Traffic and Travel Alert: Harrogate district update

The long-term gas works on Crescent Road In Harrogate town centre are due to be paused this week.

Motorists are still unable to turn left at the Parliament Street junction and traffic coming the opposite way on Ripon Road is unable to turn right but by next week the restrictions should have ended.

Roadworks near the Harrogate Town ground on Wetherby Road in Harrogate are due to end tomorrow.

According to North Yorkshire County Council’s roadworks map, two sets of traffic lights will be active on Skipton Road, between the Empress roundabout and King’s Road.

Traffic lights on the A59 York Road near the junction with the A658 in Knaresborough are due to remain in place until November 11.

Yorkshire Water has installed four-way traffic lights as it lays a new water main for a housing development.

In Ripon, roadworks are due to be active on Heckler Lane and New Road today and tomorrow.

Work to reconstruct the landslip-hit B6265 at Red Brae Bank, Bewerley, near Pateley Bridge, is ongoing.

The road is closed and a diversion is in place via Pateley Bridge; the B6451 Dacre; Menwith Hill Road; Duck Street and Greenhow Hill village. Temporary traffic lights will be in place during the remainder of the work.

Trains and buses

Rail operator Northern is not reporting any problems on the line passing through Harrogate and Knaresborough this morning but the live departure and arrival board for Harrogate shows the 7.37am LNER service to London is cancelled.

The Harrogate Bus Company is reporting cancellations on the 36 bus, the 9am and 10.55am Harrogate to Leeds services are cancelled, as are the Leeds to Harrogate 7.40am, 9.55am, 11.55am services and the Starbeck to Leeds 6.23am bus.

You can get updates here.

Read more:

 

Firefighters and paramedics called to Pateley Bridge crash

Firefighters and paramedics were called to a single vehicle collision at Pateley Bridge today.

Fire crews from Harrogate and Ripon responded to an ambulance report of an incident on Old Church Lane at 11.45am.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service‘s incident log said:

“On arrival, driver was out of vehicle and in care of paramedics. Fire crew made the vehicle safe.”

About an hour later, Harrogate firefighters helped to remove two rings from a woman who turned up at the station unable to get them off.

Read more:

 

Plan approved to convert former Pateley Bridge police station into home

A former police station in Pateley Bridge will be turned into a home after plans were approved.

The owners of Kendall’s Farm Butchers in the town bought the station on King Street.

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

The Stray Ferret later revealed in July this year that the station was sold for £297,000. It was estimated to sell for £142,000.

In a planning application submitted to Harrogate Borough Council by Paul Kendall, a third generation butcher, the family bought the building to relocate to Pateley Bridge.

Now, the council has approved the plan.

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

Harrogate architect James Robinson, who submitted the plan on behalf of the Kendalls, 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:

 

After 150 years, Nidderdale Show moves to a Sunday

Nidderdale Show in Pateley Bridge is to move permanently from its traditional Monday slot to a Sunday.

The show, which celebrated its 150th anniversary this year, was forced to change dates last month when the Queen’s funeral was arranged on the same day on Monday, September 19.

The event, which attracts about 13,000 people, was hastily brought forward by 24 hours to a Sunday.

Nidderdale Show

Bewerley Park. Credit: Jemison Photographer

The weekend date proved popular and the show committee has now decided the event will be held on a Sunday annually, with September 24 scheduled for next year.

Show press officer Alex Smith said the weekend was more attractive to families and would make it easier to find stewards and judges.

She added:

“Pretty much everybody was in favour of changing it to a Sunday.

“Many people said if they had known it would be on a Sunday this year they would have entered an exhibit.

“The children’s horse riding classes had low entries — many categories will benefit if the show takes place on a Sunday because more children and families will attend.”

Nidderdale Agricultural Committee stages the event at Bewerley Park.

Read more:

 

 

Community sentence for Pateley Bridge man caught masturbating in Harrogate car park

A Pateley Bridge man has been given a 12-month community order for masturbating in a public car park in Harrogate.

Thomas Christopher Watson, 29, of Millfield Street, appeared at Harrogate Magistrates Court this afternoon having already pleaded guilty to one count of outraging public decency.

