Boroughbridge Lions are on the hunt for a space in the centre of the town to open a community fridge, which would provide food to anyone in the local area.

The community group will work alongside Boroughbridge Community Care, a charity that offers help to those in need, to set up the space which would allow everyone to share surplus food, including donations from local food businesses, producers, households and gardens.

The organisations will be working with Hubbub which already helps to run 200 community fridges across the UK.

Food, such as dairy products, bread, tinned food and dry food destined for landfill would be donated by local shops or businesses and given to anyone in the community.

Lions member Sue Johnson said the space didn’t need to be huge, just big enough for a fridge and some shelving and somewhere central for people to access.

Ms Johnson said:

“We are still waiting for someone to come forward and offer us a space.

“Boroughbridge Community Care already hand out food parcels to six families locally. But we thought for people that aren’t aware of Boroughbridge Community Care, or who are struggling one week, then we would be there.”

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The plan is to start by opening the fridge one day a week and then, depending on how much food is donated and how large the demand is, open more days.

The space would be run by Lions and Boroughbridge Community Care staff.

Ms Johnson has asked anyone who may be able to offer a space or get involved in the project to email bbrlions@hotmail.com.

Boroughbridge residents have expressed frustration at queues caused by temporary traffic lights on Bridge Street.

Queues on either side of the bridge have been growing in recent weeks due to the lights, which are near the development of six luxury apartments at the former HSBC building.

Three-way temporary lights have led to queues in both directions.

Locals have described the queues coming over the bridge, in the town centre and on Mill Lane as “horrendous”.

One resident, Neil Macdonald, who lives within walking distance told the Stray Ferret:

“This is the second time they have been there and they cause huge queues back to the roundabout and Horsefair.”

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The roadworks are not visible on North Yorkshire County Council’s roadworks map, which provides details of the nature of work and how long it is expected to last.

Remember, you can keep up-to-date on any morning traffic delays via our live blogs with  updates very 30 minutes from 6.30am to 9am. 

Streets in Boroughbridge have been left under water this evening as flash floods hit the Harrogate district.

After a balmy day, the forecast storms arrived by late afternoon.

Loud thunderclaps were heard in Harrogate but it was Boroughbridge that felt the full brunt of the weather.

Springfield Drive (pictured) and Springfield Grove were both left treacherous.

Springfield Drive

Local resident Mandy Lambert, who took the photo above, said the state of the drains was a long running source of concern among residents.

“It’s ridiculous how flooded we get.

“The council won’t do anything unless it goes into the residents’ houses.”

A yellow weather warning remains in place in the district for thunderstorms tonight until 11pm.

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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.

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 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’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.”

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.”

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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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.

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