Controversial plans to build 21 homes in Markington will be discussed by the village’s parish council tonight.

Leeds firm KCS Developments Ltd has applied to build a combination of two- to four-bedroom houses with gardens and car parking spaces at High Mill Farm on High Street. Eight of the 21 homes would be classed as affordable.

Markington, which is situated between Harrogate and Ripon, has a population of just over 600 people.

Some residents have expressed concerns on social media about the impact of the development on the landscape and infrastructure in the historic settlement.

The proposed site

But a design and access statement submitted to Harrogate Borough Council by Ilkley architects Halliday Clark on behalf of the applicant, says there is an “identified need” for new housing in Markington. It says:

“The proposal sits centrally in Markington and is in walking distance of all the village amenities such as the primary school, shops and community spaces.

“Developing in a small village such as Markington will protect the continuation of these vital services, allowing the village to stay sustainable. There is an identified need within Markington to provide affordable family housing to enable young families and people to stay living in the village.”

The statement adds the development would be “concealed and therefore will have no visual impact on Markington’s high street”.

Markington with Wallerthwaite Parish Council will discuss the development at tonight’s monthly meeting, which is open at everyone, at 7.30pm at the Yorkshire Hussar Inn in the village.

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Residents in Skelton-on-Ure are aiming to raise £250,000 to buy their village pub, which has been shut for three years.

The Black Lion, on Skelton Lane close to Newby Hall, between Boroughbridge and Ripon, was bought in December 2019 by Admiral Taverns.

However since then it has stood derelict, leaving locals questioning its future.

The pub was put up for sale in June after its owners said it did not have a “long-term sustainable future”.

Admiral Taverns, which owns 1,600 pubs across the UK, said selling was the only option.

However, a group of residents are now calling on people to pledge to buy a share in the pub in order to raise funds to buy and revitalise it.

Sandy Delf, one of the residents involved in the Black Lion Community Hub and Pub, said:

“The ultimate aim is to open up a welcoming community pub and hub for the village and wider community.”

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The group, which has received support from rural community charity the Plunkett Foundation, aims to raise £250,000 in order to access government match funding as part of the community ownership fund.

Shares in the pub cost £250 each and are open to people and businesses to submit an expression of interest.

The Black Lion pictured prior to its closure.

Mrs Delf said the venture was “especially vital in the current and recent past economic climate”, adding:

“Rural communities have particularly suffered from isolation and mental health issues as services such as public transport have become ever more diminished.”

The pub was recently listed as an asset of community value by Harrogate Borough Council.

The listing means residents have more time to raise funds to buy the property.

For more information on how to pledge a share in the pub, visit the Black Lion Community Hub and Pub website here.

A Ferris wheel has started to be installed in Harrogate as the countdown to the town’s Christmas activities begins.

The 32-metre wheel, which is being assembled alongside the war memorial, will be one of the highlights of Harrogate’s Christmas offering.

Other highlights include an ice rink in Crescent Gardens, a Christmas market featuring about 50 stalls, the Candy Cane Express road train and a carousel.

The wheel, also known as an observation wheel, previously stood in York.

Harrogate’s seasonal festivities are due to get underway on Friday. The market will operate until December 11 but the other activities will continue into the New Year.

Harrogate Borough Council is organising the festivities with a range of partners.

John McGivern, destination events manager at the council’s tourism body Destination Harrogate, told Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce this month the ambition was to “position Harrogate district as a first choice Christmas destination” and to attract high spending visitors on day trips and overnight breaks.

The view from Bettys this morning.

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The owners of Flaxby Park Golf Club have withdrawn an appeal over a decision to refuse plans for 350 eco lodges and a hotel on the site.

In March, Harrogate Borough Council rejected the proposal on the grounds that it would cause an “unacceptable” impact on the environment. The site is close to junction 47 on the A1(M).

Last month, Flaxby Park Ltd took the decision to the government’s Planning Inspectorate – which deals with planning disputes.

In documents submitted to the inspectorate, planning consultants Lichfields, which lodged the appeal on behalf of the developer, said the reasons for refusal were “unfounded”.

It said:

“The appellant will show that the council’s reasons for refusal are unfounded and that there are no technical issues arising from the proposed development, which cannot be addressed by appropriately worded conditions or Section 106 planning obligations.

“The appellant will therefore submit that planning permission should be granted for the development proposed by the appeal without delay.”

However, Flaxby Park Ltd has now withdrawn the appeal. A public inquiry into the case scheduled for January 31, 2023, has been cancelled.

An aerial computer generated image of the proposal. The A1(M) is to the east and the A59 is to the south.

The Stray Ferret approached both Flaxby Park Ltd and its agent Lichfields to ask why the company made the decision and if it still intends to propose a new scheme for the site.

