Ripon Cathedral and two churches in Knaresborough will be holding services this evening to allow congregations to offer their condolences.

Ripon Cathedral is holding a service of evensong at 6pm today to mark the death of the Duke of Edinburgh.

The cathedral told its congregation, via Facebook, that the service will include a reflection from the Dean of Ripon, the Very Rev John Dobson DL. The service will be sung by the lay clerks of the cathedral’s choir.

Prince Philip died last Friday, aged 99

The Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Jo Ropner, will be attending.

The tenor bell will toll ahead of the service, half-muffled.

Guests will require a ticket, which can be booked here, and the cathedral asks everyone to be seated for 5.45pm.

Prince Philip died at Windsor Castle last Friday, aged 99.

During the period of mourning the cathedral has been open to visitors. People have been invited take a candle and a prayer card and sit in the cathedral to reflect.

Read more:

• Prayers were said for Prince Philip at Ripon Cathedral last weekend.
• Image Gallery: Prince Philip in the Harrogate district.

In Knaresborough, the Parish Church of St John the Baptist and the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin in Goldsborough will be open for prayer vigils.

Due to covid restrictions the churches have said they will not be offering books of condolence.

All of this evening’s services will be held in line with coronavirus restrictions.

Developers behind plans to build 36 homes in a Harrogate district village have been sent back to the drawing board by councillors.

Stonebridge Homes proposed the homes for land near Goldsborough’s cricket club and primary school.

The plans were initially refused by Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee in 2018 and then granted outline permission a year later.

At a meeting today, the developers were seeking a final stamp of approval for the Station Road scheme but were turned down by councillors concerned over the number and layout of the homes.

Cllr Zoe Metcalfe also said more needed to be done to reduce the impact on nearby homes and the village’s conservation area.

She said:

“This is a really important area that we need to look after and I do not think the developers are being respectful at all.

“They have got outline permission so these houses are going to happen but I would like to see less and a better layout.”

Layout for the 36 homes in Goldsborough.

Cllr Andrew Paraskos, a Conservative who represents Spofforth with Lower Wharfedale, added:

“I really do think with these smaller sites on the edges of villages and towns that we should be pushing for the best that we can get.

“This development will be the first thing you are going to see entering this village – and you will probably see it from the A59 too – so why not make it something that we are really proud of? We should be going for designs that are exemplary.”

One resident, Noel Evans, spoke in objection to the plans today saying the 36 homes were “not needed nor wanted by anyone in the village” and called for the number to be reduced to 12.

Mr Evans said.

“This is the most intense development ever considered in Goldsborough.

“Its urban density will be totally out of keeping with the Goldsborough conservation area which it borders directly. If houses must be built here, reducing the number to one third of the planned numbers would solve all of these problems.”

The plans included a mix of one to five-bedroom properties, with 14 classed as affordable.

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• Councillors reject expansion plans for Harrogate Pinewoods
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Becky Lomas, an agent for the developers, told today’s meeting that the layout of the homes and landscaping had been “carefully” designed to minimise the impact on residents living on Station Road.

She said the proposals “do not give rise to any overbearing, overshadowing or overlooking harms” to the area, however, this did not ring true with councillors who have asked for a rethink on how the homes are set out.

Cllr Pat Marsh, a Liberal Democrat who represents Harrogate Hookstone, said the developers should make sure the proposals are “absolutely right” for the area before asking for planning permission again.

She said:

“At the moment I feel this is not right so taking it back and having those discussions with both residents and local members is the most sensible way forward.”