Knaresborough is getting into the festive spirit despite restrictions this year, with groups joining forces to put events on safely.

Each year the town hosts a number of festive events to draw in thousands of visitors, but this year it has had to adapt.

Representatives from St John the Baptist Church, Knaresborough Rotary, Knaresborough Chamber of Trade and Knaresborough Town Council have put their heads together and come up with a plan.

To ensure all the town’s Christmas trees and decorations can be admired, a map has been designed to direct people to the 20 different trees around the trail.

The map means visitors who feel safer staying outdoors can still get into the festive spirit. Credit: Matthew Bourne.

The church’s annual Christmas tree festival is always a hit with visitors and tickets are selling fast for this year too. The group has limited the festival to only 40 trees to allow for social distancing, where previous years have seen up to 100 trees on display.

Visitors have to book online here prior to visiting. The festival will run from tomorrow, Saturday, December 12 to Wednesday, January 6, except on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

Reverend Garry Hinchcliffe, the rector at St John the Baptist, said:

“It’s become a real go-to event and we didn’t want people to miss out. After such a miserable year for so many, we wanted to show the light and hope of Christmas time.”

Read more:

• Knaresborough’s shops were excited to reopen after the second lockdown. 
• Church in Blubberhouses sets up a Christmas tree festival. 

The organisers have also got local schoolchildren involved by asking them to decorate Christmas stars to display in the windows.

Bill Taylor, treasurer of Knaresborough Chamber of Trade, said:

“We wanted to make sure we still offered something to the town, in line with restrictions. We hope this will encourage people to come and give a boost to the town.”

Contactless stickers have also been placed throughout the town so people can make donations safely. The money will go towards the church and Cancer Research UK.

Police are appealing for information after a burglary in Knaresborough on Saturday evening.

A suspect tried to enter a home on Manor Road around 7pm.

North Yorkshire Police is now asking for help from the public to establish the full details. A spokesperson said:

“In particular, we are appealing for information about a male who was wearing all black clothing with a hood around Manor Road at the time of the offence.”

Anyone with information that could assist the investigation should contact North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option two, and ask for Geeta Maharjan, or email geeta.maharjan2@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk.

To report information anonymously, call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Quote the North Yorkshire Police reference number 12200221213.

Read more:

• Police appeal for help identifying man after Nidd Gorge theft
• Two arrests after vehicle keys stolen in Harrogate

Network Rail has completed a £9.8m upgrade of the Knaresborough to Poppleton route, which could increase the number of trains between Harrogate and York.

The works have improved the signalling system and changed the track layout at Cattal station, which will allow two trains to enter the station at the same time.

Work has also taken place to install new safety measures at some level crossings on the route.

£9.6m was secured by York & North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership from the government’s Local Growth Fund.

Read more:

• Three weekends of disruption to improve Harrogate rail services

• Harrogate railway station newsagent to close

Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones, who is a former rail minister, called the works a “huge step forward” for trains in the district.

“The importance of this is that it removes a bottleneck to future increases in capacity on the line. This means that the ability to increase services to and from York now exists whereas previously the infrastructure constrained that. It is another huge step forward for our local rail line.

“In recent years we’ve seen more services and faster services on the York-Harrogate-Leeds line. We have seen signalling upgrades and the new Azuma services to and from London coming to Harrogate.  We have also seen the back of the old, leaky pacer trains.”

North Yorkshire County Councillor Don Mackenzie, executive member for access, said the project would enable “an increased, quicker and more reliable service in the future”. He added:

“The line now benefits from more modern technology and Network Rail have increased safety at a number of level crossings and reduced congestion at Harrogate railway station.”

In previous generations, getting on the housing ladder for a young couple with steady incomes was a given.

But in today’s housing crisis, it’s a pipe dream for too many people, particularly in high-value areas like Knaresborough and Harrogate.

Married Knaresborough couple Steph Getao, 32 and Scott Gibson 35, spent three years looking for their perfect property in Knaresborough and Harrogate — but failed to find one within their budget.

It forced them to look further afield and they recently purchased a two-bedroom house with a conservatory and garden in Allerton Bywater, a village south-east of Leeds.

At £175,000, Steph said the home was much cheaper than similar properties locally.

Scott works for an electrical manufacturer in Boroughbridge and Steph works in an office in Harrogate. Steph told the Stray Ferret it was “upsetting” that they couldn’t buy a home closer to Scott’s hometown.

She said:

“We both love it here. He has his childhood friends here. It was so depressing. It was either get what you can in Knaresborough or Harrogate or have a choice and look further afield.”