But we did not receive a response by the time of publication.

The move raises questions over the future of the former Flaxby Golf Course site, which has been closed since 2014.

History of the site

In 2008 The Skelwith Group bought the site from farming family the Armstrongs for £7m. It published plans for a 300-bedroom five-star hotel on the site that it touted as the future “jewel in Yorkshire’s tourism crown”.

But the plans never materialised and in 2016 the company went out of business.

Flaxby Park Ltd, a company made up of businesswoman Ann Gloag and regeneration specialists Chris Musgrave and Trevor Cartner, bought the 260-acre golf course site from administrators in 2016.

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Its original proposal for the site was to build 2,750 homes and a rail link at Goldsborough. But these plans ended after the council chose the Cattal and Green Hammerton area as the site for a new settlement in the district instead.

In October 2020, the developer challenged the council’s decision in the High Court but was unable to overturn it.

A lack of Harrogate Borough Council business has led to nearly half of meetings being cancelled this past month.

The authority will be abolished in four months time and replaced by North Yorkshire Council.

The cancellation of so many meetings raises questions over how effective the council will be in its final days.

It had been due to hold 13 meetings in November — not including informal meetings — which included senior cabinet member meetings and a planning committee.

However, five of those meetings were cancelled. Last week the council did not hold a single meeting.

Just three public meetings were streamed live onto the council’s YouTube in November.

This included a cabinet meeting, where senior councillors made a key decision over the progress of three strategic housing sites.

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The Stray Ferret asked the borough council why so many meetings had been cancelled and why so few meetings had been streamed for the public to watch.

A council spokesperson said:

“Provisional dates for meetings are added to the calendar at the start of the municipal year. 

“Should these not be required, as there are no items to bring to said meeting, then they are cancelled.”

The authority is due to hold 12 meetings in December—- one of which has already been cancelled.

Harrogate Borough Council has apologised after leaking the personal details of people who commented on a consultation on its website.

The consultation over the proposed new settlement at Cattal, known as Maltkiln, has been open since October 3 and closes tonight.

However, one participant discovered this week that details which were redacted, including home addresses, phone numbers and email addresses, could still be accessed by members of the public.

Roger Owen, chairman of community group Better Wetherby, said the group became aware on Wednesday that his personal details were accessible on the site and immediately contacted Harrogate Borough Council.

He said:

“This is a very serious breach. GDPR [General Data Protection Regulations] is there to safeguard individuals’ identities among other things. I know Harrogate council has only a few months left before a unitary authority is created in North Yorkshire, but that’s no reason to become sloppy.

“Social media engenders sometimes extreme views and it makes it easy for people to get on the backs of those they don’t agree with. People can have extreme views on contentious matters such as Maltkiln and GDPR is there to prevent people whose views are violently opposed to those of Better Wetherby coming to my house and smashing the car up.

“This is a massive planning application which is going to have a major effect on Wetherby, amongst other things.”

Residents are required to give their contact details in consultations in order to ensure all responses submitted are genuine.

Roger Owen’s letter was redacted, but his personal details were still accessible.

However, the council has a duty to protect their personal details and not to publish them.

The council blamed a “processing error” for the situation, which meant although black marks were placed over personal details on PDFs submitted by respondents, people viewing them could still copy the text underneath and paste it, completely visible, into another document.

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Arnold Warneken, a Green Party councillor representing Ouseburn on North Yorkshire County Council, said those who had taken the time to provide their views to the consultation had been badly let down.

He said:

“This type of breach clearly puts people who live in the same communities off from making comments on matters that are very emotive and confrontational. My concern is that people will have pulled back from submitting comments.

“Like everything in this process, it is either being rushed or they haven’t got enough people to do it properly.”

A Pannal man has taken Harrogate Borough Council to appeal for refusing to let him prune willow trees which he believes hang precariously over his house.

Professor Alejandro Frangi, who is an internationally renowned expert on computational medicine, lives by Crimple Beck with his wife and eight children.

He believes the trees next to his house could fall in strong winds and threaten the safety of his young family.

But the council refused him permission to reduce the willows in 2020 and Mr Frangi has now taken the authority to the government’s Planning Inspectorate.

He told a hearing this morning he decided to appeal after the council made the trees subject to a tree preservation order (TPO) following his proposal.

Mr Frangi had previously accused the council of acting “unreasonably” over the matter and made a formal complaint, which the council rejected.

No suggestion of felling

Mr Frangi said he was “not suggesting felling” the trees and that he would rather they were reduced in size.

He told today’s hearing:

“The crown reduction is the least of evils”.

But the council said it took requests for reduction in trees under TPO on a “case by case basis”.

Professor Frangi believes the trees are unsafe for his young family.

