Plan for 60 homes in Sharow approved

A plan to build 60 new homes in Sharow has been approved.

Non-profit developer Broadacres Housing Association Limited, which is based in Northallerton, submitted a joint proposal with V&A Homes (Yorkshire) in November to Harrogate Borough Council for land off Dishforth Road.

It proposed to build 60 houses in the area, 24 of which would be affordable homes. The rest would be open market homes.

Now, North Yorkshire Council, which replaced the borough council on April 1, has approved the plan.

The plans come after permission was granted for a housing scheme on the site in 2020, but has since lapsed.

The revised proposal sees a mix of one, two, three and four bed semi-detached houses as well as several three, four and five bed detached dwellings. 

All the houses would have parking provisions and a pocket park will be on site. 

In documents submitted to the council, Broadacres said:

“Land to the south of Dishforth Road, Sharow offers a unique opportunity to provide housing and community uses in a logical and sustainable location that would bring benefits to the village and those who live there today and in the future.”

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Police stop convoy of suspected stolen vehicles near Ripon

A large number of North Yorkshire Police cars descended on a village near Ripon to intercept a convoy of suspected stolen vehicles.

According to police, patrol vehicles acting on information received spotted three vehicles travelling along the A19 and A168 southbound near Thirsk.

The three vehicles — a Nissan Navara, a Range Rover Sport and a Mercedes van carrying two Land Rovers — were then stopped by officers in Sharow, near Ripon.

A police statement said:

“Officers checked the vehicle identification numbers of all the vehicles and several were suspected to be fake.

“Three people, two men and a woman, all in their 30s and from the Cleveland area, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to steal motor vehicles. The woman was further arrested on suspicion of driving whilst disqualified. They remain in custody at this time.

“All of the vehicles were seized and taken to a secure location for forensic searches and further enquiries.”

A Sharow resident who witnessed the police operation,  said he had never seen so many police vehicles in the village.

The villager, who asked not to be named, said he noticed eight police patrol cars.

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Council upholds listing Sharow pub as asset of community value

Harrogate Borough Council has upheld its decision to allocate the Half Moon Inn at Sharow as an asset of community value.

The council awarded the pub asset of community value status in November 2022 following a campaign by local residents and the parish council to keep the venue open.

However, Mark Fitton, the owner of the pub has challenged the council’s decision and described it as “flawed”.

In a letter to Mr Fitton, which was seen by the Stray Ferret, the council confirmed that it expected to complete a review of its decision by January.

Now, a spokesperson for the authority has confirmed it had upheld its original decision.

It means residents and campaigners will have six months to attempt to raise funds to purchase the property.

The pub on Sharow Lane opened in 1822 but closed in 2016.

Since then, a long running saga has unfolded over how best to put the building to use.

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Mr Fitton lodged a plan to convert the former pub into a house in March last year.

However, Harrogate Borough Council refused the proposal on the grounds that “insufficient evidence” had been submitted to demonstrate that no community use existed for the property.

Mr Fitton has now taken the decision to the government’s Planning Inspectorate, the body that deals with planning disputes.

He has also resubmitted the proposal to the council.

New professional choir based in Ripon to give local concert

A new professional choir based in Ripon that performs everything from choral music to opera is putting on a local concert.

Jervaulx Singers was founded by Charlie Gower-Smith and Jenny Bianco, who are based in North Yorkshire and perform across the UK.

The eight members of the group all work in the country’s top opera houses and professional choirs. They perform all forms of vocal music, including choral, sacred and secular, opera, and song.

On Saturday March ​4, they will sing French choral music at St John’s Church in Sharow.

Jervaulx Singers

The diverse programme takes choral works from across the years and intersperses them with some of Francis Poulenc’s greatest songs for solo voice and piano.

Mr Gower-Smith said:

“We present a wide range of repertoire, putting sacred and secular choral music side by side, as well as exploring the great solo and ensemble repertoire from the opera stage in gala performances.

“Our choral concerts are typically eight solo voices, singing either one or two to a part, bringing an exciting vibrancy to the group’s sound.

