A massive increase in housebuilding across Harrogate and Knaresborough is worsening pollution in the River Nidd, according to the Environment Agency.

Jamie Duncan, who has worked on the Nidd for 20 years for the public body, gave a wide-ranging presentation about the health of the river to Harrogate and Knaresborough councillors earlier today.

Yorkshire Water is allowed to release sewage into the Nidd when the sewerage system is at risk of being overwhelmed through what are called storm overflows.

It has led to human waste being released over thousands of hours, and sampling by the Nidd Action Group has reported that the bacteria E. coli is at “concerningly high” levels.

Mr Duncan’s message to councillors was stark as he warned the problem could get worse without a recognition of the impact that development is having, and improvements to the town’s creaking Victorian sewerage system.

He said the Environment Agency was trying to tackle historic pollution problems, such as peat bog erosion and metal mining, which wash into the river at Nidderdale and travel downstream.

But he said its attempts are being made more difficult due to the thousands of new homes that have been built in the outskirts of Harrogate over the last decade — and thousands are more planned.

He said:

“If you are building housing estates on the urban fringe, on greenfield sites that historically have sewers just for servicing a pub and a few farms… and you’re putting hundreds of houses into these pipes then you only need a very small amount of rain [for waste] to spill into rivers.

“That’s untreated sewage. You’ve sieved out contraception and sanitary products, nothing more.”

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During the 2010s the now defunct Harrogate Borough Council did not have a local plan for several years, which gave the authority little control over where developers chose to build.

Harrogate now has a local plan but Mr Duncan said North Yorkshire Council must give more consideration into what impact new housing is having on the sewerage system, which he said is struggling to cope.

He added that the situation is leading to more storm overflows and more sewage being pumped into the Nidd.

A working group of councillors was set up last year to tackle pollution in the river, following an incident last summer where several children ended up in hospital after swimming there.

A campaign is also underway to clean up the river so it can be designated with bathing water status. Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative MP Andrew Jones submitted an application to government last month.

North Yorkshire Council is also in the early stages of developing a new county-wide local plan that will set out where housebuilding can take place over the next 15 years.

Paul Haslam, Conservative councillor for Bilton and Nidd Gorge, said he hoped the council can view the sewage network as a “critical part” of infrastructure, like roads.

In the meantime, Mr Duncan urged councillors to factor in the sewerage system when granting planning permission for new developments.

He said:

“If you’re going to grant it, please understand the knock-on effects. Houses might be new, but the sewage pipes might run a very long way through central Harrogate to a very old system that’s at capacity.”

North Yorkshire Council looks set to write to the government calling for fundamental reform of the planning system to improve the county’s rivers, watercourses and coastline.

The Conservative-run council will consider pressing Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Thérèse Coffey, to make a series of changes to the National Planning Policy Framework to avert pollution as a result of new development.

The proposal has been approved by the authority’s transport, economy and environment scrutiny committee as a recommendation to be considered at a full meeting of the authority next month, alongside a series of other proposals to get to grips with water pollution in the county.

The meeting heard councillors raise serious concerns over water pollution in rivers such as the Swale and Ure, which run through Rishi Sunak’s constituency, as well as the county’s coastal waters, where marine life has repeatedly been impacted by a mystery issue in the water.

Liberal Democrat councillor Steve Mason told the committee the proposals needed bolstering by national policy to ensure developers could not use devices such as viability tests to avoid consideration of water issues.

He said: 

“We need to be lobbying hard for this to be included in national legislation.”

Cllr Hannah Gostlow, whose division includes Knaresborough and the River Nidd, which saw 870 sewage dump incidents last year, said lobbying government would be viewed as “a major step” by the authority.

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The proposed measures will aim to establish what the impacts and receptors are in relation to any development.

The meeting heard neither Local Plan policies nor national framework have the capacity to extend consideration in planning decisions to where foul water is in the main sewer, in terms of how it is treated.

Councillors were told a motion of council, to make water issues a “material planning consideration” would be of limited weight, and were they to be treated as having more weight in a development decision than the Local Plan or national framework, the decision could be challenged by developers at appeal.

Councillors from a range of political groups told the meeting there was a clear mandate to seek to have more robust engagement with water firms “to fully understand capacity constraints and opportunities”.

It is hoped making water firms statutory consultees in planning decisions, in the same way as exists for flooding and highways authorities, would allow the companies to embed expanding their capacity and technologies to reduce the incidence of flooding, whilst accommodating increased usage.

