Paddleboarders to pick litter from river in Boroughbridge

Paddleboarders will pick litter on the river in Boroughbridge this weekend as part of a global movement to clean the planet.

North Yorkshire outdoor adventure company Alfresco Adventures is teaming up with the environmental community interest company Planet Patrol to take a small group of volunteers on the River Ure on Saturday.

They will start at the marina and paddleboard to the locks, armed with buckets to put rubbish in.

They will record details of litter collected on the Planet Patrol app at the end of the session.

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Planet Patrol aims to “challenge, inform, and help solve major environmental issues using hard facts”.

Lizzie Carr, its founder, said:

“Planet Patrol’s paddleboarding clean-ups have had a phenomenal response nationwide, including in North Yorkshire, and it’s incredible to see how many people are willing to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in to help the environment.

“The more volunteers that attend events and use Planet Patrol’s app to log the types and brands of litter they find, the more evidence we gather to trace the problem back to the root causes and hold the major polluters accountable.

“Everyone involved, and every piece of litter logged, is valuable.”

This weekend’s free event filled up quickly. However, another litter pick is planned in Boroughbridge on September 17, which is World Clean Up Day.

Details can be found here.

Wheelie bin trial to start in Harrogate district this month

Harrogate Borough Council is to trial a scheme to replace black recycling boxes with wheelie bins this month.

The Appleby estate in Knaresborough has been chosen as the first area to trial the wheelie bins due to the amount and quality of the recycling presented by residents.

Recent articles by the Stray Ferret have highlighted concerns by residents about the amount of recycling left out for collection blown across streets.

They prompted many people to call on the council to introduce wheelie bins with lids.

The new blue-lidded wheelie bin will replace the black box and will be used for glass bottles and jars, tin cans and foil, food and drink cartons, plastic bottles and tubs.

Blue bags for recycling all paper, card and cardboard will continue to be used. However, these will be replaced with heavy-duty bags for properties that don’t have them.

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Residents in this area will receive a letter this week explaining what they need to do. Collection days will remain the same.

The council will collect black boxes when they deliver the wheelie bins. These will either be reused for other residents or recycled, depending on their condition.

Concerns over contamination rates

Councillor Andy Paraskos, the council’s cabinet member for environment, waste reduction and recycling, said:

“For some time we’ve been looking at how we could improve our kerbside scheme as we know residents are increasingly conscious of the environment and have been recycling more, which is fantastic.

“But before we roll out wheelie bins across the Harrogate district, we have decided to first carry out a trial with a number of properties to ensure that what we achieve with the current system is replicated.”

In some instances, using wheelie bins for recycling can lead to higher contamination rates, so the council will use data from the trial to decide what to do across the Harrogate district.

Cllr Paraskos added:

“Our recycling is clean, high-quality and easily accepted at the processing sites so we’d like to say a massive thank you to the residents for always going above and beyond to help us and our crews.

“We need to ensure switching to wheelie bins doesn’t change this, as the better our recycling the easier it is sort and process.

“In some collection areas, not all residents are as conscientious about what they put in the wheelie bin. Resulting in higher contamination rates and much of the recycling having to be disposed of either through incineration or landfill.”

Other areas will join the trial in the coming month.

Bettys hunts across Harrogate district for cake fit for a Queen

The national competition to find the Queen’s platinum jubilee pudding may have ended, but keen bakers still have a chance to be part of the Harrogate district’s royal celebrations.

Last night, the winner of the national pudding competition was announced as Jemma Melvin, who created a lemon and amaretti trifle.

Her recipe will now sit alongside others, such as Victoria sponge and Coronation chicken, which have been created to mark important royal occasions.

Meanwhile, in the Harrogate district, a new competition has been launched to find “a cake fit for a Queen” – and naturally, Bettys is leading the hunt for the worthy winner.

Bakers are tasked with creating an 18cm flavoured sponge with a filling of their choice, complete with decorations to fill the brief of being “fit for a Queen”.

Once they’ve tried and tested the perfect recipe, entrants must upload a photo of their finished creation along with the recipe itself to the competition page on the Stray Ferret’s website by the deadline of Wednesday, May 25 at 5pm.

A shortlist of five will then be drawn up and the finalists will be invited to Bettys Cookery School for the judging on June 1.

The winner will get a place on a course of their choice at Bettys Cookery School.

The competition will be judged by Ann Hedges, a teacher of food and nutrition and a food product developer who has worked for major UK and international retailers, as well as food manufacturers including Marks and Spencer and Sainsbury’s.

To find out more about the competition or to enter a cake, click here.

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Funeral next week for Ripon restaurant owner Mario

The funeral will be held next week for the owner of Ripon restaurant Mario’s.

