The Stray Ferret is today backing a campaign by Ripon Military Heritage Trust to save key parts of the city’s military history.

Government agency Homes England has planning permission to build 1,300 homes on army barracks at Clotherholme.

But there are fears it will bulldoze sites of international significance, including huts built by Neville Chamberlain’s government in 1939 and training bridges that shaped international warfare, to make way for the housing.

The trust accepts the homes will be built but is campaigning to preserve a number of surviving structures on a site at Laver Banks.

It wants to repurpose huts that would otherwise be demolished not just for heritage reasons but also so they can be used for employment and community use.

They would then feature in a newly created military heritage centre and a military heritage trail that would tell the story of Ripon’s part in international warfare.

We have launched a petition urging people to back the campaign to save Ripon’s military heritage.

If 500 people sign then North Yorkshire Council’s Skipton and Ripon area constituency committee will be obliged to debate it, which will present an opportunity to raise awareness of the issue.

You can sign here.

The trust has adopted the campaign slogan ‘heritage worth fighting for’.

Trustee Michael Furse said:

“The wooden militia camp is unique because it is the last one standing.

“We are not proposing to stop the development. What we are saying is we would like to preserve some of the most important structures from it on a different site.

“We would then like to display those structures in a way that shows them off in a cohesive manner.”

The campaign will run up to the 80th anniversary celebrations of D-Day when Winston Churchill’s great grandson will be in Ripon for the city’s commemorations.

John Plummer, editor of the Stray Ferret, said:

“We fully support this campaign. Ripon’s military heritage should be treasured — not destroyed.”

In the weeks ahead we will provide updates on the campaign and, with the help of the trust, tell the remarkable story of Ripon’s vital role in defending Britain over the years.

Read more:

• New Clotherholme plans heighten fears for Ripon’s military heritage
• Sketches by Magritte to go under the hammer in Ripon

The woman behind a campaign to stop Harrogate Spring Water’s expansion into Rotary Wood has launched a crowdfunder to raise money for site surveys, monitoring equipment and printing flyers.

The Danone-owned water company has lodged plans with North Yorkshire Council to expand its bottling plant on Harlow Moor Road.

The planning application is expected to be considered by Harrogate and Knaresborough councillors this year.

The firm says a bigger factory will mean it can create 50 new jobs and boost economic output by around £2.3m a year to £6.2m a year.

But Sarah Gibbs, who regularly wears a tree costume to highlight her opposition to the plans, argues the company will destroy a “well-used and well-loved” woodland that is enjoyed by the local community.

Rotary Wood is part of the Pinewoods and was planted by schoolchildren in the 2000s. Ms Gibbs’ GoFundMe crowdfunder has a goal of £3,000 and is currently at £200. You can read more about it  here.

Ms Gibbs said:

“Rotary Wood supports a variety of flora and fauna, including protected species and local priority species. Our woodland is now at the stage for optimal carbon sequestration, supporting a sustainable future.

“Our woodland is still under threat from Harrogate Spring Water’s development plans. Harrogate Spring Water intends to expand its existing single-use plastic water bottling plant into our community woodland.”

Harrogate Spring Water secured outline planning permission for the scheme in 2017, which remains valid, but the reserved matters stage deals with its appearance, size and crucially — trees.

Around 450 trees planted by local schoolchildren in an area of the Pinewoods called Rotary Wood would be chopped down to make way for the expansion.

This led to a previous reserved matters application being refused by the council in 2021 amid widespread public opposition and negative attention in the national press.

This time, the company hopes to win over critics in a new reserved matters application by planting an additional 1,200 trees on two acres of land next to Rotary Wood and to the rear of the existing Harrogate Spring Water HQ.

Richard Hall, managing director at Harrogate Spring Water, said he hopes the new woodland will become a “valued resource” for the local community for years to come.

Read more:

• Harrogate Spring Water denies claims it could expand again 
• Council asked to reconsider Fountains Earth school closure 

More than 1,000 residents have now objected to plans to build an asphalt plant next to the Allerton waste incinerator, between Knaresborough and Boroughbridge.

Andrew Jones, the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, joined about 100 campaigners fighting the proposal at Marton cum Grafton village hall on Saturday.

Mr Jones told the meeting organised by Communities Against Toxins he too was against the proposal, adding:

“The reasons are two-fold and to do with both head and heart. The heart brings the community together to show this is not welcome, and the head tells you that the dangers of pollution – both air pollution and water pollution – are major risks.

“Campaigners have done an incredible job marshalling the arguments and I hope when councillors come to consider the application they act on these concerns and turn the application down.

“This is the wrong idea in the wrong location.”

Campaign organiser Michael Emsley (left) talks to Andrew Jones.

Campaigners at the meeting.

Tynedale Roadstone Ltd plans to build the asphalt plant at the Allerton Waste Recovery Park.

A 22.5-metre exhaust stack would emit fumes containing carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and lead.

The group fears people living within a three-to-nine kilometre radius of the site would be affected by potentially harmful pollutants.

Communities Against Toxins organiser Michael Emsley wants to put pressure on North Yorkshire Council to scrutinise the proposal’s environmental impacts assessment.

He said:

“We do not believe this plant should be built in this location and we will continue to do all that we can to fight it.

“We will not stop. We will make sure that when North Yorkshire Council sit down to make its decision, they are in no doubt as to what the local communities think and that our concerns regarding the EIA have been addressed.”

Read more:

• Campaign launched against asphalt plant proposal near Knaresborough
• Briggate roadworks likely to last ‘several months’ in Knaresborough

North Yorkshire Council has said it is urgently considering coming up with a policy that recognises local people;

However, it has no said whether it will rename Harrogate Hydro as the Rachel Daly Leisure and Wellness Centre.