After the meeting, the council’s leader, Cllr Carl Les, said he sympathised with proposals to make water firms statutory consultees in planning decisions.

He said he believed councillors would all support lobbying the government to enable water firms to levy infrastructure charges on property developers to enable them to finance improving the capacity of systems such as sewage.

When asked whether the government should introduce a tougher system of fines for pollution breaches, Cllr Les said he was concerned water users would face increased charges to cover the firms’ fines.

This week’s photograph was taken by Heather Middleton, capturing the reflection across the Scar House Reservoir.

Heather Middleton

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.

This week’s photograph was taken by Rich Wilkinson, capturing a blue sky over Thruscross Reservoir and the sun reflecting across the water.

Rich Wilkinson

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.

A burst water main has left homes without water and affected businesses in Harrogate this morning.

Yorkshire Water said it was working to repair the fault on Wetherby Road at 5.30am.

⚠️#WetherbyRoad #HG3 ⚠️
Apologies to customers experiencing low pressure or no water due to a burst water main, we will restore supplies as soon as possible. Thank you – Sam pic.twitter.com/ym1zhsszCE

— Yorkshire Water Help (@YWHelp) December 17, 2022

Farm shop Fodder posted on social media that it was unable to open its cafe this morning because of a lack of running water.

Its shop remains open as normal, with eight days to go before Christmas.

A Yorkshire Water spokesman said:

“We are currently dealing with a high number of burst pipes in the region due to the weather conditions. We are aware of the burst on Wetherby Road and will be attending to complete repairs as soon as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

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Yorkshire Water also said this morning it was readying its leakage detection and repair teams for an increase in bursts and leaks caused by an expected thaw.

It urged homeowners to take measures to prevent damage.

Homes are particularly at risk if they have exposed water pipes on the outside of the house or an outdoor tap, which are vulnerable to the cold weather.  The spokesman said:

“One way to prevent a frozen pipe is to wrap them in foam insulation to protect them from the cold weather, which is also known as lagging.”

Also this morning, Harrogate Town confirmed its fixture this afternoon at Doncaster Rovers has been called off because of a frozen pitch.

Heavy rain over the last six weeks has caused water levels in local reservoirs to rise by almost a fifth, but the region is still officially classed as being in drought, according to Yorkshire Water. 

Environment Agency data shows that Yorkshire had the same amount of rainfall in September and October as it did over the whole summer, but even at 19% higher, reservoir levels are still below the level expected for this time of year, according to the water company. 

Yorkshire Water has been working closely with the Environment Agency to obtain additional drought measures, which the company said when paired with the additional rainfall, has helped raise the levels of some reservoirs.

Thruscross Reservoir, pictured in July

Granville Davies, manager of water and catchment strategy at Yorkshire Water, said:

“Reservoir levels are moving in the right direction – we’re seeing some significant increases week on week as the rainfall, drought permits, additional leakage activity, and support from our customers to save water, help them to top up.” 

Yorkshire Water has 11 reservoirs in the Harrogate district. In the Washburn Valley, Thruscross, Fewston and Swinsty all supply water to Leeds, and Lindley Wood, which dried up almost completely this summer, is a compensation reservoir designed to ensure steady water flow in the River Wharfe.

In Nidderdale, Angram and Scar House both supply water via underground aqueducts to Bradford, and Gouthwaite is a compensation reservoir that regulates the flow of water in the River Nidd.

Elsewhere, Beaver Dyke and Scargill in Haverah Park, to the west of Harrogate, supply water to the town, and in Colsterdale, west of Masham, Roundhill also supplies water to Harrogate, and Leighton is a compensation reservoir for the River Burn, which runs into Wensleydale as a tributary of the River Ure. 

Mr Davies added:

“We have had more rain recently than the previous summer months, but that rain doesn’t always fall evenly across the whole region – meaning that in some areas reservoir levels are still much lower than we would hope. We’re using our extensive network of pipes to move what we can around the region, but we have applied to the Environment Agency for additional measures to help us balance stocks in that area too. 

“It’s really important that we all continue to save water where we can – small changes in habits will help give reservoirs the best chance possible to top up this winter, ahead of the warmer months in spring and summer next year. We’re constantly reviewing the situation and as soon as we meet the requirements needed to remove the hosepipe ban, we will let our customers know.”