Councillors want 390-home development redesignated to RiponCouncillors back plans for residential schemes in RiponRipon’s inner-city bus service to be extended to Ure BankA route on Ripon’s city-wide bus service is being extended to serve residents living in the Ure Bank area.
Launched last April, the service has guaranteed funding for four years and the prospect of more to follow.
Councillor Peter Horton, chair of Ripon City Council’s transport group, told the Stray Ferret:
“The Ure Bank extension has been approved by North Yorkshire Council and will come on stream from April.
“Usage of the bus service is steadily increasing across the four routes that serve the city and we are delighted that its reach is being extended to take in another residential area in Ripon.”
The runs from Monday to Saturday and city council leader Andrew Williams, who is also the North Yorkshire Council member for the Minster and Moorside division, said:
“We have been able to make this happen with the support of the new unitary authority, in addition to section 106 monies from retail and residential developments in Ripon and money from the city council’s contingency fund.
“Looking beyond the first four years, we will be seeking further section 106 contributions to support the service as more residential schemes, such as West Lane, come on stream.”
Picture: The Ripon bus service covers for routes
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Health Secretary called upon to keep Ripon dental practice openRipon City Council is seeking government intervention to stop the closure of Bupa’s Finkle Street dental practice.
At last night’s full council meeting, councillors voted unanimously to write to Health Secretary Steve Barclay amid concerns the planned closure of the practice will further reduce access to treatment for NHS patients in the city.
Bupa’s Finkle Street branch which has NHS and private patients on its books, plans to shut its doors on June 30, with the national company citing a lack of dentists to provide care.
Its Clock Tower practice in North Parade is unaffected, as are Harrogate’s Raglan Suite and Bupa Dental Care in East Parade – but none of these is accepting new adult NHS patients.
Cllr Peter Horton said:
“There are masses of people in Ripon in need of NHS dental care, but they now have to travel to places as far away as Guiseley and York to receive treatment from Bupa.
“This is completely unacceptable and we need to state in the strongest terms that we want the Finkle Street practice to stay open.”
Cllr Pauline McHardy said:
“No practices in Ripon are taking NHS patients and the situation is getting worse with more dentists going private.
“The government has overall responsibility for NHS dental services and they need to sort this out.”
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In addition to writing to the Secretary of State for Health, the council is also calling on Ripon Conservative MP Julian Smith and North Yorkshire Council’s Skipton and Ripon area constituency committee to support its bid to keep the Finkle Street branch open.
Independent city council leader Andrew Williams said:
“This is a very serious issue, not just here but across the country with an estimated 11 million people having no dentist.”
The Finkle Street branch is one of 85 across the country being closed, sold or merged over the coming months. As well as problems with recruiting, Bupa said rising costs influenced its decision.
Last month, at the time of announcing the closures Bupa Dental Care general manager Mark Allen said:
“As a leading dental provider in the UK, our priority must be to enable patients to receive the care they need.
“For the majority of affected practices, this decision will allow commissioners to procure local providers for the NHS contract, tailoring services and investment to the needs of the local community, thereby providing a better opportunity for patients to continue access to NHS dental services.”
Bupa said it will hand back its dental contract in Ripon to the NHS, allowing commissioners to find a new provider for NHS dental services.
Ripon’s new city-wide bus service launches with guaranteed fundingRipon’s new city-wide bus service, which launched today, has guaranteed funding for the next four years and the prospect of more to follow.
From today, the current Ripon services – RS1 Lark Lane, RS2 Lead Lane and RS3 Gallows Lane – will increase in frequency and see routes extended, as well as operating on Saturdays.
A new route, numbered RS4, will serve North Bridge.
Andrew Williams, Independent city council leader and the North Yorkshire Council member for Minster and Moorside, told the Stray Ferret:
“We have been able to make this happen with the support of the new unitary authority, in addition to section 106 monies from retail and residential developments in Ripon and money from the city council’s contingency fund.
“Looking beyond the first four years, we will be seeking further section 106 contributions to support the service as more residential schemes, such as West Lane, come on stream.”
The new service will be run using buses from Dales & District Travel and North Yorkshire Council.
Fellow Independent councillor Peter Horton, who chairs the city council’s transport committee, said:
“Ripon’s residents have been telling us for years that they want an improved inner-city bus service and after a great deal of detailed discussions, first with North Yorkshire County Council and now the new authority, it has come to fruition.
“We hope that people will become regular users of this sustainable means of transport.”
Today’s changes
RS1 has a new timetable and route via Bishopton Lane, Ash Bank Road and Lark Lane which extends via the bus station to St Michael’s Retail Park for the M&S Food Store. It will depart hourly from 7.15am to 6.15pm with additional journeys between the bus station and St Michael’s Park twice hourly.
RS2 and RS3 have a new timetable with an earlier bus at 7.40am and a later bus at 5.35pm Monday to Friday. The daytime service has new times and will run Monday to Saturday.
RS4 is a new route from the bus station to North Bridge via North Street returning via Magdalen’s Road. There are three journeys per day Monday to Saturday.
The services will be run with buses from Dales & District Travel and North Yorkshire Council, with a single journey costing no more than £2 and pensioners with bus passes travelling free. More details are available from www.northyorks.gov.uk/businfo
Pic shows: Cllr Andrew Williams (centre) with his daughter Lilly-May, with Cllr Peter Horton (left) and Paul McMillan, one of the team of drivers providing the new service.
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