According to property website Rightmove, the average property price in Knaresborough last year was £320,000

In new housing developments, Harrogate Borough Council demands that 40% of all homes are classed as “affordable”.

The government defines affordable as homes sold at a discounted rate, homes for social rent, or through shared ownership schemes.

Steph dismissed shared ownership schemes as a “different face of renting” and questioned how “affordable” these homes really are.

“An affordable home was £200,000 plus. I don’t understand what they mean by affordable. You can’t put that amount of money down and call it affordable.”

Read more:

• Plans to create affordable flats for key workers in Knaresborough

• Housing Investigation: New homes out of reach for too many locals

Steph is a director of Knaresborough Community Land Trust, a not-for-profit organisation that is hoping to develop a disused area in the town centre into three flats as affordable housing.

Such initiatives provide small scale solutions. But for Knaresborough to flourish, Steph says the town needs young people to stay and put down roots.

She added:

“Without young people, Knaresborough will get more and more sleepy. The high street is basically all old dear shops! Knaresborough needs its young.

“Scott’s parents and aunts all have houses locally, then you go to the next generation and we’ve all moved out of Knaresborough [due to house prices].

“You’ve got to do what’s best for your pocket, so we went Allerton Bywater. I wish we had more local people being able to purchase within Knaresborough. If we had an influx of young people, we’d see a change in the high street immediately.”

A primary school teacher is to spend several hours every Friday dressed as a tree outside Harrogate Borough Council’s offices as a protest against plans to extend a bottling plant in the Pinewoods.

Sarah Gibbs, who lives in Knaresborough, does not want the council to approve Harrogate Spring Water’s expansion plans, which would include felling trees.

Ms Gibbs began her one-woman protest at the council from 8am to 3.30pm on Friday and intends to repeat it every Friday for the foreseeable future.

Being a lone protester in the cold winter months will be tough but Ms Gibbs is passionate about the cause.

Dressed as a tree outside the council building and moving to keep herself warm, she told the Stray Ferret:

“I was here last Friday, I am here today and I will be here every Friday to demonstrate the importance of this issue.

“I just felt that I had to do something else and make more of a stand so I have planted myself here.

“There are lots of different groups working on this so I am hopeful they will take that into account and reject the proposal.”

A council decision on whether to grant Danone permission to extend its water bottling plant has been delayed from December until the new year.

The delay is to allow further discussions between Danone and environmental groups about the company’s plans to compensate for the loss of trees and biodiversity.

It means Ms Gibbs could be protesting for many weeks to come.

Read more:

• Harrogate Spring Water Pinewoods plans: decision delayed
• Greens petition against Harrogate Spring Water’s Pinewoods plans

A spokesperson for Pinewoods Conservation Group told the Stray Ferret it hoped the extra time would result in a plan that is “acceptable to all parties”.

The spokesperson said:

“We welcome the pause on this planning application and the offer from Harrogate Spring Water for further discussion on this important topic.

“There was a clear condition on the original planning application that there must be replacement land and trees to compensate for the ecological loss to the area.”

A life of campaigning and activism

Not only does Ms Gibbs protest against Pinewood but she is also a fierce critic of the high speed train line, HS2.

If the project, which has a £44.6 billion budget for its first phase, goes ahead Sarah believes it would be an environmental disaster.

She feels so passionately she travels around the country and ties herself to trees to get her message across and put pressure on government.

“It might not be happening outside my doorstep but my local environment is connected to the rest of the UK and the world. I wanted to see the truth of HS2 for myself. There’s absolute devastation taking place.

“I think that HS2 will result in ecological collapse. Those animals will return to their habitats but they will no longer be there. It is just insanity, none of it really makes sense to me. Without the protesters there we fear what they will do.”

The government disputes Ms Gibbs’ claims and believes HS2 is critical for the UK’s low carbon transport future.

The high speed rail line will connect the likes of London, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Edinburgh.

However, Ms Gibbs believes the economic and environmental cost of the project is too high.

Some projections put the full cost at £230 billion. The Wildlife Trusts found that it would risk the loss of 693 wildlife sites and 108 ancient woodlands.

A before and after picture of Rugby Road where Sarah protested against HS2.

Ms Gibbs’ experience of campaigning at Rugby Road (pictured above) near Leamington Spa at the end of August until the beginning of October had a major impact. She said:

“The space they are clearing is phenomenal. When you start looking into it you think ‘I can’t not do something’ even if it is just signing a petition online or going to a camp. Any small or big actions can make a difference.

“I have seen some real brutality against the protesters. People have had their fingers broken but it doesn’t deter me. If anything it makes me feel more determined and makes people want to fight against HS2 more.”