The family-run restaurant, serving traditional Italian food, has been part of Ripon life for almost 20 years.

Mario Chessa, who was the son of a chef, was born in Napoli in 1959. He moved to England in 1997 with a dream of opening his own restaurant.

He had worked as a chef in Italy and was employed by various restaurants around Harrogate until he became head chef at Joe Rigatoni, which is now Lucia.

In 2004 he fulfilled his lifelong dream by opening Mario’s on Kirkgate, which he ran with his son, Marco, and wife, Maria.

Mario's restaurant

The family announced on social media last week that Mario had lost a long battle with cancer. Many of the hundreds of people who commented on Facebook described him as a ‘lovely man’ who would be sorely missed.

Marco Chessa told the Stray Ferret:

“My father was a much loved, kind, hardworking man. He was a loving father and grandfather and a wonderful husband who will be missed by many.”

“Myself, my mother and all our staff will carry on his legacy. We are closed at the moment but due to reopen on the May 24.”

His funeral will be held on May 19 at St Joseph’s Church on Skipton Road, Harrogate, at 11.30am.

 

Harrogate district village wins eight-year battle for more planning control

A small parish council in the Harrogate district has won an eight-year campaign to have greater control over local planning decisions.

Roecliffe and Westwick Parish Council started creating a neighbourhood plan in 2014 amid concerns about green space being lost to developers.

Last week, villagers overwhelmingly approved the adoption of the plan in a referendum by 78 votes to seven.

Neighbourhood plans, which were introduced by the government in the Localism Act 2011, set out planning policies for a local area.

They must have regard to national planning policy and conform with local development plans — in this case the Harrogate district Local Plan 2014-35, which sets out where development can take place.

Roecliffe

Once adopted by a local referendum, the local authority is obliged to consider it as part of the planning process, which according to the government makes the plans “important and powerful tools that gives communities statutory powers to shape how their communities develop”.

Jim Bolland

Jim Bolland

Jim Bolland, chair of Roecliffe and Westwick Parish Council, has led the campaign to create a plan, which he believes is the first by a small village in the Harrogate district. He told the Stray Ferret:

“We are delighted. We did this because we didn’t want too many new houses in Roecliffe and Westwick.

“There are a lot of major businesses on the road from Boroughbridge to Roecliffe and we want to preserve a green channel. Housing has got a little bit out of control in the Boroughbridge area, in my opinion.”

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Mr Bolland urged other parish councils to consider creating neighbourhood plans.

He said Roecliffe and Westwick Parish Council initially expected the process to take two years rather than eight, and advised any groups going down the route to be proactive and start early rather than wait for a major planning application because the process wouldn’t be quick enough to influence individual applications.

Roecliffe neighbourhood plan

Nevertheless Mr Bolland, who is stepping down as chairman next week, said the plans were worth the effort:

“If parish councils feel they have a lot of land that could be built upon then it is well worth doing.”

The referendum result was announced at last week’s North Yorkshire Council local election count in Harrogate.

 

 

 

 

Stray Ferret’s election coverage attracts record audience

The Stray Ferret’s live election blog on Friday attracted the highest daily traffic ever to the site.

A total of 23,000 unique users logged on to the site on Friday, generating 65,000 page views.

Of these, 26,000 were for our live election blog, which provided regular updates from the count on a dramatic day of local politics.

The Stray Ferret provided the most comprehensive coverage of the historic election for the new North Yorkshire Council, profiling all candidates in the 21 Harrogate district divisions, as well as staging a local hustings event that put readers’ questions to candidates.

Tamsin O’Brien, director of the Stray Ferret, said:

“One of the reasons the site was founded was to increase interest in local democracy and the large blog following shows just how many people are engaged in political issues.

“We look forward to providing detailed political coverage of the new North Yorkshire Council as it comes into existence in 10 months time, replacing Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council.”

 

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Reader’s photo: Mandarin duck in Birstwith

Mike White, a keen amateur photographer from Birstwith, sent us this image of a Mandarin duck he photographed on the River Nidd.

The waterbird was introduced to the UK from China and escaped captivity. A shy bird, it nests in trees. Male birds have elaborate plumage.

Mr White told us he had seen three pairs of the birds on the Nidd at Birstwith this year.

Send us your photographs of the Harrogate district to contact@thestrayferret.co.uk

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North Yorkshire leadership to be discussed at local Tory AGM today

North Yorkshire’s Conservative councillors will gather today for their annual general meeting with discussions on who will lead the new authority on the agenda.

After losses across the county, the Conservatives now hold 47 out of 90 seats on the new unitary authority, North Yorkshire Council.

