North Yorkshire Council is set to produce a “summary document” for a long-delayed project which aimed to present a new vision for Ripon.
The Ripon Renewal scheme was set up to produce a masterplan for the regeneration of the city.
The former Harrogate Borough Council commissioned Bauman Lyons Architects to draw up the vision at a cost of £85,000 in 2021.
The company was tasked with producing funding options and a business case for Ripon to bid for money for regeneration projects.
However, the project failed to produce a blueprint for the city some two-and-a-half years after it started.
Officials at North Yorkshire Council, which has since taken over the scheme, said an agreement could not be reached with the contractor after talks to extend the contract.
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When the Stray Ferret asked for an update on the status of the Ripon Renewal scheme, Nic Harne, corporate director for community development at the council, said it remained committed to regenerating Ripon, adding:
“The Ripon Renewal project took much longer than had been envisaged when it was set up.
“This meant it was necessary to enter into discussions with Bauman Lyons Architects about a variation of the contract to complete the work. An agreement on the terms could not be reached and the contract has now ended. The project cost remained within the contracted budget.
“Our officers have now carried out a review of the work undertaken and have brought together a summary document, which will be circulated to stakeholders within the project group soon.
“The document will include information about the projects and opportunities for taking the ethos of the Ripon Renewal project forward.”
Councillors in Ripon previously described the delay in the scheme as “absolute nonsense”.
At a council meeting in March, Cllr Andrew Williams, who represents Ripon Minster and Moorside on North Yorkshire Council, said:
New Ripon homes given to families on council waiting list“It’s astonishing that we’ve spent £85,000 of public money to get nothing, not even a draft executive summary from a consultant — that’s how bad this is.
“A lot of time has spent on this by organisations in the city but it’s fallen off a cliff-edge. It’s an absolute nonsense.”
Three new council houses built on the site of former garages in Ripon are now being occupied by local families, the council has announced.
North Yorkshire Council said the homes, in Holmefield Road, have been allocated to people on the waiting list for houses.
They each have two or three bedrooms and feature air source heat pumps, solar panels and triple glazing, producing between 0.2 and 0.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year compared with the six tonnes produced by an average home.
Claire Edwards, who will move into one of the houses with partner Sharon this weekend, has been a council tenant for 32 years. She said:
“This is the first time I have moved into a brand new house and I can’t wait to get there. I am literally moving round the corner, but we are downsizing, which gives someone else a chance to be rehoused, too. They are lovely homes – I feel very lucky.”
The houses are the latest to be developed in a scheme which uses council-owned land used to create new homes, which are then let as social housing.
Almost 60 homes across Harrogate and Craven have been developed through the scheme in the last five years using £2.3 million of government funding. A further nine homes are being developed in the Harrogate district: seven in Harrogate and two in Sharow.
The three Ripon homes are the first to be occupied since North Yorkshire Council took responsibility for housing when Harrogate Borough Council, which had originally granted planning permission, was abolished at the end of March.
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North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for housing, Cllr Simon Myers, said:
“These are the first new social rented affordable homes delivered by North Yorkshire Council and are part of an on-going programme to make a big difference to the lives and well-being of local families.
“Across the county there are plots of unused land – particularly garages that are too small to be used for cars and end up overgrown, derelict and a haven for anti-social behaviour. Many of these areas would never be touched by developers as they can be complicated to bring forward.
“It is a pioneering initiative and just one of the ways we can create much-needed affordable homes in the county – we also work with housing associations and through our commercial arm, Brierley Homes.”
Matthew Wright, from the government’s housing agency Homes England, added:
Bird flu kills 70 birds at nature reserve near Ripon“Despite the current challenges affecting the country, accelerating housebuilding remains our number one priority.
“We are committed to supporting North Yorkshire Council’s ambitions to build new homes and our investment through affordable housing grant allows us to do that.
“We’re delighted that this funding will enable North Yorkshire Council to deliver much-needed new homes in Ripon and other parts of North Yorkshire.”
More than 70 birds have died at a nature reserve near Ripon after an outbreak of bird flu.
The outbreak has affected a colony of breeding black-headed gulls at Nosterfield Nature Reserve.
Staff and volunteers have been forced to wear specially designed PPE suits, hats and gloves to collect the corpses from the 60-hectare site.
Visitors have been warned that they could see distressing scenes with more birds likely to die from the disease in the coming weeks.
Simon Warwick, director of the Lower Ure Conservation Trust which runs Nosterfield, said:
“The gullery is in front of the main hide at Nosterfield and is usually a hive of activity in spring, with noisy adults feeding lots of hungry young.
“The disease is affecting many adult birds so you can imagine that what is happening at the moment is traumatic to say the least.
