MPs Watch: General Election, Nidd bathing status and female toiletsPeople hospitalised after two-vehicle crash in village near Pateley BridgeRipon Museums Trust awarded £261,000 grant to expand exhibition offerings5 things to do in Harrogate and the district this weekendReaders’ Letters: Harrogate GP moving to online requests is ‘totally unfair’

Readers’ Letters 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.  

This letter comes after a Harrogate GP practice moved the majority of its requests process online. It has since been accused of discriminating against older people.

Reading about the surgery wanting patients to submit letters and prescriptions mainly online made me annoyed.

Although elderly myself, I am computer literate and not at all bad! But my husband’s claim to fame is that he has never touched a computer and has no interest in technology.

Without me, he’d be stumped.

Fortunately, our great surgery prints out the prescriptions for your next month of medication.

It is totally unfair that so many things must be done online when there are probably thousands of people, like my husband, who have no idea how to use a computer.

Sandra Goldberg, Harrogate

Is it a coincidence Knaresborough’s drains are now being cleared?

This letter comes after some of Knaresborough’s gullies were reportedly cleared this week. It follows severe flooding in the town earlier this month, which forced some people to evacuate their homes.

How strange; we are told the drains weren’t to blame for the Knaresborough flooding, yet suddenly jetting equipment is seen all over the town this week.

Coincidence? I don’t think so.

I have reported blocked drains in the town for several years and I always receive the same reply: “we are looking into it”.

Nothing ever gets done until a tragedy ensues.

Ralph Thrower, Knaresborough

How much more money will be ‘wasted’ on Ripon Leisure Centre?

This letter responds to news of an additional £2m being poured into stabilisation works at Ripon Leisure Centre. The total spent on the remedial work is now nearing the original budget for the actual project.

How much more money is going to be wasted on underpinning Ripon Leisure Centre?

Anyone with any knowledge of Ripon could have informed the shower of a council that the ground was not suitable.

When is this total waste of money going to stop? Yet another folly in Ripon’s long list of botched projects.

Tony Sidwell, Ripon

Re-wilding on Harrogate street looks ‘awful’

This letter comes after strips of the Stray have been re-wilded in line with a council policy. 

I do not object to re-wilding as such – but not in a residential area.

I live on Westminster Drive and there is a small semi-circular area on the corner of Burn Bridge Oval and my road, which belongs to the council and has been left to re-wild as of last year.

It looks awful. It’s now full of dandelions and buttercups that are getting bigger every day. The seeds from these plants have blown into nearby gardens and dog walkers allow their dogs to “perform” in the long grass.

This is definitely not a suitable place to allow re-wilding and the council should mow it regularly and thoroughly – not just around the edge.

I’m sure I am not the only one to dislike this way of reducing council expenses and causing residents lots of extra work!

Alison Roscoe, 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.

Read more:

Ripon council leader calls for decision on 1,300 homes to be deferred

The leader of Ripon City Council is to call for a decision on whether to allow 1,300 homes to be built in the city to be deferred today.

Government agency Homes England has applied to redevelop Ministry of Defence land in the north-west of the city, between Clotherhome Road and Kirkby Road,

North Yorkshire Council’s strategic planning committee, which adjudicates on large applications, has been recommended to approve the scheme when it meets at 10am this morning.

Cllr Williams warned the plans would lead to “traffic chaos” and the “destruction” of key military heritage sites. He said it would be premature to make a decision until these issues are resolved.

Cllr Williams, who also represents Ripon Minster and Moorside on North Yorkshire Council, told the Stray Ferret:

“I am attending the meeting and will be calling in the strongest terms for members of the strategic planning committee to defer their decision on the Homes England application.

“The application is premature and I find it disingenuous of Homes England to agree to meet with the city council in July to discuss unresolved matters of major concern to the people of Ripon, while seeking approval for their proposals today.”

Cllr Williams added:

“These matters include the city council’s unanimous call for the protection of military heritage on the barracks site and concerns we have also raised about a proposed change to the Somerset Row and Low Skellgate junction.