The court heard a member of the public had called police on September 3, after she had seen Watson masturbating in his car in the car park on Station Parade.

When officers arrived, Watson was compliant and admitted the offence when questioned at the police station.

Defending, Brian Nuttney of McCormicks Solicitors said it was important not to conflate Watson’s actions with indecent exposure, where the act is targeted towards someone else. He said:

“In short, he describes this as a terrible decision. It was not something that was planned and it was not something that was thought through.

“It was not something that was going on in response to anything or anybody around him… Intent isn’t something that can be shown in any way here.”

Mr Nuttney said Watson was “shocked” by his own behaviour and had done some work to address whether he needed help.

The court heard Watson, an office worker who was based mainly at home, had received a police caution for a similar offence in 2010.

Magistrates imposed the community order along with a requirement to complete 30 days’ rehabilitation activity, designed to help him address his problems.

They ordered him to complete 120 hours’ unpaid work and to pay a victim surcharge of £114 and costs of £85.

Read more:

 

Nidderdale road to be repaired – nearly three years after storm damage

Work is scheduled to begin on Monday to reconstruct a road near Pateley Bridge — two-and-a-half years after it was damaged by storms.

The section of the B6265 at Red Brae Bank, Bewerley, suffered a landslip when storms in February 2020 caused the land below the roads to subside.

Since then, the road has been kept open because of the introduction of a weight limit and temporary traffic lights.

Cllr Keane Duncan, North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member for highways and transportation,  said:

“Following extensive ground investigations and negotiations with the private landowner, we are now able to undertake this work to stabilise the land, reconstruct the carriageway and improve the drainage of the road and the land supporting it.

“When this is complete, we will be able to remove the temporary traffic lights and the weight limit.”

The £480,000 scheme will involve stabilising the top of the slope next to the road, reconstructing the carriageway, repairing the highway drainage and stabilising, drainage and landscaping work on the slope below the carriageway.

landslip at Bewerley

The work is expected to take nine weeks, with a planned completion date of Friday, December 16.

The scheme requires the road to be closed from October 17 to December 9.

A diversion will be in place via Pateley Bridge; the B6451 Dacre; Menwith Hill Road; Duck Street and Greenhow Hill village.

Temporary traffic lights will be in place during the remainder of the work.

Cllr Andrew Murday, county councillor for Pateley Bridge and Nidderdale, said:

“We have been waiting for these repairs to be done for a long time. The closure will be very inconvenient for people, but the work needs to be done and when it is complete people will feel the benefit.”

Read more:

 

Plan to convert Glasshouses pub into holiday cottage

Plans have been submitted to convert a former pub in Glasshouses into a holiday cottage.

The Birch Tree, at Lupton Bank, closed its doors back in March 2020 due to the covid pandemic.

In plans lodged to Harrogate Borough Council, Harrogate Architectural Ltd said the site had been marketed extensively without success.

The site has already seen three cottages built under a previous planning permission, with the pub reduced in size.

Read more:

The fresh proposal would see the empty public house converted into a two-bedroom holiday cottage.

In planning documents, the developer said:

“These premises have now remained empty since March 2020 when the previous tenant walked away due to the pandemic. 

“Since that time two agents have marketed the property including a specialist in selling public houses, for a period of seven months. 

“Since that time the applicant has continued his own marketing, all without success.”

Harrogate Borough Council will make a decision on the proposal at a later date.

Stray Views: Knox Lane housing scheme ‘lacks detail’

Stray Views is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk.

‘Inconceivable’ Knox Lane housing scheme can go ahead

Regarding the proposed full planning application for 53 residential dwellings at Knox Lane, it is inconceivable that Harrogate Borough Council are prepared to push forward with this without addressing any of the 313 objections that have been submitted.

I would further add that there are no supporting comments added. Fulcrum to this is the historical use of the proposed site.

Damian Bowen, Harrogate

Knox Lane housing scheme ‘lacks detail’

In reference to the proposed 52 homes on Knox Lane in Harrogate.

I am writing to express my dismay at the decision by the Harrogate Borough Council’s planning officer to recommend the application be deferred for approval at the next planning committee meeting on Tuesday.

