A Knaresborough dog groomers is relocating along the high street at the end of the month — but has assured customers its much-loved dog window will remain a feature.

Carol’s Bonnie Dogs is known locally as the “one with dogs in the window”.

The owner, Carol Scanlan, doesn’t put the dogs in cages after being groomed but instead allows the animals to sit by the window as they wait to be collected.

She says the owners, as well as passers-by, like to see the dogs relaxing after pamper sessions.

The groomers is currently at 63 High Street but has been granted approval to relocate to the more spacious 44 High Street.

Ms Scanlan has been based in Knaresborough for three years and said business is going from strength to strength:

“A couple of local groomers closed down and we were being recommended. I’d say it’s tripled in the past three years.

“We needed more space and with the new place being next door to the pet shop it was a perfect match.”

Ms Scanlan hopes to move into the new shop, 44 High Street, at the end of the month.

Ms Scanlan currently employs two groomers, including one who started doing work experience from Askham Bryan College, as well as a part-time weekend member of staff.

She hopes to grow her team this year if business continues to get busier.

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Dog groomers are allowed to stay open during this lockdown. Ms Scanlan said:

“After the first lockdown I was appalled at the condition of some of the dogs. I even sent an email to the Prime Minister. It was a massive relief to hear we can stay open.”

She hopes the groomers can move at the end of this month, with minimal disruption to the business.

An Italian restaurant in Knaresborough has put forward a planning application to move into prime high street premises.

Two Brothers Grill and Pizzeria is currently based in Castle Courtyard but the growing restaurant has its sights set on a new space.

The restaurant has been open almost three years and proved to be a popular spot for locals. It is hopeful its new spot will “shake things up” for them.

The Ravasz brothers, Nandor and Szilard, opened the restaurant with their wives Vivien Kovacs and Eniko Szenasi in March 2018.

The team said the current unit will not be left empty, but instead they plan to turn it into a high-end bar.

The new space is said to be better suited to a restaurant and will give the owners more storage space. The owners said it will be “cosy and elegant, and still family friendly”.

The owners hope plans will be approved to allow them to start works on the new site, 69 High Street, straight away.

Nandor said:

“It will be the same people and menu, just a new space. We needed a bigger space and being on the high street is ideal.”

If the planning application is approved by Harrogate Borough Council, work will start immediately on the new building.

Mr Ravasz said plans are constantly changing due to restrictions but if everything stays on track he hopes to have the new place open at the end of spring.

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Following last night’s lockdown announcement, the restaurant will continue to run as a takeaway. Mrs Ravasz added:

“We prefer the restaurant of course, but we are grateful to have an option B and the town is behind us. So many businesses haven’t got an option B so I can’t complain – we’re lucky to have business through the takeaway.”

Councillors have approved St Aidan’s secondary school’s plans to build a floodlit artificial sports pitch, subject to conditions on lighting and flooding.

A report from HBC officer Jeremy Constable had recommended the proposals for refusal due to its impact on the surrounding area.

However, councillors on Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee voted by a near unanimous decision this afternoon (nine in favour with one abstention) to defer to the chief planner for approval once new reports on drainage and light pollution are drawn up.

Nearby residents in Harrogate had complained the 15-metre high floodlights would cause light pollution to their homes and the Stray. However, Jeremy Constable, who wrote the council report, conceded at the meeting that light pollution would be minimal.

He said:

“There’s not going to be a great deal of light pollution. It can be mitigated with shields so that shouldn’t be a large issue.”

St Aidan’s chair of governers Jo Wicks spoke and said the pitch is “first and foremost” for the school but will also be used by the community in the evenings because of a “desperate shortage” of 3G pitches in the town.

Its hours of use will be 9am-8pm, Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm on Saturdays and 10am-2pm on Sundays.

Read more:

• Surge of public support for St Aidan’s floodlit pitch plans

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Last week on HBC’s planning portal, the application had 40 objections and three in support. However, since the Stray Ferret story about the plans was published on Tuesday, there has been a surge of comments in favour, with 123 comments in support and 41 objections.

Several councillors spoke up in favour of the plans at the meeting, including Cllr Pat Marsh ,who said the council “would be letting our young people down” if they refused the plans.

She added:

“The weather at this time of year means the current pitches are unplayable. This is a way of providing to our young people. We owe it to them to provide this, not just for the school but for the wider community.”

A caravan park in Great Ouseburn could double in size if planning is approved by Harrogate Borough Council.

The Burrows Park currently hosts 60 pitches for campers and caravaners but if plans were approved it would have capacity for approximately 100 pitches.

The park’s co-owner, Richard Kay, said this year had been “challenging” but over summer the park saw an influx of visitors as the staycation trend grew.

The 4 acres of land signposted for planning is already owned by the caravan park and currently used as an overspill area.

The plans include 57 further pitches, improved access, a toilet and shower block and a reception building.

The park said it has many eager people waiting to book a holiday and hoped this planning would allow it to facilitate everyone.

