Man injured in Knaresborough taxi assaultKnaresborough road set to reopen after two months of closureHalfpenny Lane closure extended in Knaresborough

Roadworks on a busy Knaresborough road have again been extended.

Northern Gas Networks is carrying out exploratory work to divert underground infrastructure at the railway bridge on Halfpenny Lane.

Work started on March 25 and was due to end in April but was extended until next week, May 17.

Northern Gas Networks, which is responsible for gas supply, said today work has been further delayed for six weeks, which means it is likely to continue for most of June.

The closure extending from the bridge to the roundabout next to Old Penny Gate will remain in place until additional works are complete and a signed diversion is in place.

Dominic Nevison, site manager at Northern Gas Networks, said:

“We have been working with other utilities to carefully plan this work to minimise the impact on road users and members of the public.

“Upon completion of our exploratory work we had originally planned to divert the sewer in the affected area of where our pipe is located. Unfortunately, this cannot be done due to the complexity of the work involved.

“We will therefore we need to divert the medium pressure gas main; this means that the work will need to continue and we are expecting this to take approximately six weeks to compete.

“We apologise for inconvenience caused and would like to reassure everyone that we will be working hard to complete the work so that we can reopen the road as soon as possible.”

The company said there would be no impact on the gas supplies to homes and businesses in the area.

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Knaresborough Halfpenny Lane closure extended

Road works on a busy Knaresborough road have been extended.

Northern Gas Networks is carrying out exploratory work to divert underground infrastructure at the railway bridge on Halfpenny Lane.

Roadworks started on March 25 and were due to end yesterday (April 12) but the work has been delayed.

The live incident map  says work is now due to end on May 17, although Northern Gas Networks has not given a definitive end date.

The closure extending from the bridge to the roundabout next to Old Penny Gate, will remain closed until additional works are complete and a signed diversion is in place.

Dominic Nevison, site manager at Northern Gas Networks said:

“We are working with other utilities to carefully plan this work to minimise the impact on road users and members of the public. The road diversion will remain in place while we carry out our initial assessment and subsequent work.”

“We apologise for inconvenience caused and would like to reassure everyone that we will be working hard to complete the work so that we can reopen the road as soon as possible.”

Northern Gas Networks added there was no impact on gas supplies to homes and businesses in the area.

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Revised plans submitted for 126 homes in Knaresborough

Revised plans have been submitted to North Yorkshire Council to build 126 houses in Knaresborough.

The homes, along with car parking, open spaces and a children’s play area, would be built on two fields used for grazing off Water Lane.

The fields are close to Hay-a-Park site of special scientific interest, which is regarded as an important breeding site for goosander ducks and protected Canada geese.

The site has been subject of multiple proposals for new homes, which the Stray Ferret has covered extensively.

Knaresborough Town Council and Andrew Jones, the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, were among those to object last year when plans were submitted to North Yorkshire Council for 138 homes. More than 600 people also signed a petition opposing the scheme.

Previous plans for 218 homes and 148 homes on the fields were rejected.

View of a section of the proposed site, south and west to school boundary and rear of Carmires Avenue and Halfpenny Lane

New plans for fewer houses have been drawn by Haines Phillips Architects on behalf of applicant Geoffrey Holland.

But Andy Bell, a Liberal Democrat councillor on Knaresborough Town Council who organised last year’s petition, said:

“I’ve spoken with a number of nearby residents who are steadfast in their opposition to this proposal.

“It’s still accessed by narrow estate roads, still very close to the site of special scientific interest and still is on the site of an unlicensed tip that has suspicions of asbestos buried. This site isn’t appropriate.”

To view or comment on the application, visit North Yorkshire Council’s planning website and type reference ZC23/02886/FULMAJ.

Hay-a-Park, site of special scientific interest 

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Motorbike destroyed in Knaresborough arson attack

A motorbike was destroyed in a fire believed to have been caused deliberately in Knaresborough last night.

On-call firefighters from the town were caused to a recreational area near Halfpenny Lane at 9.29pm.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service‘s incident report said the motorbike was “well alight” when they arrived.

“Crews extinguished the vehicle using a hose reel jet. The motorcycle sustained 100% fire damage and the cause was believed to had been deliberate.”


Knaresborough firefighters were called out earlier last night when they helped police deal with four youths on top of a commercial building on High Street.

The incident report said:

“Crews accessed the roof and politely persuaded the youths to come down from the roof via an internal stairway.

“The youths came down by their own accord and the incident was left in the hands of police.”

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Road closure continues after gas pipe problem found in Knaresborough

A diversion in Knaresborough is set to remain in place until Monday after a problem was discovered with a sewage pipe.

Yorkshire Water closed Halfpenny Lane to deal with a pipe under the surface, and had planned to reopen it yesterday.

However, the work has taken longer than expected and the diversion via Boroughbridge Road and Chain Lane remains in place. A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said:

“Unfortunately, the works on Halfpenny Lane have been delayed after we found other utilities networks in the excavation, which prevented us from completing the work safely.

“Northern Gas Networks and Northern Powergrid have been to the site to assist with their networks and carry out work to enable our teams to complete our repairs safely. We have worked closely with local council highways teams to keep disruption to a minimum and are working hard to finish the work and reopen the road as soon as possible.”

A spokesperson said the excavations revealed a gas pipe had been placed through the top of the sewage pipe.

Until the gas pipe can be moved, the hole will be filled in. Once the gas repairs have been carried out at a date to be confirmed, Yorkshire Water will return to complete the work to the sewage pipe, which is still operational.

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Meanwhile, temporary traffic lights on Boroughbridge Road have been adding to traffic problems in the area.

They are linked to a new housing development and have been in place since mid-March.

While they are due to end tomorrow, a further day of works for fibre broadband is expected to hit the road near Greengate Lane on Sunday, along with two days of resurfacing work from Tuesday morning. Both will involve temporary traffic lights.

The traffic problems caused by extensive roadworks in the area have led some residents to question why so many restrictions were allowed to be put in place at the same time.

North Yorkshire Council’s corporate director for environment, Karl Battersby, said:

“The roadworks on the A6055 have been in place for a number of weeks and are developer works as part of a new housing development and are due to be completed on Friday (June 16).

“The nearby Yorkshire Water works are emergency repairs due to a collapsed sewerage pipe that needed to be fixed immediately.

“We could not have foreseen that there would emergency works ongoing when the permit was issued for the resurfacing works on the A6055.

“We appreciate that roadworks near each other create additional delays for road users, but once the developer works are completed, it will ease the situation until Yorkshire Water can complete its emergency repairs.”