How can the Harrogate Borough Council planning committee have any confidence in the quality of this application given the current documentation submitted contradicts itself and contains a total lack of required detailed information regarding retaining walls, limited traffic, ecology and contaminated ground surveys and no electric charging point locations?

Given this lack of assessment of public and professional comments, surely the planning department could be leaving themselves open to a judicial review?

Stephen Readman, Harrogate

Read more:

Voters ‘have to be realistic’

We have to be realistic. Anyone who is appalled at Liz Truss’s approach to sorting out the economy. i.e giving vast amounts to the rich in the hope that it will trickle down to the poor, has to realise that the only way to get the Tories out and restore fairness and our public services is to vote for candidates most likely to defeat them. 

In Harrogate, the only way is to vote for the Lib Dems. If the other parties don’t realise it’s in their interests to stand down, then we the electorate have to take the only way open to us to get rid of the Tories, which in Harrogate means voting for the Lib Dems.

Barbara Penny, Harrogate

Do you have an opinion on the Harrogate district? Email us at letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. Please include your name and approximate location details. Limit your letters to 350 words. We reserve the right to edit letters.

Ripon and Harrogate car parks top list of spots for fines

The car parks where you are most likely to be hit with a fine in the Harrogate district have been revealed.

New figures show a total of 3,934 penalty charge notices (PCNs) were handed out at the district’s council-owned car parks over a two-year period, with Ripon’s Market Place car park topping the charts.

The hotspot saw 559 poorly-parked motorists hit with PCNs, followed closely by Harrogate’s Montpellier Shoppers car park with 545.

Other popular locations which feature among the top 10 spots for tickets between September 2020 and August 2022 include Harrogate’s Odeon car park and West Park car park.

They are all owned by Harrogate Borough Council, which is responsible for off-street parking, while North Yorkshire County Council looks after on-street spaces.

A borough council spokesperson said:

“The majority of residents and visitors who use our car parks do so correctly and we’d like to thank them for doing so.

“However, some people don’t and as such may receive a Penalty Charge Notice.

“Parking enforcement is carried out to ensure compliance with parking restrictions and provide fairness for all customers.”

Read more:

A penalty charge notice is either £50 or £70, depending on the type of offence that has taken place.

If a car has been parked for longer than the time on its pay and display ticket, the charge is £50.

However, it is considered more serious if a car is parked where it shouldn’t be – such as in a loading bay when not loading or in a disabled bay without a blue badge – and the charge is £70.

The figures in full for the two-year period were:

Extinction Rebellion to bring bus to Harrogate district tomorrow

Climate activists from Extinction Rebellion (XR) will drive a bus to Pateley Bridge and Harrogate tomorrow to talk to people about climate change.

But although the bus has solar panels on its roof, the bus is not electric and is powered by diesel.

A fleet of multicoloured buses have been travelling the country as part of XR’s Change Is Now tour.

The idea is to visit different XR groups and have conversations with local people about their climate change hopes and fears.

Tomorrow morning, the bus will be in Pateley Bridge to promote a film called 2040, which is showing at Summerbridge Methodist Chapel from 6.30pm that evening. Entry is free.

They will then park up in Harrogate and head to Cambridge Street between 12pm and 4pm to talk to people and canvas views.

A petition calling on the government to take firmer action on climate change will be available to sign.

People can also bring along plain t-shirts or fabrics to get them block-printed with XR graphics.

James Smith, from XR Harrogate, said:

“People really want to talk about climate change.

“When they talk, it becomes more real to people and they then might take action.”

Read more:

Mr Smith said he was expecting some criticism about XR using a diesel bus rather than an electric one.

He added:

“Even a group of totally committed green activists have to use a diesel bus, there are no viable, affordable electric buses.

“But this is the point — no matter how green you are you can’t always take the eco, fossil fuel free option that you’d like. We’re calling on the government to plan and fund a zero-carbon economy. “

Extinction Rebellion’s visit will also coincide with the Green Party’s national conference, which is taking place from Friday until Sunday at Harrogate Convention Centre.