The Hydro is due to reopen on September 4 following a £13.5 million refurbishment as Harrogate Leisure and Wellness Centre.

But Killinghall Nomads Junior Football Club is campaigning for it to be named after their former player and England star.

The council-owned leisure centre in Ripon set a precedent when it was renamed after Olympic diving champion Jack Laugher.

Daly, who has 428,000 Instagram followers, was part of England’s Euro 2022 winning team last year. This year she has won the Golden Boot for being the top goalscorer in the Women’s Super League and played in the Women’s World Cup final. She is also on the shortlist for the PFA Player’s Player of the Year award.

The former Rossett School pupil has retained close links with Killinghall Nomads, whose ground is close to the Hydro, and even sent a message to the club on the eve of the World Cup final.

Read more:

• Petition launched calling for Harrogate to honour Rachel Daly
• World Cup hero Rachel Daly in line for player of year award

The Stray Ferret is supporting the club’s campaign calling for the council to honour Daly. You can sign the petition here.

North Yorkshire Council leader Carl Les said last week the council “will consider a policy for how we might recognise the achievements of local people”.

We subsequently asked whether the council had any plans to consider naming the Hydro after Daly before it reopens in less than two weeks.

A council spokesman said today:

“We can add to Cllr Les’s statement that we are looking at this matter with some urgency.”

The mother of a 15-year-old boy seriously injured in a collision on the way to school in Harrogate has issued an emotional plea for road safety improvements.

Stephanie Talbot’s son Reuben was one of two Rossett School students hit by a pick-up truck on Yew Tree Lane on February 2.

Four months on from the collision, she has given her backing to a campaign to impose a 20mph limit on streets across a swathe of south and west Harrogate.

In a statement read by road safety campaigner and fellow parent Jenny Marks at today’s meeting of North Yorkshire Council‘s Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee, she said:

“They were on the pavement [when they were hit]. My daughter was also involved in the collision as her car was hit by the same truck. My youngest son was right behind his brother on the pavement and so witnessed the whole incident.

“My husband and I were right there within a few minutes of the accident happening. Reuben’s body had landed in positions it should never be in.

“Pieces of wall had to be removed from his body and he had eight broken bones: arms, leg and back… I was later told that when the paramedics arrived his stats showed that he could easily have died while on the ground there.

“I will never get over what I saw and heard that day.”

Some members of the committee were moved to tears as Dr Marks continued to read Ms Talbot’s statement.

It said her daughter had never felt safe walking to school in the area and had even been hit by a car near Rossett Sports Centre last September – which also happened while she was on the path.

Ms Talbot said she felt a 20mph network around schools in Harrogate would make children and parents feel safer to walk and cycle around the area, adding:

“Putting action in place should not be done as a consequence to a child’s injury or even death, but this accident should be a wake-up call to all parents, grandparents and the community to know that we need to make a change in our beautiful but busy town to enable our children to feel safe.

“Seventeen weeks on and many aspects of our lives are still on hold because of these injuries. I cannot even explain the pain and trauma that we have all gone through and will live with for the rest of our lives.

“Please be the people that make a difference.”

Petition

Campaigners Hazel Peacock and Vicki Evans presented a petition at the meeting with 924 signatures from people in support of reducing the speed limit to 20mph across the Oatlands, Hookstone, Pannal Ash and St George’s areas, where around 9,000 children attend local schools.

Ms Peacock told the meeting that evidence from other projects around the UK showed the reduction could have a significant impact on the severity of collisions.

She added:

“You have just heard of the devastating effects of the collision on Yew Tree Lane in February, and you are also aware of the collision outside Oatlands Junior School, also on the pavement, in January.

“These awful events coupled with overwhelming evidence of the benefits of 20mph limits demonstrate why change is urgently needed.”

Hazel Peacock handed the petition to North Yorkshire Council last month, with support from councillors and campaigners

While councillors on all sides of the chamber gave their support to the calls for a reduced speed limit, the Conservatives highlighted the fact that a pilot project had already been requested.

North Yorkshire Council is developing a policy on 20mph limits around schools and other urban areas, and Cllr John Mann (Conservative, Oatlands and Pannal) said he was keen to see the results of that work guide how a lower speed limit could be used in the area.

Conservative Cllr Sam Gibbs of the Valley Gardens and Central Harrogate division said:

“I do have one very slight reservation: 99% of the roads that are in this scheme I don’t have an issue with. However, the main roads of Leeds Road and Otley Road would be a slight concern to me if they were brought in to 20mph.”

Read more:

• Blanket 20mph limit across south Harrogate ‘urgently needed’
• Harrogate school road safety petition handed in to council

Cllr Paul Haslam, the Conservative councillor for Bilton and Nidd Gorge, said there needed to be a shift in attitudes and behaviours to make the school run safer, adding:

“We can put in a 20mph speed limit, but at the end of the day it’s all about behavioural and attitude changes to this. When we did the stats on Harrogate in 2018, I think more than 60% of the journeys in this town are less than 1.8km – not even miles, 1.8km.

“Surely we should be able to walk those distances, and a lot of that is to do with school commuting.”

The Liberal Democrats put forward a motion in support of the petition, calling on North Yorkshire Council to deliver a 20mph limit on streets across the area.

The proposal was voted through and will be passed to NYC’s executive.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Matt Walker, representing the Knaresborough West division, added:

“This is an opportunity that we should not miss and we need to show the executive our views on this.

“This tragedy should not have happened and it’s within our gift to send that message on our views to the executive so that this does not happen to anybody else.”