“But we are powerless to stop the spread of bird flu. Our biggest fear is the virus spreading to breeding lapwing and curlew, two species for which Nosterfield is famous.”
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The disease has killed black-headed gulls at several wetland sites across Yorkshire.
More than 1,000 gulls have died across the county so far, with the number expected to rise.
Visitors have been told under no circumstances to go near a dead or dying bird at the reserve. Dogs should also be kept on short leads during visits.
Mr Warwick added:
Business Breakfast: Harrogate hotel group recognised in national workplace guide“Away from the main hide there is so much to see at Nosterfield at the moment, so our advice certainly to people with young children is come along but stay away from the main hide.”
It’s time to join the Stray Ferret Business Club. Our next networking event is after-work drinks at Manahatta, on May 25th at 5:30.
Don’t miss out on this chance to network with businesses from across the Harrogate district. Get your tickets by clicking or tapping here.
A hotel company which runs three hotels in the Harrogate district has been listed in a Sunday Times workplace guide.
The Inn Collection Group has been recognised as one of the best places to work in the national guide for 2023.
The firm, which operates the Harrogate Inn, Knaresborough Inn and Ripon Inn, was included alongside organisations such as the Alzheimer’s Society Bella Italia, and Octopus Energy.
The inns were previously known as the St George Hotel, the Dower House and Ripon Spa Hotel.
Local companies CloudNine and LCF Law were also recognised.
Liz Robertson, people director at the Inn Collection Group, said:
“We’re delighted that our people are enjoying their time with ICG and that we have been officially recognised as a great place to work as a result.
“Supporting our teams is incredibly important for us, be that with our exciting development programmes, our Inn Safe Hands initiative or even just our excellent benefits package.
“Making people happy is what we are about and that extends to our own too.”
Ripon retailers organise bank holiday buskers
Retailers in Ripon have organised for buskers to perform in the city centre this coming bank holiday weekend.
Organised by Ripon Business Improvement District and independent businesses, performers will be situated around the streets to draw in more people to the centre on Monday, May 29.
Visitors will be invited to follow a route around the city, taking in Kirkgate, North Street and Westgate.
Little Bird Artisan Market will be on the marketplace. From there, visitors can find maps showing the streets where buskers will perform and where shops are hosting fun activities and special offers.
Busking is throughout the city all afternoon, with music from Ripon and visiting guests from Teeside, York and Leeds.
For more information on the event, visit the Ripon BID website here.
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Bishop Monkton WW2 veteran gets military surprise on 100th birthday
An army veteran from Bishop Monkton, near Ripon, has received a military-themed surprise on his 100th birthday to thank him for his service during the Second World War.
Family and friends of Ernest Tindall laid on afternoon tea at the local village pub, the Masons Arms, to mark his 100th birthday.
Unknown to Ernest, they had also organised for a group of veterans to join the celebrations and to help him relive his military exploits.
Ernest’s wartime story
Ernest was just 18 when he joined the Army in 1941.
In May 1944 he was involved in the Battle of Monte Cassino, a crucial encounter as the Allies pushed north into Italy towards the end of the Second World War. In December of that year, he was injured in a grenade attack and taken prisoner.
He spent the remainder of the war in a prisoner of war camp in Austria. Ernest served with the 5th Northamptonshire Regiment, now part of the Royal Anglian Regiment.
Ernest was one of 10 children, eight of whom served in and survived the Second World War. Ernie is the last of his siblings still alive.
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At this birthday tea, several ex-servicemen living in the village got together to add a military flavour to the celebrations.
A military historian from the nearby Army Foundation College in Harrogate gave a short talk about the campaigns Ernest was involved in.
The veterans also organised military memorabilia be brought to the celebration, including a new Royal Anglian beret for Ernest.
Photo of the Week: The Lock HouseThis week’s photograph was taken by Mike Smith, looking down the Ripon Canal at sunrise to Lock House.
Mike Smith
Photo of the Week celebrates the Harrogate district. It could be anything from family life to capturing the district’s beauty. We are interested in amateur and professional photographs, in a landscape format.
Send your photographs to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk for a chance to be featured next week, we reserve the right to adjust and crop images to fit into our format.
Wellbeing ‘at the heart’ of village pre-school near Ripon, says OfstedA village pre-school near Ripon has been praised by Ofsted for creating “happy, confident and independent learners”.
Rating Fountains Playgroup and Pre-School ‘good’ in all areas, inspector Jane Mumby said children’s wellbeing was “at the heart” of the pre-school, where children “smile and laugh” all day.
In her report, she said:
“Children’s behaviour is exemplary. They work together to build, act out role-play scenarios and engage in joint tasks, such as building a tower.
“Children’s language and communication skills develop very well. Staff and children share conversations at every opportunity.
“Children with additional needs are supported well. Staff use their knowledge of child development to help children and families put strategies in place to help them to make good progress.”