A reptile rescue centre in Knaresborough has warned it may not survive until next year if income doesn’t increase.

The Knaresborough Exotic Rescue Centre has 50 animals in its care, with 45 waiting to find permanent homes. As well as a rescue centre it is also an education centre for students.

The centre’s owner, Daniel Holmes, said unless further donations or adoptions were forthcoming the centre may have to close. He said:

“We are really struggling to find the funds to keep the centre going. Of course we want to stay open to help the animals and to work with the students but we can only push so far.”

This snake is currently up for adoption at the centre.

It costs £1,800 per month to run the centre due to the amount of electricity needed for the reptile enclosures.

The centre has recently received a grant from North Yorkshire County Council for about £1,300, which has helped but Mr Holmes said more was needed.

He added the number of rescue animals taken on during lockdown had increased but the number of rehoming requests hadn’t matched this.

Mr Holmes has been rescuing reptiles for 12 years and is determined to keep going but said the pandemic could mean he has to close for good.

There are few other centres nearby offering the same services.

Read more:

• WATCH to see just a few of the reptiles the centre rescued during the first lockdown.
• Six-foot boa finds its forever home in Markington.

During the second lockdown the centre was open to take in and care for animals. Now it is open to visitors too. He added:

“I’m hoping now lockdown is over people will come in and donate. If we weren’t here half these snakes would be dumped.

“We desperately need donations. We don’t want to let anyone down.”

To donate to the centre, find them on Facebook here or send a donation via PayPal to krescue@hotmail.co.uk.

The Christmas lights are up, the business owners are ready, now all Knaresborough needs is shoppers.

After a month of lockdown, Knaresborough’s shop owners say they need a huge boost to sales to cover the losses of two lockdowns.

The shopkeepers have been eager to reopen and are encouraging people to venture out and support their local high street.

The whole town is getting in the festive spirit. Knaresborough Chamber of Trade has helped to light up the town by installing 80 trees on the sides of buildings.

Shop owners have also been busy decorating their windows in an effort to encourage more shoppers to visit.

Photograph: Charlotte Gale Photography.

Diane Watson, owner of Knitting Pretty on Castlegate, said they’re feeling apprehensive and excited to see what today brings.:

“I’ve been desperate to open but now it’s here I’m a little nervous. I don’t know what to expect, it’s a scary time. This is usually my busiest time of the year so missing out on some of it has really hit me. I have such loyal customers so I am hoping for the best.”

Gill Mitchell, owner of Stomp footwear on Market Place, said:

“I’m raring to go I’m just hoping we can stay open for January, we just have to embrace it while we can. As soon as Boris said we can reopen people have waited to see us properly in store. It’s coming alive here in Knaresborough so hopefully more people will come.”

Over lockdown, many shops have moved online to boost the gap in sales. Tracey Bell at Ruebury Flowers offered a delivery service to ensure she wasn’t losing her annual Christmas customers.

She said:

“This lockdown has been completely different, I’ve been busy with orders and trying to do what I can. I am nervous but that’s because it is a difficult time for everyone but everyone in Knaresborough is remaining positive so let’s hope for a good few weeks of trade.”

Read more:

• Harrogate’s independent shops say they have to wait to see numbers of shoppers before opening late. 
• Knaresborough to lose its final bank next year. 

Knaresborough Chamber of Trade has been offering local businesses advice on opening up following the lockdown on their social media and website. Its president, Steve Teggin, said:

“It’s so good we needed this. The town is looking great too and the shopkeepers are really making an effort this tear too, we all want people to come and visit. We have to be careful of course but we can’t wait to reopen.”

Plans for 170 homes on Water Lane in Knaresborough will have a ‘catastrophic’ impact on wildlife at nearby beauty spot Hay-a-Park, according to local people.

Landowner Geoffrey Holland’s application would see homes built on the north-eastern edge of the town, next to the Hay-a-Park lake and three smaller ponds.

The site, which is on a flooded former quarry, was designated as a site of special scientific interest in 1995 because it supports a number of rare birds, including the goosander and reed warbler.

The planning application has provoked a passionate response from residents, with about 60 objections at the time of publication. Several raised concerns about the impact of the housing on hedgerows within the SSSI where birds nest.

David Bunting, who lives next to the lake, told the Stray Ferret he has concerns about flooding and the impact on the birds’ habitat:

“This housing would go right up to the lake and risks huge environmental damage to the site. Birds have come from across the world to nest here over winter for thousands of years.”

