A new refectory that could be built as part of Ripon Cathedral’s £6m expansion plans is intended to “prevent visitors from drifting away from the cathedral and using the various cafés in the city”, according to planning documents submitted by the cathedral.

A proposal to house a song school, café and toilet in a two-storey building on Minster Gardens was submitted to Harrogate Borough Council in December. But some business owners have said they fear the refectory – a term originally used for monastic dining halls – could “funnel” tourists away from city centre.

This month, campaigner and retired chartered engineer Stanley Mackintosh unearthed in planning documents a reference to the proposed refectory, which he said confirms the fears of traders and café owners in Ripon.

The design and access statement, submitted by the cathedral in December 2022, said:

“Cathedral Refectory: for this to be a financially viable part of the cathedral business plan it needs to be a certain size, to accommodate a coach party, and be very close to the cathedral. This is required to prevent visitors from drifting away from the cathedral and using the various cafés in the city.”

The comments are likely to further anger traders who have long argued that the expansion will harm businesses in the city centre.

Ripon Cathedral viewed from the air.

A Ripon Cathedral spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the statement was written by an architect and has been “taken out of context”.

At a Ripon City Council meeting in February, the Dean of Ripon Rev John Dobson, said he believed the proposals would “deliver more business” for businesses in Ripon.

However, Mr Mackintosh told the LDRS that the cathedral’s own design and access statement confirms the scheme would damage livelihoods.

He said:

“Such unfair competition was plainly intended to deprive local cafés and traders of income, irrespective of the damage to the very livelihoods of those who serve the Ripon tourist economy.

“The dean and chapter and their supporters have flatly denied this repeatedly in public meetings and in written materials and have even claimed that they envisioned the visitor increases of around 30 per cent would increase business for local traders.

“That disgraceful ambition has now been exposed in their own words in their design and access statement as submitted with their planning application: ‘This is required to prevent visitors drifting away from the cathedral and using the various cafés in the city’.”

North Yorkshire Council will make a decision on the plans at a later date.

Ripon Cathedral’s response

A Ripon Cathedral spokesperson told the LDRS the design and access statement that refers to the refectory would be updated to “ensure it’s much clearer”. They said:

“The project has been designed from the very beginning to benefit the whole of Ripon and the wider area. Ripon Cathedral exists to serve the people of the city, the Diocese of Leeds, and the wider region. And we need the new building to ensure that continues to be the case. The sentence to which you refer, when taken out of context of the wider planning submission, could misrepresent what we’re planning.

“As would be expected, the design and access statement was written by our architects and may not express clearly enough the aspirations of the project. The refectory – which we hope will be run by local business people or existing café owners – would enable us to extend the attractiveness of the cathedral to coach companies who are not currently bringing coach parties to the cathedral because of a lack of toilets and refreshment facilities that can cope with 50-60 people.

“With this as an integral part of the plan, research suggests that visitor numbers to the cathedral could increase by more than a third in the first five years (as outlined in our submission on the economic impact), which will have a significant effect on visitors to the city overall – and 47 per cent of visitors to a city referenced the cathedral as their driver for the visit.

“This will obviously have a positive knock-on financial impact on businesses within the city, as well as support the long-term financial sustainability of the cathedral. As the dean and others have made clear in public statements and in conversation with business and café owners around the city – this project is good for everyone and isn’t intended to impact anyone in anything but a positive way.

“As a result of your question, we are in the process of updating the design and access statement to ensure it is much clearer, and we ask anyone who has any concerns or would like to discuss specific aspects of the project to get in touch with the cathedral directly at cathedraladmin@riponcathedral.org.uk.”

A Ripon resident has called on North Yorkshire County Council to clean gullies in the city more regularly, after a burst water main led to a street being flooded this week.

People on North Street woke on Monday to water gushing out of a pipe onto the road. It was the second time in four days that a Yorkshire Water pipe had burst on the street and led to fears the flood might damage properties.

Some homes in the city and nearby villages were left without water for most of the day while the leak was fixed.

The street has gullies to take excess surface water but residents say they are regularly blocked by straw, hay and dirt.

Paul Oldham, who lives on North Street, said Monday’s flood was not an isolated incident.

He said whenever there is heavy rainfall in winter, residents have to go out to the drains to move dirt in the gullies so that water can go down.

Mr Oldham said:

“The fact is every year the residents on North Street clean out the drains because they are not maintained. We’re out in our wellies and we poke or prod to get water to subside, and eventually it does. The council needs to be cleaning out the drains.”

Read more:

• Ripon water supplies restored but traffic problems remain
• Yorkshire Water giving out free bottled water at Ripon’s Market Place

It is the responsibility of North Yorkshire County Council to clean drains and gulleys in the district.

Mr Oldham added:

“I get that budgets might be cut, or cleaning drains might not be a priority, but the fact is it’s happened so often and regularly. It could have really affected properties along here.

“Its not a one off. They need to make sure the drains are cleaned. But I do have sympathy, it is difficult for them to get around and do all the jobs.”

North Yorkshire County Council highways area manager Melisa Burnham said:

“The gullies in North Street were inspected recently and the team involved found they were in good condition but did need to be jetted.

“Following the inspection a programme had already been devised to have them cleared and cleaned and that work will be delivered today.”

This article is sponsored by Wolseley.