The report, published at the end of last week, said staff worked together to monitor children’s learning and plan the next steps through “fun, relevant and interesting activities”.
Singing, telling stories and playing outside all formed part of the daily routine at the Grantley pre-school, the inspector found when she visited at the end of March.
She praised the manager’s enthusiasm and the way the staff worked together to offer the best experiences to children, adding:
“Parents say how pleased they are that their child can experience their early education sessions within the pre-school. They comment on how well the staff team know their child and how they go above and beyond to help them develop and learn.
“They feel that their children are safe and happy within the pre-school and are delighted that their children have had a positive early years experience.”
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Looking at areas for improvement, Ms Mumby said staff could offer more opportunity for children to be creative in their activities. She also recommended spending more time looking at diversity to help children understand modern Britain.
In response, Fountains Playgroup and Pre-School leader Dawn Rogers said staff were already working on ways to address the inspector’s recommendations, but that overall they were “thrilled” with the report.
Feedback from parents to the inspector had been excellent, she said, and highlighted the strong links between staff and families.
She added:
Ripon bistro introduces dog menu“A six year wait to have a visit from Ofsted is a long period of time. However, we ensure good practice in our setting at all times and are up to date with current legislation; so the staff looked forward to welcoming the inspector, sharing our good practice, expertise and knowledge.
“The inspector was with us longer than she anticipated, but, we, the staff, being as enthusiastic about our setting as we are, we wanted to show her a range of things we do in our day to day sessions making the children’s learning fun and individual and we still had more to show her by the end of the day.
“We want to inspire and give each child in our care fun learning through play and promote learning for life. It is our role to provide the solid foundations and knowledge about the world around us so the children can build their future on the solid foundations we, at Fountains Playgroup and Pre-School, have given them.
“We have 17 children on our register which is our own little Fountains family and each individual and their families mean so much to us as a group.”
Dog-loving Ripon bistro owners have created a menu designed to attract customers accompanied by canines.
Lou Grant and her husband Tim, have launched Olly P’s Doggy Diner at Oliver’s Pantry on North Street, so that man (and woman’s) best friend can tuck into a meal or snack alongside their owners.
The menu includes Pooch’s Brekkie comprising sausage, scrambled egg and buttered toast, Scooby Scrambled, with eggs cooked to order and WaggyChino cups of whipped cream.
Ms Grant, pictured above with her two-year-old Labradoodle, Wilma, told the Stray Ferret:
“We trialled our doggy menu at Easter and got such an amazing response that we decided to make it a permanent part of our offer.
“Each of the dishes created for our canine customers has been tried by Wilma and her favourite is definitely the Scooby Scrambled.”
People wanting to dine with their dogs can use the downstairs and garden areas at the bistro, while upstairs is for humans only.
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Vodafone Pro Broadband: What you can buy with our unmissable voucher scheme
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Dignitaries gather for Ripon’s mayor making ceremony
Local dignitaries, alongside representatives from the Royal Engineers, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and North Yorkshire Police, gathered at Ripon Town Hall to see Councillor Sid Hawke elected as the city’s mayor for a third term in office.
Ripon City Council’s annual meeting and mayor making ceremony was held last week and this coming Sunday Cllr Hawke will be installed as mayor at a civic service to be held in Ripon Cathedral.
He will be accompanied by his wife Linda, who will be mayoress during his mayoral year.
Local dignitaries pictured during the mayor making Ceremony
Speaking following his election, Cllr Hawke, said:
“I am proud to be elected as the mayor of this wonderful city for a third time and thank my fellow councillors for their continuing confidence in me.
“I would also like to thank the many people who supported me throughout the past year, particularly in helping to raise thousands of pounds for my chosen charities Ripon Dementia Forward and Harrogate and District Mind.”
Born and bred in the city, Cllr Hawke is semi-retired and has previously served in the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service in Ripon.
He was elected to represent the Ure Bank ward on Ripon City Council in 2002 and became mayor for the first time in 2008-2009.
His recently completed second mayoral year proved a busy one, including the Queen’s platinum jubilee in June, the mourning of Her Majesty’s death in September, the subsequent proclamation of King Charles III and coronation celebrations – all of which involved major civic events in Ripon.
On being elected as mayor for the third time, Cllr Hawke matches fellow Independent councillors Eamon Parkin and Pauline McHardy, both of whom served three terms in mayoral office.
At the mayor making event Cllr Parkin was elected to serve as Cllr Hawke’s deputy.
Main picture: The Mayor and Mayoress of Ripon Councillor Sid Hawke and his wife Linda (middle row, centre) with Serjeant at Mace, David Coates, councillors and the Dean of Ripon the very Revd. John Dobson, following the mayor making ceremony.
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