This story is sponsored by Myrings Estate Agents 

This year marks a special anniversary for Myrings: 25 years in the property business!

Where have all those years gone? It’s hard to say, but as a company our plans, hopes and ambitions remain focused on the immediate future and the year ahead.

We are delighted to report (especially at the start of a new year) that Myrings has never been stronger. We are recognised as a leading player in several important and growing areas, including both the rental and the ‘Land & New Homes’ sectors.

Throughout 2023, we are expecting the Harrogate market to make a significant return in both residential sales and lettings after an inevitable blow during covid. Nevertheless, we will continue to invest heavily in our clients, infrastructure and working practices – ultimately offering all associates of Myrings an even better service.

Recently, we have integrated our sales and rental departments in order to optimise efficiency and create a seamless synergy between services. In addition, we understand the importance of an aesthetic and technical workspace, and, thus, redecorated and re-equipped our Harrogate offices – including updated state-of-the-art IT systems.

The universal birth of social media has coincided with our years in business and has inhabited itself as a fundamental part of our marketing strategies. Rising to the ever-changing developments of the online world, we adapted our marketing to the necessary and hugely advantageous nature of social media – and it’s only going from strength-to-strength. Interacting with the local community has become a vital cog in our marketing functions, and we have been lucky enough to sponsor the likes of Harrogate Town FC, Ripon Tennis Club, St Michael’s Hospice, Martin House, Henshaws and more.

Employee development remains one of our core values. Over the years, we have continually trained our staff and two new apprentices, supported them in their studies for professional qualifications and recruited several property professionals to strengthen our teams further.

Harrogate is not known for its high-end contemporary architecture, but the few examples that come up for sale tend to be rather special. 

Greenway, a detached four-bedroom property off Rossett Green Lane, is the latest of the genre to hit the market, and its price tag alone suggests something a little out of the ordinary. 

Its guide price of £1.5m is several times the average asking price for the district, but then, this is no average property. 

Accessed from a private road and standing behind solid-oak electric gates, Greenway is nothing if not exclusive. Once you’ve got past the intercom entry system, you find yourself in a light, spacious central reception hall with bespoke cupboarding, double-height window and a steel-spined handmade oak staircase with glass balustrade.

The hand-made oak staircase winds round a steel spine.

The L-shaped dining kitchen is state-of-the-art, with wine cooler and boiling water tap, and the dining and family areas open up onto the large outdoor terrace. There’s also a home office, an integral double garage, and a 25-foot-long living room with remote-controlled gas fire.

At the top of those oak stairs, there are four double bedrooms – three of them with en suite bathrooms, two with dressing rooms, and one with a balcony area. 

The kitchen includes integrated appliance, wine cooler and boiling water tap.

As if all that weren’t enough, what really gives this house an edge is its technology. There’s smart underfloor heating throughout, it’s fully networked with wireless access points and ethernet cabling, and all the windows have electric blinds which can also be controlled remotely. In fact, the whole property is protected by an intruder alarm and external camera system – which can also be controlled remotely.

There are also gardens with a hidden patio, which currently houses a rotating seven-seater garden pod.

The lounge in Greenway opens out via sliding glass doors onto the terrace.

Greenway came onto the market yesterday and is marketed by Harrogate agent North Residential. 

Director Harriet Cheshire told The Stray Ferret: 

“There’s not much out there at the moment in the £1.5m bracket, but there are a lot of people out there with cash for the £1.25-1.5m price range, so we expect this property to attract quite a bit of attention. 

“Its technology is a definite plus. A lot of people nowadays are very tech-savvy and want to be able to control everything in their home by phone, so some will really see the premium in it.” 

Read more:

• Harrogate councillors approve sixth Kingsley housing scheme
• Free security upgrades for some Harrogate district homes and farms
• Harrogate Knight Frank directors set up North Residential estate agency

The Stray Ferret has launched our new Photo of the Week feature to highlight the beauty of the Harrogate district captured by talented local photographers.

Send your photos to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk for a chance to feature here. We are interested in amateur and professional pictures.

This week we feature a beautiful image taken by Bill Shaw who has perfectly captured a fiery sunset over Harrogate.