Mr Kay said:

“We’ve been talking about the plans for two years, my daughter only has one year left at college and she’s eager to get involved in the site so it seemed like the right time. Once it’s done it should look great and it’ll offer a mixture of seasonal and touring pitches.”

“We had a very busy summer especially with new caravaners which was great to see. But it has been a challenging year too, so we will just have to see how next year goes.”

Mr Kay has co-owned the site with his wife for seven years. As an avid caravaner himself he hopes the plans will bring more visitors to boost the local area.

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Harrogate Borough Council has defended its planning department after a former planner told the Stray Ferret it ‘has been in a state of disarray’ for two decades.

David Howarth, who was employed by the council for five years in the 1980s and then worked for it as a private consultant for 30 years, spoke to the Stray Ferret to give us his views after reading our series of planning and housing articles this week.

In statement released to the Stray Ferret, a council spokesman robustly defended the performance of the planning department:

“To suggest our planning department has been in a ‘state of disarray for two decades’ is simply not true. The department is made up of highly qualified and experienced officers who work hard to ensure planning and development across the district adheres to national planning guidance that has changed significantly over the last few years, as well locally developed policies.

Mr Howarth said the council’s “weak resistance” to builders contrasted with its “heavy-handed” approach to residents seeking planning permission — an accusation that the council denied.

The spokesman said:

“To suggest we have a ‘weak resistance’ to builders is also not true. All planning applications, whether large-scale developments or single dwellings, are considered against this policy framework and determined accordingly.”

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• Housing Investigation: Calculations reveal houses covering over 700 football pitches will be built in the Harrogate district by 2035. 
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Our series this week has investigated the impact of the years that followed a rejected Local Plan in 2014 -before the formation of HBC’s current Local Plan, which was adopted in March 2020.

The spokesman added:

“The development of our Local Plan has been a mammoth task, as it is for all local authorities. The latest Local Plan has been judged as sound by the independent planning inspector.”

A planning specialist has blamed Harrogate District Council’s “parochial mindset” and “lack of vision” for the district’s “massive urban sprawl”.

David Howarth, who was employed by the council for five years in the 1980s and then worked for it as a private consultant for 30 years, contacted the Stray Ferret to give us his views after reading our series of planning articles this week.

Mr Howarth said the coverage had “brilliantly identified the major problems we have had over the last 20 years”.

He said the district’s planning department had been in a “state of disarray for two decades”, which had left the area at the mercy of developers.

David Howarth

Mr Howarth said the “acutely embarrassing debacle” of the Local Plan, which maps planning in the district and took six years to finalise between 2014 and 2020, was the critical failure. He said:

“When you get to the position where you have no Local Plan it becomes a free-for-all.

“You can’t blame the developers. They’re just doing their job. You can’t criticise them any more than you can Volvo for selling cars.”

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Mr Howarth said many councils faced similar challenges but Harrogate Borough Council’s “parochial mindset” had backfired because its unrealistically low housing targets had been rejected by the government and resulted in far more being built. He said:

“We tried to restrict development because places like Harrogate and Knaresborough are nice places to live but when you try to restrict development to the absolute minimum and don’t conform with government guidelines, what happens then is the opposite arises and everybody piles in.

“In 1982 Killinghall Parish Council was screaming for a bypass. That’s 40 years ago — where’s the bypass? What we have instead is massive urban sprawl.

“A bypass could have been included in the Local Plan. The plan could have made developers pay a levy for houses they built Killinghall.”

Afraid to speak out

Mr Howarth said the council’s weak resistance to builders contrasted with its heavy-handed approach to residents seeking planning permission. He said:

“Some developments that have been accepted are very poor but if you put in an application to extend your conservatory they are down on you like a ton of bricks.”

Mr Howarth said the current situation was “predominantly the fault of the people in charge of Harrogate Borough Council” and its planning department needed to be more dynamic and visionary.

He said many planners were reluctant to speak out in case it cost them work with the council. He said:

“I’ve retired and could not care less now. Five years ago I wouldn’t have made this phone call.”

The Stray Ferret has asked Harrogate Borough Council for a response to Mr Howarth’s claims. At the time of publication we had not received one.

The Knaresborough Community Land Trust is hoping to develop a disused area in the town centre to provide three flats as affordable housing.

The group, made up of volunteers, says there isn’t enough affordable housing for key workers to live close to work.

The site for the group’s first project is at the bottom of the high street near the roundabout for Boroughbridge Road.

It is currently owned by Harrogate Borough Council but could be sold to the land trust under the proviso it was made into affordable housing.

Previously a public toilet and an air raid shelter the trust feel it is a good spot for accommodation as it is in a residential area and has nearby travel links.

(Left) The ground floor plans of the building and its proposed stret view (right). Photograph: Bauman Lyons Architects.

Hilary Garner, secretary of Knaresborough Community Lands Trust, said:

“We need the housing in Knaresborough – we have a lot of care workers and professionals but there isn’t the affordable housing.