“As the application stands, the military heritage, which is part of Ripon’s history, is threatened with destruction, which is totally unacceptable, while the planned junction change, which would prevent those heading towards the city from turning right, would lead to traffic chaos, as drivers will either have to go to the Bedern Bank roundabout and double back on themselves or face a long detour on unsuitable roads.”

The 98-page report by council case officer Kate Broadbank recognises the significance of Ripon’s military heritage. It says “Deverell Barracks has extensive heritage significance” and that the demolition of buildings, such as a 1939 military camp and training bridges “represents the most severe harm to significance as it and most of the components within it will be lost”.

One of the bridges.

The report talks about including measures such as a “public art strategy reflecting the history of the barracks” and installing interpretation boards with details about the site’s military history but adds “it is not possible to require assets to be retained”.

The lack of guarantees has heightened Ripon Military Heritage Trust‘s concerns that key military sites will be bulldozed.

The trust said in a statement it was only informed of the recommendation six days before the meeting, even though it had been talking to North Yorkshire Council and Homes England about the military concerns for 15 months.

The statement said:

“It is clear to us that not a single one of our concerns has been addressed. We are extremely disappointed that there seems so little regard for these heritage assets, their significance and their long-term preservation.”

The meeting is due to be broadcast on the council’s YouTube channel here at 10am.

The Stray Ferret is backing Ripon Military Heritage Trust’s campaign to save key military heritage sites at Clotherholme, as reported here. Please join the campaign and sign the petition here. If it gets 500 signatures it will be debated by North Yorkshire Council’s Skipton and Ripon planning committee.

Read more:

Harrogate man jailed for Ripon burglary and ABH

A man who burgled a flat at the YMCA in Ripon and then launched a vicious attack on a woman while on bail has been jailed for 19 months.

Ryan Hopper, 21, broke into the man’s ground floor flat in Water Skellgate after smashing a window and then ransacked the property, York Crown Court heard.

He was arrested and released on bail, but within months attacked a named young woman with whom he had a beef, repeatedly punching and kicking her in the head in a park in Harrogate town centre.

He was arrested again and charged with burglary and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Hopper, from Harrogate but currently of no fixed address, ultimately pleaded guilty to both offences and appeared for sentence today via video link after being remanded in custody.

Prosecutor Brooke Morrison said that Hopper broke into the flat with a named teenager, knowing that the victim would be out as he was working a night shift.

They broke in just after midnight on February 16 last year by smashing the ground-floor window of the property and climbing through the void. After ransacking the flat and causing £221 damage, they left empty-handed and ran off.

Hopper was identified by the victim and staff from CCTV footage at the YMCA. He was brought into custody but exercised his right to silence and was bailed.

Kicked repeatedly in head

On May 14 of that year, a named woman and her male friend were drinking in a park in Harrogate town centre when they were approached by Hopper who “did not get along” with the woman.

Hopper, who had also been drinking, left to get some more alcohol from a local shop but returned 10 minutes later.

Ms Morrison said the woman “doesn’t recall fully” what happened next, “but she does recall that at some point after (Hopper) returned, she was on the floor while being repeatedly attacked by the defendant who was kicking her in the head repeatedly and punching her in the face multiple times”.

As he was attacking the woman, Hopper told her it was because he had been attacked by a “third party” a few weeks beforehand and he blamed her for getting him beat up.

A female witness saw Hopper’s vicious attack on the woman from her back garden and ran up to him telling to stop. She called police and an ambulance and Hopper was duly arrested in the park.

The victim, who suffered bruising to her jaw, eye and forehead, said she didn’t think Hopper would stop.

Following his arrest, Hopper was further charged with assaulting an emergency worker and making threats to kill for which he received an 18-week suspended prison sentence with an alcohol-treatment programme last summer.

14 previous offences

His criminal record comprised 14 previous offences including public disorder, affray, damaging property and carrying an offensive weapon.