Despite having overall control, the Conservatives have a greatly reduced majority. Whoever leads the new authority will face the challenge of dealing with a larger group of opposing parties.

Cllr Carl Les, the current leader of North Yorkshire County Council, has confirmed he intends to stand as leader once again but his position is by no means certain.

There’s also deputy leader, group secretary and whip roles to be filled.

Councillors have had to put themselves forward ahead of the meeting and it will be down to those at today’s AGM to vote them in.

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Talking about Friday’s results, Cllr Carl Les said:

“It has been a sizeable event for us in terms of seats, we’ve gone from 55 out of 72 to 47 out of 90. The council will look very different.

“Whenever you have an election, people often bring up national matters and this time there were a lot of matters on a national level such as Partygate.

“I wish people were more concerned about looking at what we do locally rather than on national issues.”

He said moving forward the main aim would be to work collaboratively with new councillors to ensure a “smooth transition” as devolution gets underway.

“We have to work together as a group, it’s vitally important. Whatever party you are there’s always difference between us but there’s an awful lot that binds us together.

One of the main things is ensuring a smooth transition from eight divisions to one. When it comes to things like bin collection local people shouldn’t feel a difference.”

 

Parties react as Tories maintain narrow majority in North Yorkshire

The Conservatives have narrowly maintained their control over local government in North Yorkshire as voters across England’s largest county backed a spectrum of other political parties.

By securing 47 seats of the 90 on the new unitary authority, North Yorkshire Council, the Conservatives have just one more than the minimum number of councillors required for a majority, losing more than 20 per cent of their share of the vote to that at the last election for North Yorkshire County Council five years ago.

Although not directly comparable, in 2017 the Tories won 76 per cent of the seats, with the Independents getting 14 per cent, Labour six per cent and the Liberal Democrats just four per cent.

The election for the unitary authority saw Independent candidates secure 13 seats, Labour and the Liberal Democrats 12 each and the Green Party will be represented at the top tier of local government in the county for the first time with some five seats.

Gareth Dadd, deputy leader of the Conservative group, said he felt the result reflected “a usual mid-term reaction” to a government.

He said:

“I’m delighted that we have secured an overall majority, but above anything else we can move forward with certainty and deliver the savings and, hopefully, devolution, that the sub-region deserves.”

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Stuart Parsons, leader of the Independent group on the county council, said he looked forward to working with all members of the new council, adding:

“At least we are no longer in a one-party state.”

Labour ‘over the moon’

Labour group leader Eric Broadbent said:

“We’re over the moon, we’ve trebled our number of councillors on the county. We’re going to have a lot more influence and give our residents a lot more say in what’s happening in their communities.”

Bryn Griffiths, the Liberal Democrat group leader, said:

“I think the electorate have seen the error of the Tories. It gives us a great opportunity to challenge them at the county council and get support for people who need support, such as those living off food banks and those on free school meals during the school holidays.”

Kevin Foster, who has become one of the new Green councillors after winning Hipswell and Colburn by just eight votes, said:

“It was the most uncomfortable day of my life! It gives us a greater chance to have our voice heard and we now have to be considered as we work to make a cleaner, greener, fairer place.”

Elected councillors will serve one year as county councillors for the existing North Yorkshire County Council and another four years as councillors for the new unitary authority.

Some 183,564 of the 478,539 electorate voted, representing a 38.4 per cent turn-out.

Fundraisers prepare to take on Nidderdale Walk this weekend

Dozens of walkers will take to the paths of Nidderdale this weekend as a popular charity event returns.

Nidderdale Walk takes place on Sunday, May 8, offering participants a choice of five routes of between four and 26.2 miles.

The event, which is organised by the Rotary Club of Harrogate, has been taking place for almost three decades.

While it is promoted by 20 local charities which use it as a vital fundraiser in their calendars, participants can raise money for any cause of their choice.

Any of the local charities with 10 or more supporters taking part will also receive half of their entry fees back from the organisers.

Brian Stuttard, from the Rotary Club of Harrogate, said:

“The bigger charities have their own professional PR people and big budgets for events. Some of the smaller charities don’t have the opportunity to have an event for their own fundraising so we’re hopefully providing that role.”

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Last year, despite the covid pandemic, the Nidderdale Walk raised £18,000 when held in September.

Now back to its usual May date, organisers say the event has attracted a similar number of entrants this year compared to before the pandemic.

It begins at Pateley Bridge Scout Hut on Sunday morning, with the latest start times for the longest walks being 8am, up to 2pm for the shorter routes.

There are refreshment points along the routes, as well as cold drinks available at the end.

Entries will still be accepted on the day. For more information, visit the Nidderdale Walk website.