Group members include baritone Edmund Danon, who has performed at the Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne, Opera North, Cadogan Hall and the London Southbank; Yorkshire-born mezzo-soprano Beth Moxon has performed as ‘L’enfant’ in Ravel’s ‘Lenfant et les sortilèges’ for Opéra de Lyon and Royal Opera House Muscat; bass Laurence Williams, who has toured the Messiah solos with Stephen Layton to Australia, singing with the Auckland Philharmonic and soprano Eleanor Garside, who was described in The Guardian as giving a ‘standout performance’ in Waterperry Opera’s Mansfield Park by Jonathan Dove.

Further details of the Sharow event are available here.

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Sharow roads earmarked for £200k resurfacing

Two roads in Sharow are set to undergo a £200,000 resurfacing scheme.

North Yorkshire County Council has added the projects to its highways forward programme.

It will see New Road and Sharow Lane in the village resurfaced and reconstructed.

The county council is expected to start the schemes in the 2024/25 financial year.

It comes as the council faced criticism in December after it was revealed repairs to Sharow’s roads were not included in next year’s capital schemes.

Residents in the area have previously told the Stray Ferret that The ‘shocking state’ of roads in the village is preventing motorists from going green.

James Thornborough, who lives in the village, said:

“The road surfaces are in such a shocking state, that it is not safe to drive on them in smaller vehicles that use less fuel and produce fewer emissions.”

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Rain highlights concerns about state of Harrogate district drains and gullies

Heavy rain in recent days has heightened concerns about the state of drains and gullies in the Harrogate district.

The Stray Ferret has been contacted by residents in separate parts of the district frustrated about how quickly flooding occurs because of blockages in the drainage infrastructure.

Huby resident John Chadwick said flooding caused by blocked culverts, drains and ditches was a major problem in Huby and Weeton and concerns raised by the parish council had brought “minimal results”. He said:

“There is a particularly serious issue at the moment at the junction of Woodgate Lane, Crag Lane and the main A658.

“When there is even little rainfall, water cascades off the fields on the north side of the A658. Because the ditches are blocked, water flows down over the main road and then down onto Woodgate Lane. Recently this froze over causing a risk to life. This is not an exaggeration, a vehicle could easily have skidded.

“I walk my dog regularly in the area and even as a complete novice in the subject, I can see that the problem would be easy to solve by clearing ditches, gulleys and drains.”

A drain in Huby

Mr Chadwick urged North Yorkshire County Council, the highways authority, to do more to tackle the problem, particularly as a school bus stop is located at the junction.

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Sharow resident James Thornborough sent photos of Sharow Lane, which he said flooded within an hour of heavy rain on Saturday.

“The blind bend road was flooded where the sewage operation is running 24/7. It took just one hour of torrential rain to achieve the pictured lake. The electric power packs for the traffic lights were submerged in water.

“Yorkshire Water jetted the drains about six weeks ago, which is not a sustainable solution because every other drain on Dishforth Road is blocked, offering a downhill runway.

Sharow Lane last weekend

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

“Funding for the upkeep of drains and gullies is part of our annual highways maintenance budget of around £55 million which covers planned maintenance programmes as well as responding to problems as they arise.

“Over the last financial year we invested an additional £500,000 to improve how we maintain road drainage systems across the county.

“We have in-house high-pressure jetting capability on our gully cleansing machines which assist in unblocking drainage systems and ensuring they are operating effectively.”

Ripon sewage leak: tree felled as repair work set to last two weeks

Work to repair a leaking sewer pipe on the River Ure at Sharow, near Ripon, looks set to last another fortnight.

Several vehicles and staff have been working round the clock for more than a week to fix the pipe at the pumping station on Sharow Lane.

Yorkshire Water said on Wednesday the leak had caused “short term” discharge into the Ure on December 30.

Yesterday a large tree was felled at the site where work is taking place.

In an update today. a Yorkshire Water spokesman said:

“The repairs, due to the depth and complexity, could take two weeks to complete. Our teams are working hard to carry out the work as quickly as possible and we apologise for the disruption caused.

“The length of the repair is due to the depth of the excavation and location which makes it complex.”

River Ure sewage discharge at Sharow (1)

Vehicles are still at the scene of the incident.

The spokesman said the tree had to be felled because nearby repair work was taking place five metres below the surface and “there were concerns the dig could cause the tree to fall onto the site where people were working”.