Defence barrister Erin Kitson-Parker said the catalyst for Hopper’s offending was drugs and alcohol.

Judge Simon Hickey said it was clear that Hopper had attacked the woman in Harrogate over a “grudge”.

He criticised the defendant for ransacking the man’s flat, leaving it a mess. He added:

“You rifled through his belongings, his drawers were pulled out, his TV was knocked over and glass strewn everywhere from the shattered window.”

Hopper was given a 19-month jail sentence, of which he will serve half behind bars before being released on prison licence.

His co-accused, a youth at the time, received an eight-month suspended prison sentence and was ordered to pay £250 compensation to the burglary victim at a previous hearing.

Read more:

Green light set to be given tomorrow to 1,300 homes in Ripon

Councillors have been urged to approve plans for 1,300 homes in Ripon when they meet tomorrow (May 14).

The homes, off Clotherholme Road, would have a significant impact on the city, sweeping away key sites of military history and leading to significant changes to roads and junctions.

The plans include a new primary school, sports pitches, a country park and a neighbourhood centre.

Four city centre junctions will be improved and Clotherholme Road, Kirkby Road, College Road and Trinity Lane will be redesigned to prioritise pedestrian safety and encourage cycling.

It would increase Ripon’s population by about 3,000 people, which is greater than the combined size of Masham and Pateley Bridge.

Ripon Military Heritage Trust said in a statement it was “extremely disappointed” and fears rare 1939 military huts and training bridges that played a key role in 20th century warfare will be destroyed. We will publish more on this in a separate article shortly. The Stray Ferret is backing the trust’s campaign to save Ripon’s military history — you can sign the petition here.

A report by case officer Kate Broadbank at North Yorkshire Council recommends councillors on the strategic planning committee grant outline approval, subject to the final details being agreed. The 14 councillors on the committee will decide whether to accept the recommendation.

Ms Broadbank’s report concludes:

“The proposal would contribute towards ensuring the district’s housing needs are met, including the requisite provision of affordable homes, self-build homes, as well as employment land and significant green infrastructure not previously available to the public.

“Overall, for the reasons set out in the report, it is considered the proposal is compliant with the overarching policies of the development plan and national planning policy requirements and thus, represents sustainable development.”

Where the homes would be built. Pic: Homes England

Harrogate Borough Council backed the scheme in February last year, shortly before it was abolished.

The report said it had come back to North Yorkshire Council’s strategic planning committee, which determines major planning applications, because of new information and ongoing discussions around the section 106 payments that developers are required to pay to councils to compensate for the impact of their schemes on local infrastructure.

The section 106 payments include:

If councillors approve the scheme, the principle of development will be established; the details will be ironed out in a subsequent reserved matters planning application.

Government agency Homes England, which is proposing the scheme, will appoint a housebuilder once the scheme is ratified.

Ripon Barracks in north-west of Ripon remains an active Ministry of Defence site but is due to be decommissioned over the next few years.

The 85-hectare development site is accessed via Clotherholme Road to the south and Kirkby Road to the north.

Read more:

Felling Bishop Monkton topiary cockerel did not breach planning, council says

The felling of a giant topiary cockerel in a village between Harrogate and Ripon did not breach planning rules, North Yorkshire Council has said.

The 30ft hedge, which had been a feature of the village for generations, was felled in Bishop Monkton last month.

The 100-year-old hedge stood proudly in front of Cockerel Cottage and garnered local and national attention during its lifetime.

Its disappearance led to furore among villagers.

In a letter from the council, seen by the Stray Ferret, residents were last week told an investigation was launched into the felling following complaints of a potential breach of planning control.

But planning enforcement officer, Christopher Keddle, who wrote the letter, concluded “no breaches have taken place”.

Mr Keddle said after reviewing all the evidence, he found the cockerel was a hedge, rather than a tree, which “does not require consent from the council” to cut down.