Goosander fears

Another local resident, James McKay, highlighted a report from 2012 which stated numbers of goosander have been decreasing. He told the Stray Ferret:

“It will have a catastrophic impact on Hay-a-Park gravel pit, which is already under pressure from increased urbanisation.”

Read more:

• New bid for 170 homes in Knaresborough

• Housing Investigation: land the size of 700 football pitches lost to new housing

Harrogate Borough Council refused an application from Mr Holland for 218 homes in October last year, despite the site being allocated for development in what was then the council’s draft Local Plan.

The council said the proposal did not include enough affordable housing and was ‘of poor quality and out of character with its surroundings’. It also said it did not include a proper assessment that explored the impact of housing on the SSSI.

A planning statement submitted for the new application said the proposals included “a wide range of ecological enhancement measures”.

It added:

“The design-led approach, informed by consultation with the local planning authority and Natural England, responds sensitively to the site setting, respecting the urban grain and ecology features present in the surrounding landscape, both built and undeveloped.”

Minimise impact on birds

Following the refusal last year, ecological consultancy Baker Consultants produced a Hay-a-Park SSSI impact assessment on behalf of the developer. It recommends that Harrogate Borough Council and Natural England manage the SSSI’s grassland and woodland to improve biodiversity.

A separate ecological appraisal recommended the impact on birds is minimised through the creation of green space within the development and with nest boxes.

It also says construction that might directly impact breeding birds should be limited to September to February when they do not breed.

The Stray Ferret asked the agent for the application, Cunnard Town Planning, for a statement but we had not received a response at the time of publication.

The application will be considered by HBC’s planning committee at a later date.

Restaurants in the Harrogate district have seen their tables fill up fast as the national lockdown comes to an end.

Eateries will be able to open their doors for the first time tomorrow after a month under the new tier two rules.

With strict rules forbidding Christmas parties and household mixing they do not expect to see anywhere near the same takings as in the summer.

However, many are already seeing the results of pent up demand of a month.

Read more:

• Harrogate district to enter tier two restrictions
• Harrogate retailers wait for shopper numbers before opening late
• Pateley Bridge: no covid cases for 10 days but pubs stay shut

John Roberts, the owner of The Tannin Level in Harrogate, told the Stray Ferret that the phones started ringing as soon as the area made it into tier two:

“We are filling up fairly quickly now which is great. The weekends are looking very busy already over the next three weeks.

“It will be interesting to see how the weekdays in December, which are normally occupied by Christmas parties, will perform.”

Vivien Kovacs, one of the owners at Two Brothers Grill and Pizzeria in Knaresborough, added:

“The business has been fine over lockdown because we have done takeaways. We are now preparing to open tomorrow.

“We will not be able to serve the same numbers of people because of the stricter rules but we are hoping for a good December.”

Rick Jones, who is one of the owners of Valentino’s and the Water Rat, also told the Stray Ferret:

“It looks like this first week back will be a busy one, it’s already looking quite full. The restrictions will limit the number of people we can serve.

“We will not see similar takings over December compared to previous years but we are just happy to see people and to cook.”

North Yorkshire will come out of lockdown just after midnight tonight. Here is a breakdown of the new rules.

The new tier two restrictions gives hope for the restaurants and hotels but wet-led pubs that cannot serve a “substantial meal” will need to stay closed.

Knaresborough is set to lose its only bank next year as Halifax announces it is planning to close the branch in spring.

The Halifax bank on Market Square was the town’s last remaining bank.

When the news of the bank’s closure broke earlier this year 1,200 people signed a petition to encourage Halifax keep it open. But the bank has said due to a decline in use it has to close.

This decision means local people and businesses will have to travel into Harrogate and Ripon to bank their money.

A Halifax spokesperson said:

“In January this year we announced that the Knaresborough Halifax branch would be closing due to a decline in use. We paused the closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic and, after careful consideration, the planned closures will take place between March and April 2021.”

The cash machine will also be removed leaving the town with only two other cash points in the town centre. The Knaresborough Chamber of Trade has said it is looking into potential locations for another cash machine.

It said the loss of this bank will be a “major blow” for town, the chamber’s president Steve Teggin said:

“This is a sad set of affairs, it will be a major blow for the town. We have so many new businesses that have opened up recently and they have been let down by the banking system.”

Read more:

• Former bank in Knaresborough set to become housing if planning is approved. 
• Baltzersens opens pop-up bakery in Knaresborough. 

Harrogate Borough Council has said it will be launching a survey asking for residents’ views on the current banking services available in Knaresborough.

Cllr Graham Swift said “we can’t promise anything in the future” but says it is essential residents fill out the survey to show what facilities they think are necessary for the town.

Residents can fill out the survey, here, from today.