The owners of Kendall’s Farm Butchers in Pateley Bridge have bought the town’s former police station and hope to turn it into their new home, according to planning documents.

Former North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Julia Mulligan announced last year that the station on King Street would be sold as part of cost-cutting measures.

Officers based at the site were moved across the road where they share space with Harrogate Borough Council.

In July, the commissioner’s office confirmed that the police station was sold for £297,000. It had initially been estimated to sell for £142,000.

A planning application has been submitted to Harrogate Borough Council by Paul Kendall, a third generation butcher, to convert the former police station and adjoining property he bought at auction into one family home.

Better work life balance

According to planning documents by Harrogate architect James Robinson, the Kendalls currently live around five miles outside of Pateley Bridge, which means in the winter it can be a challenge to get to the town if it has been snowing.

The documents reveal they had been looking to relocate closer to the business for many years but were unable to find anywhere suitable.

Mr Robinson wrote that living within 200 metres of the main shop in Pateley will be “revolutionary” for the family, as it will allow for a much better work-life balance.

Read more:

• Former Pateley Bridge police station sold for £297,000
• New trail running group formed in Pateley Bridge

An 18th-century corn mill in Nidderdale is to be converted into housing after complaints that the historic building once used as a shop and restaurant has deteriorated into a “mess”.

The proposals for Darley Mill include the conversion of nine homes and the construction of 11 new properties at the Grade-II listed site.

Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee approved the plans at a meeting on Tuesday when a local councillor said many villagers wanted to see the site redeveloped “as soon as possible”.

Cllr Sue Welch, chair of Darley and Menwith Parish Council, said:

“The current mill building is a mess – it spoils the whole look of the village and that part of the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

“We need to bring it back into use and good repair.”

Cllr Welch said although the parish council viewed the mill conversion as “essential,” it could not support the construction of new homes at the site.

In response, Richard Irving, an agent for the developers YorPlace said the new builds were needed in order to make the development financially feasible – a view which was supported by an independent valuer.

Mr Irving also said the development would be carried out to the “highest quality”.

Read more:

• Historic Darley Mill set to be converted into houses
• Work to begin on new boules court in Darley

The approval comes after previous plans for a smaller development of 13 homes were given the go-ahead in 2018. However, these plans never came forward.

The site closed as a corn mill in the 1960s and was most recently run by Yorkshire Linen Company as a restaurant and shop until 2016 when the company ran into financial problems.

Prior to this, the mill was converted into a store selling crafts and clothing in the mid-1980s.

The latest proposals include a mix of two, three and four-bedroom properties across the site.

The mill’s water wheel will also be kept under the plans.

Councillors cast five votes for and two against to approve the plans at Tuesday’s meeting.

A story written by Castley grandmother Gillian Lishman for her four grandchildren over lockdown has been turned into her first published children’s book.

During those early months of the pandemic Ms Lishman couldn’t work her job as a reflexologist or see her youngest family members. With time on her hands, she began to write them a story.

She was inspired by the nature surrounding her dairy farm in Castley, which is a village close to Huby and Weeton.

One oak tree, with its large hollow trunk, stood out so she began writing a story about a mouse that lives there and the adventures it gets up to with friends.

These include Old Owl, who lives at the top of the old oak tree, Scruffy Mouse, who has a workshop where he makes and mends things, and Mattie Mouse, who lives in London and works for the London Parks and Gardens Trust.

Ms Lishman would write a new chapter each week and post it to her grandchildren along with her own illustrations. She said:

“They loved it and are all really into the book.”

Read more:

• Yorkshire Water urges caution around reservoirs over Bank Holiday
• Harrogate woman with severe sight loss to walk 100km non-stop for charity

Despite having no professional writing experience, Ms Lishman searched for publishers online and found Austin Macauley.

They turned the chapters that had been sent to her grandchildren into a book called Little Mouse which was published in February.

She said the book is aimed at children between four and 10 and has a positive message about caring for friends.

Despite lockdown separating Ms Lishman and her husband from their grandchildren, the book was one positive outcome:

She said:

“If it hadn’t have been for covid the book would never have happened!”

Little Mouse is available to buy at Amazon.