He added there had been no further discharge since the pipe was isolated on December 30 and Yorkshire Water had not received any reports of fish deaths.

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One Sharow villager, who asked not to be named, said the number of vehicles working at the site over several days suggested “the scale and severity of what’s happened must be significant”.

Yorkshire Water, however, has said it “believes there was a low impact on the environment due to the speed at which the pipe was isolated”, adding:

“Our teams attended quickly, isolated the main and began a tankering operation to prevent further wastewater entering the river and ensure customers could continue to use their services, as well as informing the Environment Agency of the incident.”

 

 

 

Sewage discharged into River Ure near Ripon after pipe leaks

Sewage has been discharged into the River Ure following a leak near Ripon.

Yorkshire Water said an issue with a sewer pipe at its pumping station on Sharow Lane led to a “short term” discharge on Friday, December 30.

The company said the Environment Agency has been informed of the incident.

A spokesperson for Yorkshire Water said the pipe has since been isolated and tankers are in place to prevent any further waste from entering the river.

Temporary traffic lights are also in place while workers repair the pipe.

Temporary lights on Sharow Lane as Yorkshire Water repairs sewage pipe.

Temporary lights on Sharow Lane as Yorkshire Water repairs sewage pipe.

A spokesperson added:

“Unfortunately we suffered an issue with a sewer pipe on Sharow Lane, Ripon, on 30 December, which caused a short term discharge of wastewater into the River Ure. 

“Our teams attended quickly, isolated the main and began a tankering operation to prevent further wastewater entering the river and ensure customers could continue to use their services, as well as informing the Environment Agency of the incident.

“Due to the depth of the repair tankering has remained in place, with traffic management measures to allow this to be done safely. A team is now on site to complete the repair and return the network to normal operation. Once the repair is completed, tankering will be stopped.”

The Stray Ferret has approached the Environment Agency for comment.

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Sharow pub owner appeals housing plan refusal

The owner of the Half Moon Inn at Sharow has appealed a decision to refuse plans to convert the pub into a house.

The pub on Sharow Lane opened in 1822 but closed in 2016.

Mark Fitton, owner of the pub, lodged a plan to convert the former pub into a house in March last year.

However, Harrogate Borough Council refused the proposal on the grounds that “insufficient evidence” had been submitted to demonstrate that no community use existed for the property.

Mr Fitton has now taken the decision to the government’s Planning Inspectorate, the body that deals with planning disputes.

He has also resubmitted the proposal to the council and challenged a decision to allocate the former pub as an asset of community value.

In documents submitted to the government, he said:

“Contrary to the stated reason for refusal, an abundance of evidence was submitted to demonstrate that no community use exists for this property.”

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A government planning inspector will make a decision on the proposal at a later date.

Following the council’s decision to allocate the building as an asset of community value, residents have called for the pub to be reinstated.

However, Mr Fitton has challenged the move and called for a review of the decision.

In a letter to Mr Fitton, which has been seen by the Stray Ferret, the council confirmed that it expected to complete a review by January 29, 2023.

Sharow pub owner resubmits plan to convert building into home

The owner of the Half Moon Inn at Sharow has resubmitted plans to convert the building into a home.

The pub on Sharow Lane opened in 1822 but closed in 2016.

Since then, a long running saga has unfolded over how best to put the building to use.

Mark Fitton, owner of the pub, has resubmitted plans to convert the former public house into a home.

The move comes as Mr FItton has also challenged a Harrogate Borough Council decision to allocate the Half Moon Inn as an asset of community value.

In documents submitted the council, he said the prospect of reopening the pub was “unviable”.

Mr Fitton said:

“The catalogue of business failures at the Half Moon is so well established that it must surely now be considered conclusive.

“It is well documented that for at least thirty years, everyone who has tried to run the premises as a hospitality venue has found it to be unviable, with eleven separate individuals and couples having, over three decades, tried and failed.”

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The council will make a decision on the proposal at a later date.

Following the council’s decision to allocate the building as an asset of community value, residents have called for the pub to be reinstated.

However, Mr Fitton has challenged the move and called for a review of the decision.

In a letter to Mr Fitton, which has been seen by the Stray Ferret, the council confirmed that it expected to complete a review by January 29, 2023.