Joshua Arthur, speaking on behalf of the authority, said that works to the trees was also “considered unjustified”.

He added that the work would be a “detriment to the conservation area” if felled.

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Alan Gilleard, the council’s arboriculture manager, added that work to reduce the size was not a common practice for TPO trees.

He said:

“This is not something we routinely support without strong justification.”

Mr Frangi also argues that the trees are unsafe for his family as they can fall over in strong weather conditions.

He told the Stray Ferret previously:

“These trees risk falling on to my side of the river, straight on my property, posing a risk to my family and property. The council has been acting unreasonably, dismissing the risks and putting TPOs on the trees instead of protecting us.”

William Cooper, a government planning inspector who oversaw this morning’s hearing, will make a site visit to the trees before making a final decision at a later date.

Plans have been submitted to convert the upper floors of a Grade II listed building in Harrogate into flats.

Five-storey Mercer House towers above the adjoining Mercer Art Gallery in the Harrogate Conservation Area on Swan Road.

Colston Trustees Limited have applied to Harrogate Borough Council to change the use of the site from offices to residential and create two flats.

According to planning documents submitted to the council, the office space has been redundant for over a year, which could leave the building susceptible to water ingress.

The ground floor and basement of Mercer House are occupied by Paul Lown-owned clothing store Prey Four and are not included in the plans.

Mercer House is historically and architecturally significant due to its gable-fronted, white and blue appearance.

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The application seeks to insert new doors, rooflights and an enlarged window. A design and access statement submitted as part of the proposal, says:

“Given the minor internal and external changes required to facilitate residential conversion at Mercer House, and the benefit to the long-term care and maintenance of having the upper floors in active use, this less than substantial harm is outweighed.”

It adds:

“The works, on balance, will both preserve and enhance the historic and architectural interests of Mercer House and special character of the Harrogate Conservation Area.”

A controversial plan to build 35 homes in Harrogate’s Crimple Valley has been refused.

The application by Square Feet Ltd and Antela Developments Ltd would have seen homes built at Almsford Bank Stables on Leeds Road.

It included plans for 14 affordable homes, seven first homes and 14 self or custom build plots.

The proposal was objected to by residents, who described it as “ludicrous” and unsafe.

A total of 247 letters of objection were submitted to Harrogate Borough Council against the scheme.

The council rejected the development on the grounds that the site was not allocated for housing under the Harrogate district Local Plan 2014-35, which outlines where development can take place, and “would result in harm to the character and appearance of its surroundings”.

It said in its reasons for refusal:

“The proposed development would result in harm to the character and appearance of its surroundings, including the Crimple Valley Special Landscape Area, through the loss of open fields and woodland and the introduction of unacceptable and incongruous (sub)urban development into an area of high landscape value, important to the setting of Harrogate and the grade II* listed Crimple Valley viaduct.”

Read more:

• New plans submitted for 35 homes in Harrogate’s Crimple Valley
• Dozens of objections to ‘ludicrous’ Crimple Valley housing plan

The application was the third for the site since 2018, when plans for 65 homes were put forward but withdrawn. 

The following year, a reduced proposal of 35 homes was submitted, but again withdrawn in the face of extensive objections.

Campaign group Save Crimple Valley urged the public to submit objections to the new proposal.

Among them was Judith Hooper, who told the council that the site was unsafe for such a housing scheme.

She said:

“In the time we have been resident in Harrogate there have been numerous car accidents on Almsford bank, the most recent very serious one being only a few weeks ago.

“Cars accelerate down the bank on reaching the 50mph sign and already have to contend with traffic coming out of Crimple Hall.

“Putting access at the bottom of such a busy section of road, on a bend, seems to invite accidents. At night there are many cars clearly speeding on this stretch. At busy periods traffic is queuing both up and down the hill.”

A Betfred bookmakers looks set to open in Harrogate town centre after plans were approved.

Done Brothers (Cash Betting) Ltd, which trades as Betfred, applied to Harrogate Borough Council to open the bookies on Cambridge Road.

The proposal will see the former YMCA charity shop, which sits next to Greggs, converted into a bookmakers. The unit was also previously occupied by a travel agents.

Harrogate Borough Council has now approved the proposal.

The developer said in its plans that the opening of Betfred would help bring the unit back into use and “provide additional staff employment”.

It said:

“Betfred do not currently operate a bookmakers in central Harrogate, Betfred require additional premises to meet demand from the local residents. 

“The proposal therefore seeks a new opening of Betfred’s existing bookmaker businesses within Harrogate and would result in new options for bookmakers’ business within the town centre.”

The developer added:

“The introduction of Betfred’s businesses within the town centre will grow a local business, providing additional staff employment and bring a vacant unit back into use within Harrogate which supports economic growth principles in national and local planning policy.”

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