England.

The plans for Boroughbridge is one of 1,000 schemes to benefit.

Boroughbridge has been a local hotspot for floods for years with new housing estates and local businesses fighting floods in recent months.

Boroughbridge business owner Malcolm Angus, owner of Canal Garage said:

“Flooding is a real problem here and the answer is to slow the water down. It’s coming down from the Dales too fast and the rivers down here then fill up. It’s a catch 22 because if you manage to slow it in one area it’ll only end up somewhere else.

“It used to be more infrequent but now its four to five times a year.”

This year alone the fund will invest an extra £40 million compared with last year for schemes in Yorkshire and the Humber.

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Following the investment announcement, environment secretary George Eustice said:

“We are standing by communities and will bolster defences against flooding across England with many thousands more properties better protected by 2027.

“It’s important we take action right across the system. Our comprehensive plan will achieve this by tightening planning procedures, helping more people access insurance and making homes more resilient to the effects of flooding.”

Harrogate district cat owners ‘heartbroken’ after deaths linked to food

Two cat owners from the Harrogate district have spoken of their heartbreak after their pets ate food which has been linked to hundreds of deaths across the UK.

Both cats Albert and Tina had been eating Sainsburys Hypoallergenic Recipe before they became seriously ill earlier this month.

The Food Standards Agency has recalled a number of cat foods by Applaws, Sainsburys, Ava from Pets at Home and Wilko.

No definitive evidence exists at this stage confirming a link between the cat food and a potentially fatal bone marrow condition called feline pancytopenia but recalls have been issued voluntarily as a precaution while an investigation takes place.

While a vet confirmed that Tina died from pancytopenia, which has been connected with the recalled food, Albert’s death is only a suspected case of the same disease.

The Royal Veterinary College is aware of 506 cats with the disease in the UK. Of these, 62.5% have died. Usually there is only one case in the UK in a year.

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Vivienne Cameron, who is from Pateley Bridge and was the owner of Albert, told the Stray Ferret:

“All I want to do is raise awareness. I had no idea when I bought the cat food that it could lead to Albert’s death.

“He was a really greedy, mummy’s boy. Albert would eat anything. He would probably try to eat you if you sat in his bowl.

“Albert had been eating that food for a few weeks. In the space of a week he stopped eating food, became quite lethargic and then died.

“I miss him. People cannot imagine how much I miss him.”

Liz Chambers, who is from Helperby, near Boroughbridge, and was the owner of Tina, said:

“When we took Tina to the vets they told us it was either cancer or pancytopenia. They said the best of the two would be cancer.

“We tried everything we could but she was not in a good way by the end. It was all very distressing.

“She was always there for us, whether it was by my side putting the clothes out or comforting my eldest when she was upset. It just feels empty in the house now.”

 

Boroughbridge care home residents cheer on England heroes

Residents and staff at Boroughbridge Manor care home enjoyed watching last night’s Euro 2020 final, despite the heartbreaking result for England fans.

Throughout the tournament, the home has been decked out with flags and residents have been enjoying all the action.

The residents would remember the last time England reached a major final in 1966 and everyone at the home appreciated seeing Gareth Southgate’s men make their way through the tournament, especially after a tough year with covid restrictions.

Staff put on football-inspired snacks for the residents whilst they watched the games together.

Krzysztof Bialczyk, general manager, said:

“We have loved watching the Euros, we have watched pretty much all the matches – lots of our residents are footie fans.  It has been fantastic to be able to cheer on all the home sides and especially England, we did amazingly well to get to the final.”

Thomas, a resident at Boroughbridge Manor, said:

“Although we didn’t win tonight, it has been a brilliant few weeks of football.  The lads did us proud and made it all the way to the final, they played their hearts out.  At least we haven’t got long to wait until the World Cup next year!”

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Serious accident closes A1 southbound between junction 47 and 48

The A1 southbound between junction 47 and 48, near Boroughbridge, is closed following a serious accident.

North Yorkshire Police has said emergency services are at the scene of the incident that happened at 7.48am this morning.

The driver and passengers are believed to have serious, but not life threatening injuries. The accident involved a single vehicle.

The closure is in place on the southbound carriageway between junction 47, with exits to Knaresborough and the A59 and junction 48, for Boroughbridge.

Delays of over 30 minutes are being reported.

The police is asking for any witness to call 101 and press 1 and pass any information of the force control room.

They have also urged drivers to avoid the area.

J47 and J48

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Vineyard mural celebrates Aldborough’s rich Roman history

The owner of a vineyard near Aldborough has commissioned an 18-square metre mural that recreates how the village looked 1,800 years ago in Roman times.

Aldborough, which is near Boroughbridge, was the administrative centre of the Roman empire in northern Britain, with a population of 3,000, which was similar to York at the time.

Archaeologists found a tablet in the Roman fort of Vindolanda at Hadrian’s Wall, which referred to wine in production at Aldborough.

It inspired Ian Townsend, the owner of Dunesforde Vineyard, to commission what he believes to be the first-ever painting of what Roman Aldborough is thought to have looked like.

Dunesforde Vineyard, which was created in 2016, produces 3,500 bottles of white, rose and sparkling wines a year.

