Building thousands of new homes in Harrogate could lead to more raw sewage ending up in the River Nidd, the Harrogate & District Green Party has warned.

A Stray Ferret investigation published this morning revealed Yorkshire Water released raw sewage into rivers and becks such as the Nidd, Ure and Coppice Beck for 36,000 hours last year.

Water companies are legally allowed to release sewage through overflow pipes when the sewage system becomes too full.

New housing developments are being built on Skipton Road and Penny Pot Lane.

With more developments proposed for Otley Road. it could mean over 4,000 new homes being built on the western side of Harrogate alone.

The Greens say Oak Beck, which runs from near Beckwithshaw, through the west of Harrogate and into the River Nidd, could suffer the brunt of this.

Oak Beck

Arnold Warneken, who is standing for the party in the upcoming North Yorkshire County Council Bilton and Nidd Gorge by-election, said more needed to be done to tackle the problem.

He said:

“Whose job is it to mitigate the negative impacts of housing developments on the environment?

“We would like to see that any developments in this area are built with consideration to the combined sewer overflows, that Yorkshire Water fixes long-standing issues, and ensures new housing developments do not exaggerate these issues.”

Read more

• Raw sewage released into Harrogate district rivers for 36,000 hours last year
• River Nidd fails water pollution tests due to raw sewage

Yorkshire Water said yesterday it is investing £137m in storm overflow improvements, investigation and increased monitoring by 2025.

“We are also investigating the environmental impact of 158 frequent spilling overflows as part of the Water Industry National Environment Programme.

“As frequency of spill does not necessarily equate to environmental harm and environmental permits do not set spill threshold limits, these investigations will be key to understanding environmental impact, and what action needs to be taken to resolve any impacts.”

Production of much-needed PPE for health workers in Harrogate and Ripon forms a common thread that links Eileen Jordan, Janet Collins, Caroline Lodge and numerous other people across the Harrogate district.

All have responded to urgent appeals made through social media, for people to either provide material, or use their sewing skills to support the NHS and staff working in care homes.

Hundreds of items, vital to the protection of healthcare workers in both the public and private sectors,  including full sets of scrubs, masks, scrubs bags and head bands, have been produced and distributed, with support from family, friends, neighbours and businesses.

Eileen (pictured above) who lives in Ripon has, with the help of husband Martin, produced almost 200 masks and is now turning her attention to making scrubs bags, with material donated by people such as Caroline Lodge, whose Rosie and Clover home furnishings shop in Westgate, Ripon, is closed because of the coronavirus crisis.

Eileen, whose husband is a retired Staff Sergeant who served with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, told The Stray Ferret: “I saw a FaceBook post calling for sewers to lend a hand in producing masks and decided to volunteer. I was put in contact with Janet, my ‘sewing buddy’ and it is great to be working with her.

She added:

“When I turned to making bags for scrubs, Martin was very helpful and a 15 metre length of parachute chord that he had in the garage, has come in very handy to act as ties for them.”

Janet, who is Australian, called on the help of friends and neighbours in Studley Roger and said: “I asked if they had spare sheets and duvet covers, that I could use as the material for making scrubs and was amazed by the number of items donated. My husband David is kept busy cutting out the patterns, while I do the sewing. The finished items are then sent to be laundered at 60 degrees before they are distributed to health workers.”

She added:

“We were due to visit Australia at the end of March, but our flights were cancelled. I suppose if we had been allowed to travel, I would have been making sets of scrubs for Australian healthcare workers.”

In addition to working with Eileen, Janet has been joined by two neighbours in Studley Roger, who are also putting their sewing skills to good use and both women would like to encourage anybody with a sewing machine and time to spare, to join the PPE production line, by contacting a group such as Harrogate Sewers for Face Masks, whose details can be found on FaceBook.