“Any profit made goes back into the next project. We aren’t looking to build social housing because that is taken up by the big housing associations. This is to provide for the town’s population.

We all care very much about keeping Knaresborough alive. This is about catering for the population that lives here and catering for the young people too.”

The plans – as they stand – will include a bus shelter with a ‘living’ roof and maintain the public access to the buildings at the rear. Seven trees will have to be felled and 14 others will be planted elsewhere in the town.

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On Monday, November 9, the plans were discussed at Knaresborough Town Council planning meeting.

A resident and some town councillors voiced concern about the look of the building:

“KTC is unhappy about the colour of the finished building. Design is not in keeping with the Grade II listed buildings next door and nearby. Given the very prominent location within the conservation area this needs to be revisited. KTC is very concerned about the removal of seven trees.

“This particular development as a whole is unsuitable for the land and surrounding area.”

The resident, living near to the site, said the development would have a “detrimental effect” on their property.

“We congratulate the Community Land Trust on producing an innovative design that respects the conservation area setting of the site and reflects the surrounding historic buildings without trying to imitate them.

“It is exciting to see a community led development bring affordable housing of this quality to the centre of Knaresborough.”

The current plans are yet to be agreed by Harrogate Borough Council as they’re open for public consultation until December, 5.

Councillors will meet in December to consider Harrogate Spring Water’s proposals to extend its bottling plant in the Pinewoods.

The water company, which was bought out last year by multinational firm Danone, has had outline planning permission since 2016 to expand to the west of its existing site.

Harrogate Borough Council confirmed to the Stray Ferret that the planning committee will meet next month to consider an application to change the footprint of the new building, which the company wants to increase from 0.77 hectares to 0.94 hectares.

The plans would also remove public woodland in Rotary Wood, planted by local families to celebrate the organisation’s centenary.

A report from the council’s arboricultural manager, Paul Casey, said the loss of 2.8 acres of woodland floor would remove the “green corridor” link between the north and south of the site. He said:

“There are no proposals put forward that would mitigate for the loss of this woodland.

“In essence an area equal in size and appropriateness for woodland planting would need to be identified and allocated, preferably currently attached in some way to the Pinewoods, so as to meet any on-going objectives in terms of the following non-exhaustive list: biodiversity; woodland potential; carbon capture/sequestration potential; climate change and climate emergency objectives; flood alleviation benefits to match what is being lost; public use and benefits.”

More than 300 letters of objection have been sent to the council since the plans were submitted, including from the Rotary Club of Harrogate, the Pinewoods Conservation Group and Harrogate Civic Society.

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If the planning committee gives the plans the green light in December, another hearing at a future date will consider a separate application to confirm details of the new building, including its appearance and landscaping. The plans include planting some new trees near the bottling plant as well as a “living wall” to the north of the new extension.

In August, Nicky Cain, brand manager at Harrogate Spring Water, told the Stray Ferret the company planned to consult with local groups on the proposals but said the process had been delayed due to coronavirus. However, the Harrogate and District Green Party said the consultation had still not taken place.

Harrogate Spring Water has been contacted for a comment but had not responded at the time of publication.

To view the full details of the planning application, visit the planning pages of Harrogate Borough Council’s website and use reference 19/05245/DVCMAJ.

One of the oldest inns in Knaresborough has been sold with planning permission to convert it to a pub and six homes.

The Board Inn, which is situated in a prime town centre location next to the bus station, was sold by Harrogate estate agents FSS Property after eight months on the market.

The property fetched “very close” to the guide price of £325,000, according to the estate agents.

It was sold under auction conditions at the end of last month with planning permission for a public house, two flats and four houses.

The buyer’s details have not been revealed but the town’s easy access to the A1 make it an enticing option for developers looking for residential opportunities.

The pub has been sold at a time when Knaresborough’s high street has seen several new shops.

Read more:

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Recently, the town of Knaresborough has been showing positive signs of regeneration. Several new shops have opened on the high street in recent months.

Residents in North Rigton say they will continue to fight council plans to build more homes on their street.

The battle started in 2006 when Harrogate Borough Council planned to demolish all of the garages in Brackenwell Lane for more homes.

Harvey Alexander, chairman of the North Righton Community Association, said they managed to get the council to partially back down then.

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They argued that the space in front of the garages is the only turning point and the grass there is also where kids play.

Years later Harvey says the council has broken its promise to leave the area alone. He fears that, if the development went ahead, it would also create a “nightmare parking” situation.

“You can see how crowded the street is at 6.30pm and it gets worse later on. It’s going to be a parking nightmare. The council are going against the promise they made back in 2006, it is frustrating. This would cause chaos, there are plenty of other places to build homes. We don’t have the amenities.”

Six garages could be demolished for development.

The council has proposed to demolish the six-car garage to erect two dwellings on Brackenwell Lane, losing ten car parking spaces in total.

Currently, there is no date for the council to make its decision on the development. The Stray Ferret approached Harrogate Borough Council for a comment but did not receive a reply.