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Working in acrylics, Leyburn artist Lynn Ward took six months to complete the work, which spreads across six boards.

It features almost 1,400 people, 86 horses, 18 dogs, a tiger fighting a gladiator in the amphitheatre and a vineyard.

Mr Townsend hopes the artwork will attract visitors to the vineyard all-year round.

“Everyone involved has worked hard to ensure that this portrayal is as accurate as possible.

“Attracting visitors to your vineyard is relatively easy during the summer. But tempting people at other times of the year can be more of a challenge. We hope this wonderful work of art, along with our other wine-related artefacts, will help attract people all year round.

“Aldborough, or Isurium Brigantum, to give it its Latin name, was an incredible place. It had an amphitheatre, a forum, heated baths, a temple and we have reason to believe there was a vineyard there too.”

According to Mr Townsend, Roman wine was very different to what is produced today.

He added:

“They added a lot of honey so the wine was sweet, and some would water it down. Drinking wine instead of untreated water meant there was less chance of becoming ill. Modern technology would suggest that today’s wines would be superior in quality.”

‘Crammed’ housing plans for Boroughbridge rejected

Developers wanting to build 260 homes in Boroughbridge have had their plans thrown out by councillors concerned that the houses would be “crammed in” together.

Barratt and David Wilson Homes already has outline approval as part of the first phase of a larger 450-home development at Stump Cross but was denied final permission at a meeting of Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee yesterday (3 June).

The concerns from councillors were that too many terraced properties had been concentrated in a small area, and that residents would also not get enough garden or storage space.

Cllr Nigel Simms described the plans as “like a sink development from Lancashire, not something that we should be having in North Yorkshire”.

He said:

“We have got terraced properties with no access to the back for their own cycle storage, and we have got huge car parks in the middle of residential developments.

“All the layout is wrong to me and alien to what I would expect to see on the outskirts of Boroughbridge.”

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Cllr Andrew Paraskos added:

“It looks like they have crammed as many houses in as possible.”

There were also concerns that no cycling and walking links to the town centre would mean busier roads, as well as worries over drainage and flooding at the site which was described as “like a river” during wet weather.

Site layout for the proposed 200 homes in Boroughbridge.

Site layout for the proposed 260 homes in Boroughbridge.

Cllr John Goss, a member of Boroughbridge Town Council, told the committee the site was prone to becoming waterlogged and that the town suffers with raw sewage spilling out of drains because of added pressure from the hundreds of new homes already built in the area.

He said:

“The current infrastructure for the sewerage and drainage is inadequate.

“When we have heavy rainfall the town suffers with sewage coming through street manholes, across the school playing field and into our local car park.”

He added: 

“The site at Stump Cross floods very frequently. Many years ago we used to have the Aldborough Show in that field and it got so waterlogged that we had to move it elsewhere.

“We have absorbed around 1,000 new houses in and around the town of Boroughbridge and we would now like to call a halt to further development.”

Although flooding officials at North Yorkshire County Council did not previously object to the plans, they did conclude the site was at “high risk” of surface water flooding.

Yorkshire Water also did not raise any concerns at outline stage but did lodge an objection against the latest plans. It said an underground pipe that runs diagonally through the site would “seriously jeopardise” its ability to maintain the public water supply.

When yesterday’s decision of refusal was made, the council had yet to receive further representations from the water company but an agent for the developers did defend the plans.

Liam Tate, planning manager at Barratt and David Wilson Homes, said development of the site would in fact improve drainage and that Yorkshire Water had confirmed to them that there was enough capacity in the system to cope with added pressure.

He said: 

“As part of this scheme, drainage, in particular surface water drainage, will be improved as at the moment there is no infrastructure in place to accommodate surface water other than limited field drains.”

Asking councillors to vote for approval, he added: 

“The site is allocated by the council for residential development. It is fully compliant with national and local policy, and will deliver much-needed affordable housing.”

Councillors voted seven votes for and one against to reject the application on the grounds of design and layout.

The developers now have the options to appeal the decision or bring forward revised plans.

Councillors on the committee later rejected a proposal for up to 200 homes in Pannal Ash, which council officers had recommended for approval.

Artisan market set to return to Boroughbridge

The Little Bird Artisan Market will be returning to Boroughbridge again this weekend for the second time since lockdown restrictions eased.

Tomorrow the market will sell food and drinks, arts and crafts and homemade gifts. Local live musicians will also be performing throughout the day.

The market of 35 stalls will be held at the Langthorpe Farm Shop with an outside bar. The event is pet-friendly and people are welcome to bring dogs.

The market is scheduled to take place from 10am until 3pm on the first Saturday of each month in Boroughbridge, with other dates at venues across North Yorkshire including Harrogate.

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The last market took place over the first May bank holiday weekend and was a success among locals.

The event was curated by Boroughbridge local Jackie Crozier, who said:

“I genuinely believe in shopping small, shopping within local communities and supporting small businesses to thrive. What better way to do this than supporting a local community outdoor market, with skilled vendors selling high quality goods.”

Project co-ordinator Izzy has advertised for local small businesses to get in touch on their Facebook page regarding taking a stall.