Beth Stephenson has become a rising star at Wolseley in just ten months with the Ripon company’s award-winning Talent Guild.

The Loughborough University student, who is reading accounting and financial management, was debating where to go for her placement year when she found the perfect fit in Wolseley.

Wolseley is the UK’s leading plumbing, heating and cooling specialist with 560 branches across the UK and its headquarters in Ripon.

The company employs more than 320 people in the city and recently completed a £500,000 refurbishment of the Ripon office.

So this is an exciting time to join the team and there’s no better way to get your foot in the door than through the Wolseley Talent Guild.

A taste of different career paths

The opportunity to move around and learn in different parts of the business through the Wolseley Talent Guild was a major draw for Beth, who is originally from York.

She started in August 2021 with the transactional input team but she has also worked with the tax and treasury teams. Beth, 22, said:

“That experience with different departments has meant it is much easier for me to understand the whole business and piece it altogether.

“It seemed daunting at first but I had heard from other people that they had gone to a business and stayed in one department the entire time – sometimes it’s an area they don’t like.

“Now I know which areas I like so when I progress, I can start my career in the area I like. It’s beneficial for my career but also for Wolseley as I have been able to connect the different teams.

“Ripon is lovely. I am from York so Ripon is similar to York but smaller so it’s a very nice place.

“There are lots of lovely places to walk and lots of independent shops. There’s a new vintage shop that has just opened up too which I am excited about.”

Beth is a student at Loughborough University.

Why join Wolseley?

Wolseley’s award-winning Talent Guild is a great way for employees to ensure progression and realise career goals. This industry-leading approach received formal recognition in December 2021, when Wolseley scooped the HR Excellence Award for Talent Management Strategy of the Year.

It includes apprenticeship programmes, talent boosters and career ladders, right through to more technical qualifications and higher education programmes.

Wolseley is currently training more than 130 apprentices across the UK and boosting the skills of more than 150 existing employees.

When employees progress they will notice that Wolseley strives to do the right thing – whether that is in the way they treat customers, suppliers or employees.

Wolseley knows how to attract, develop and retain the best people. The company offers competitive salary, holiday entitlement, a fantastic pension scheme, life insurance and much more.

Would you like to join Wolseley and unlock your potential with the Talent Guild? Click or tap here to find out more information.

Harrogate-based S&SA Architects will be expanding the company to Leeds city centre.

The architect practice, which operates out of a head office in Harrogate, will open its new office at Park House in Park Square in April.

The company had continued to grow during the pandemic and received several notable commissions in the healthcare and residential sectors, which created a demand for its expansion.

Inside the new office at Park House Credit: S&SA Architects

It plans to recruit people in roles at all levels, including in apprenticeship and senior positions.

Chris Paraskos, associate architect at S&SA Architects, said:

“We’re incredibly excited about this expansion. The office location is easily accessible for our diverse London and Leeds clients, being only a few moments’ walk from the station.

“It also offers all our staff the ability to work flexibly at home and across both offices. It will encourage collaboration between teams and better wellbeing, which is a part of our cultural response to the changing world of hybrid work post covid.”

S&SA Architects specialises in residential, retail, logistics, healthcare, sports and leisure sectors. Clients include Tesco, Keepmoat, Exemplar Healthcare and Broadacres.

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• Harrogate bakery expands with £250k project

A pub in the centre of Ripon has closed for the foreseeable future.

The Lamb and Flag, on High Skellgate, looks quiet and dark today with the pub garden fenced off.

It is unclear why the pub has closed but the owners, who took over a little more than a year ago, revealed the news in a statement on their Facebook page. It said:

“This decision has not come lightly but unfortunately the Lamb and Flag will be closed for the foreseeable.

“We would like to thank everyone for their support but at this time we will be closing.

“We will update everyone if there are any changes.”

The Stray Ferret asked the pub’s owners why they decided to close and whether it would reopen. However, we had not received a reply by the time of publication.

Read more:

• Ripon’s parish precept is frozen for second year running
• Ripon Farm Services to stage New Year Show next week

A Chinese takeaway in Ripon has been forced to close its doors after a routine inspection found serious food hygiene concerns.

Harrogate Borough Council has served the owner of the Dragon Inn Chinese Restaurant with a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Order.

A council officer found poor food hygiene controls, waste issues and insufficient hand washing facilities so closed the takeaway down on Tuesday.

We tried to contact the owner but found a notice at the door which said the business is closed until September 8 at the earliest.

The council will present the prohibition notice and its evidence to the magistrates court at a date to be confirmed.

Read more:

• Mice found in ‘dirty throughout’ Harrogate district pub
• Harrogate council pledges to resettle Afghan refugees

If the courts rule in favour of the council then the takeaway owner will likely need to pay costs, rectify the issues raised and then apply for a reinspection.

However, if the courts rule in favour of Dragon Inn then it will be able to apply for costs for the time it was forced to close.

Dragon Inn has received ‘good’ four out of five food hygiene ratings in the past five years from the council with the last inspection in January 2020.

A Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Order entitles the council to prevent the premises trading in any food-related activity immediately.

Such orders are usually granted when an environmental health officer believes serious breaches of standards are putting customers or staff at risk.

A Harrogate Borough Council spokesperson said:

“The Dragon Inn was served with a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice due to poor food hygiene, waste issues and insufficient hand washing facilities.

“This Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice will now be presented to the magistrates court.”