He adds:

“Furthermore the council couldn’t prevent the owner from growing the cockerel shape out, even if the hedge was retained, we had no control whatsoever regarding the shape of the hedge.”

Mr Keddle also said one complainant had commented on the listed status of the property, adding:

“Finally, there has been comment regarding the listing of the property. Hedges, trees, flowers etc. are never included within the listing and therefore the hedge would not be protected.”

Mr Keddle said as there is “no breach” the case will be closed.

Bishop Monkton Today reported one villager who had complained was “unhappy” about the council’s findings, but added they had “no plans” to appeal.

The Stray Ferret reported on the felling at the time, as villagers were left horrified by the move.

Gary Cross, landlord of the Masons Arms in the village, said he knows the owners, who were not named, and understood the cockerel blocked light and became difficult to maintain.

He added:

“It was a pretty big object and attraction. Some residents are very upset about it. But they don’t have to live next to it.

“With the beck flooding, a lot of their garden was subject to flooding and it held pools of water, which was difficult to deal with. The owners have been there two or three years and tried to work with the cockerel but it had just become so big.”

Read more:

Controversy over taxi fare rise in North Yorkshire

Taxi passengers in North Yorkshire are facing having to pay five per cent more per mile in the face of appeals to increase and lower maximum permitted fares across the county.

North Yorkshire Council’s executive agreed to the daytime rates rise, extending night-time rates time to eight hours from 10pm and increasing the maximum call-out charge from £1 to £1.50 after hearing taxi drivers were divided over the rates which should be charged.

If the move is not contested, day-time taxis will be able to charge £4 for the first quarter mile and 20p for every extra quarter mile or 35 seconds of waiting time.

Ripon cabbie Richard Fieldman told the leading councillors the 70 drivers from Whitby to Harrogate he represented were opposed to the proposals.

He said:

“What you see before you today is totally unacceptable for those that work nights and the unsocial Christmas period. The proposal gives no increase to those working these hours which less and less drivers are prepared to work these days.”

The meeting was told one of the proposed changes, to start higher rates from 10pm rather than 11pm, would have a minimal impact on night-time drivers.

He added:

“It is ironic that officers recognise that drivers need rewarding for late-night unsocial hours with abusive, alcohol and drug-fuelled customers, yet are failing to provide them with the same increase as the day-time drivers.”

Mr Fieldman said the £1 per mile call-out charge had remained the same for many years and when combined with higher fuel costs had become “unviable in a vast rural county” to travel significant distances to pick up passengers who only wanted to go a few miles.

The meeting heard drivers were refusing to do these types of journey, leaving some passengers unable to get home. In addition, areas such as Northallerton, Thirsk, Ripon and Skipton had serious shortages of drivers working unsocial hours and the proposals would ensure even less cover.

Ripon councillor Barbara Brodigan told the meeting recent changes in Barnsley similar to the North Yorkshire proposals had led to too few or no taxis being available during holiday periods and at night-time.

However, Cllr Kevin Foster, who represents Colburn, an area with amongst the highest levels of deprivation in the county, said he received a lot of complaints over the cost of taxi fares.

He said the public needed to be made aware taxis did not have to charge the maximum permitted fares.

Several executive members said they felt the proposals represented a reasonable compromise.

While the fare increase will be subject to consultation if anyone objects, managing our environment executive member Councilor Greg White said some people had called for the maximum charges to be lowered to make North Yorkshire more competitive with nearby areas.

He said a three-mile trip in Barnsley would cost £8.90, but in North Yorkshire it would be £14.98.

A report to the meeting showed while a 20-mile night-time journey in North Yorkshire would cost £68.67, in Bradford passengers would be charged £42.40, in Leeds and £49.45 in East Riding.

Cllr White said:

“We are already more expensive than Bradford, Durham, East Riding, Lancaster, Leeds, Redcar and Cleveland and York. So I’m really keen that we don’t get to the situation where we do an injustice to the people who use the taxi service by making those taxis become unaffordable.”

Read more: