Teenagers in Ripon have said they are glad they can continue using the city’s skatepark during the summer holidays.
While large areas of the Camp Close site on Knaresborough Road have been fenced off for safety reasons, access to the skatepark and basketball court remains open.
One teenager skateboarder spoke for his friends when he said:
“It’s a bit of a pain having to walk all the way around the outside to get here, but I’m pleased we can still use it.”
The skatepark and basketball court are adjacent to the 28-year-old leisure centre building, where remediation works on unstable foundations are under way.
The playing fields at Camp Close are now an active building site where large machinery is in use, carrying out the £3.5 million project behind large yellow hoardings.
There are numerous signs warning the public not to enter the area, while other signs call for parents to keep children out. CCTV cameras are also in operation.
However, as well as the many warning signs, construction company Willmott Dixon has installed one showing the route into the skatepark.
When the works began in June, North Yorkshire Council’s assistant director for culture, leisure, archives and libraries, Jo Ireland, said:
“By addressing these historic issues, it allows us the opportunity to ensure future generations will be able to access modern sport and leisure facilities in their city for many years to come.
“Once the works have been completed the original leisure centre facility can be refurbished as planned – which includes an extended gym, two new activity studios, a spin studio as well as meeting facilities – and complement the 25 metre, six-lane swimming pool that opened last year.”
Work is scheduled to go on until spring 2024 and in the meantime a temporary gym will remain in use on the car park near the entrance to the Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre.
The £300,000 facility, operated by Brimhams Active on behalf of North Yorkshire Council, includes Technogym equipment.
Customers are able to use the changing and shower facilities at the swimming pool as well as the sauna and steam suite. Group exercise classes continue to be provided at Hugh Ripley Hall.
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- Temporary gym installed at Ripon leisure centre
Work is underway to block off derelict land on a former building site in Ripon that has been identified as a safety hazard to children and an eyesore.
Harrogate Borough Council is installing hoardings at a cost of £5,000 on the land at Skellgarths.
The land, at the junction with Duck Hill, formerly housed Ripon’s first purpose-built public library, which was demolished in 2014 after the site was bought for housing redevelopment.
Ripon city councillor Councillor Mike Chambers, who is also a district and county councillor, told last week’s virtual city council meeting the developer was declared bankrupt in January 2019 and the land now belonged to the Crown.
He added:
“However, following lengthy discussions I have had with the Harrogate Borough Council enforcement team about tidying up the site, it has been agreed that hoardings with a gated access will be put in place to cover off the area.”
Because the developer is bankrupt, there is no means of recouping the cost of blocking the area from view and it was agreed Ripon City Council will make a £1,250 donation towards the works.
The derelict site is on the route to Fountains Abbey, Newby Hall and Ripon city centre
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Council leader Andrew Williams said:
“We should make the payment on the proviso that when the land is eventually sold by the Crown, we and Harrogate Borough Council will be reimbursed.
“In the meantime, the area has to be tidied up and made safe. My concern is that there are footings on the site that are full of water and we wouldn’t want children to get in there and come to any harm.”
A suggestion made by Cllr Williams at the city council’s October meeting that the hoardings include artwork produced by a local group, was reiterated by Councillor Stuart Martin.
Cllr Martin, said:
“The artwork could include images that promote the city’s history and heritage attractions.”
Not all members were in favour of making a donation towards the cost of the project.
Councillor Pauline McHardy, said:
“I’m not opposed to the hoardings, but don’t see why we should be asked to pay £1,250 out of precept money. People in Ripon should not be facing double taxes.
“Harrogate Borough Council receives plenty of council tax from our residents and should pay for the work from this,”
Councillors seek solution for Ripon eyesore site
The look of one of the principal gateways to Ripon is being spoilt because of an abandoned redevelopment site, according to a local councillor.
In its untidy over-grown state, with fencing that has blown down, the area on Skellgarths has been described as, a ‘mess’ and an ‘eyesore’.
The site was formerly the location for Ripon’s first purpose-built library, which opened in 1937. The building stood there until its demolition in 2014.
Councillor Mike Chambers, who is a city, district and county councillor and Harrogate Borough Council’s (HBC) cabinet member for housing and safer communities, told the Stray Ferret:
“I have raised the issue of this derelict site on a number of occasions with HBC enforcement officers to seek guidance and ask what can be done. The area is a mess and an eyesore.”
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The site is in a prime tourist area in close proximity to Ripon Cathedral and on the route to Fountains Abbey in one direction and Newby Hall in the other. It is also one of the main thoroughfares leading to the city centre.
Cllr Chambers added:
“At one stage we managed to get some fencing put in place, but it subsequently blew down. I will continue to push for the area to be blocked off, particularly as the blown-down fence could pose a public safety issue, with footings on the site filling with water after rainfall.”
At last week’s virtual full council meeting, councillors heard that attempts to take enforcement action were complicated because the developer who planned to build on the site had gone bust.
The council leader, Councillor Andrew Williams, suggested that the look of the area could be improved if schoolchildren were invited to do designs that could be incorporated into new hoardings made for the site.
Cllr Sid Hawke felt that the site should be tidied up and used as additional car parking space to serve the city centre.