A transport assessment that suggests Persimmon Homes’ 181-home development on Kingsley Drive will not significantly increase traffic in the area has been called ‘fundamentally flawed’ by a Harrogate building surveyor.

The housebuilder submitted its latest proposal for the site this month after a larger development for 217 homes was rejected by councillors last year.

Persimmon commissioned transport consultant Bryan G Hall to undertake a transport assessment to assess how the homes would impact nearby roads.

At over 500 pages long, his report includes measurements, surveys and conclusions about traffic in the area.

It found the impact of the extra homes on local roads would not be ‘severe’.

The report concluded:

“The residual cumulative impact of the proposed residential development on the road network cannot be considered to be ‘severe’ and there are therefore no traffic or highways related reasons why planning permission should not be granted for this site.”

Visuals of the Persimmon Homes plan for Kingsley Drive.

However, Steve Marshall, owner of surveyors Airedale Surveys and a member of Kingsley Ward Action Group, spent five days reviewing the document, which he called on the council to reject.

Mr Marshall said this was because one of the traffic surveys took place when part of Kingsley Drive was closed due to roadworks.

He also said the report ignored how the extra homes will impact the nearby Empress roundabout.

Disputed surveys

Mr Marshall disputed a claim in the report that Rydal Road, Birstwith Road and Leyland Road, which all have junctions with Kingsley Drive and Knaresborough Road, were not being used as ‘rat runs’.

North Yorkshire County Council, which is in charge of roads in the district, had specifically asked Persimmon to look at the rat run issue in the transport assessment, as well as how fast vehicles were travelling on the three roads.

Persimmon undertook traffic surveys on the roads from July 31 to August 6 2020 but Mr Marshall said this took place when part of Kingsley Drive was closed.

“The bottom half of Kingsley Drive was shut due to road works during the whole period of the survey. This means no one had access to the three surveyed roads along the rat run route.”

Read more:

• Plea for ‘moratorium’ on controversial 181-home Kingsley development
• Starbeck residents pledge to fight 181-home Kingsley Drive plans ‘tooth and nail’

Mr Marshall criticised the report for not taking into account trips generated at two nearby housing developments of 165 homes.

He also said the surveys did not factor in how the homes would impact the Empress roundabout and the Granby Road/Skipton Road junction during rush hour.

Mr Marshall wrote:

“This roundabout causes massive queues at rush hour despite Harrogate Borough Council’s Transport Background Paper of August 2018 saying it is not a problem junction.

“There cannot be any justification for allowing this development as it stands if one of the key assessments and the subject uppermost in the minds of local residents, ie the traffic assessment, is fundamentally flawed.”

Persimmon’s response

In February, representatives from Persimmon, as well as highways consultant Geoff Bowman from Bryan G Hall, fielded questions from residents in Starbeck about the plans, which included the transport assessment.

Residents queried Mr Bowman about the traffic surveys and suggested they did not give an accurate picture of how many cars use the area.

Mr Bowman said:

“There has been very extensive surveys of traffic in the area. There is a perception that we are nasty developers and it’s dead easy to get through planning, but the highways authority are rigorous.”

The Stray Ferret asked Persimmon Homes for a response but we had not received one by the time of publication.

There has been a heavy police presence today at a house in Jennyfields after a serious incident.

North Yorkshire Police arrived at Norwood Grove at about 10am this morning and were still there when the Stray Ferret attended the scene at 2.30pm this afternoon after being alerted by a concerned resident.

Two police cars and a crime scene investigation van were in attendance and a house had been cordoned off.

We contacted the police for further details but had not received a reply by the time of publication.

Read more:

• Vaccination centre to open at Harrogate hospital
• Guilty verdict for couple who flew in sex workers to Harrogate

Tim Walls, a resident on nearby Hartwith Drive, said:

“We left the house to go to the dentist at around 10am. As we were leaving two big police vans came onto the road.

“When we got back they were still here. I walked over to Norwood Grove and noticed police there with a police cordon at the house next to the ginnel.

“Later I also saw some police officers searching the waste bin in the park behind my house. They were there for around 30 minutes.”

As soon as we receive a reply we will update this story.