Local News

The Stray Ferret

Police renew appeal to find missing Harrogate man

North Yorkshire Police has renewed its appeal to find a man missing from the Harrogate area. Cao Xuan Tuan, 25, has been missing since last month. He was last seen on Thursday, February 29. Officers described Cao as Asian, with short straight black hair, brown eyes and about 5 foot 6 inches tall. In...

The Stray Ferret

A59 to be closed at Kex Gill until end of June

The A59 between Harrogate and Skipton is expected to be closed at Kex Gill until at least July. North Yorkshire Council said in a press release this afternoon repair work costing £750,000 will begin on April 15. Irish construction firm Sisk, which is carrying out the nearby £68.8 million three-mil...

The Stray Ferret

Andrew Jones MP urges Lib Dem leader to intervene against ‘rogue’ local party

Andrew Jones MP has written to Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey urging him to take action against local party members. Mr Jones, the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, listed eight examples of what he claimed to be “appalling behaviour” by Lib Dems in his constituency. The letter c...

The Stray Ferret

Sports watches worth £4,400 stolen from Harrogate shop

North Yorkshire Police has issued a CCTV appeal following a high-value theft at a shop in Harrogate. The theft took place at Cotswold Outdoors on West Park on Saturday, March 16 at around 11am, according to a statement by the constabulary today. It said nine Garmin devices, valued at about £4,470, ...

The Stray Ferret

Sewage in Nidd and Ure: local politicians react to increase

Leading Harrogate and Knaresborough politicians have reacted to the news that sewage spills in the River Nidd and River Ure more than doubled last year. The Environment Agency published sewage discharge figures for all the water and sewage companies yesterday. The Stray Ferret analysed the data to d...

The Stray Ferret

Council defends car park charges rise

North Yorkshire Council leader Carl Les has defended a move to introduce inflation-busting charges at car parks. Cllr Les said the 20 per cent increase in car parking charges from April 19 was “not just about raising money”, but also about traffic management. The authority, which has repeatedly ...

The Stray Ferret

Summerbridge residents object to plans for 20 homes

Two Summerbridge residents have voiced concerns over plans to build 20 homes in the village. The Stray Ferret reported this month Nidderdale Estates Ltd, which also built the Poppy Fields development near the proposed site, tabled proposals to North Yorkshire Council last month. The application, whi...

The Stray Ferret

Harrogate Greens report Lib Dems to police for by-election leaflet

The Green Party candidate in the forthcoming Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone by-election in Harrogate has reported the Liberal Democrats to the police. The by-election for a seat on North Yorkshire Council will take place on April 11 following the resignation of former Lib Dem councillor Pat Marsh, w...

The Stray Ferret

Harrogate woman appointed High Sheriff of North Yorkshire

Harrogate woman Dr Ruth Smith has been appointed as the new High Sheriff of North Yorkshire. Dr Smith is a board leadership coach and is a director of Harrogate business PM Management Consultants Ltd. She has also published a book on authentic leadership. As chair of Teesside Mind and a former trust...

The Stray Ferret

Sewage spills in Nidd and Ure more than doubled in 2023

The Environment Agency has published its annual storm overflow spill data for 2023 – and the two main rivers in the Harrogate district saw significant increases. The agency today released its event duration monitoring data, which shows the frequency and duration of sewage spills as a result of sto...

The Stray Ferret

Business Q&A: Simon Taylor, Boroughbridge Marina

This is the latest in a regular series of Business Q&A features published weekly.    This week, we spoke to Simon Taylor, owner of Boroughbridge Marina. Tell us in fewer than 30 words what your firm does.  We offer a full range of boating services, including equipment and boat sales, repairs...

The Stray Ferret

Rail disruption expected over Easter weekend

Train operator Northern has advised people to ‘check before you travel’ over Easter. Engineering work is scheduled over the bank holiday weekend, meaning there will be disruption to services between Friday, March 29 and Monday, April 1. Trains will still be running on Easter Sunday and the two b...

The Stray Ferret

Boys arrested after bottles thrown on Harrogate’s Parliament Street

Three boys have been arrested after items including fire extinguishers and glass bottles were hurled on to Harrogate’s Parliament Street today. Police were called to reports of a burglary just before 2am. Parliament Street was closed and fully reopened at about 8am. A North Yorkshire Police statem...

The Stray Ferret

Meet the team – Lauren Ryan, journalist

If you’d told Lauren as a child that she’d be writing stories like the ones found in the pages of her favourite fashion magazines, she might not have believed you.   Born and raised in Yorkshire, she moved out of the area briefly to study journalism to a postgraduate level at the universities o...

The Stray Ferret

Harrogate’s Parliament Street reopens after vandals smash windows

Harrogate’s Parliament Street was closed this morning after numerous windows were smashed in what appeared to be an outbreak of vandalism. Police and workers were on the site this morning clearing glass off the road. Two of the lanes had reopened at 7am but the lane where traffic turns right on to...

The Stray Ferret

Knaresborough man jailed for racially aggravated verbal abuse

A Knaresborough man, who used racially aggravated threatening language and later dodged police custody, has been jailed. Lee Harpin, 38, of Littondale Avenue, appeared at York Magistrates Court on Monday for sentencing. He was found guilty of two counts of using threatening language with intent to p...

The Stray Ferret

Council seeks contractors to begin work on Hammerton Greenway

A contractor is being sought to to create a 1.7km traffic-free cycleway  from Green Hammerton to Thorpe Underwood. The Hammerton Greenway, which will cost an estimated £84,600, will encourage cycling in villages close to main roads. Green Hammerton Parish Council began work on the scheme after the...

The Stray Ferret

Stinger ends 100mph police chase in Knaresborough

A stinger punctured the tyres of a stolen car following a high-speed police chase that ended in Knaresborough today. North Yorkshire Police said in a statement a high-performance Mercedes was stolen by a teenager in York just after 4am this morning. It was stolen as part of a two-in-one burglary, wh...

The Stray Ferret

Councillors approve 135 homes off Harrogate’s Skipton Road

Councillors have voted to approve 135 homes on the site of a former farm off Skipton Road in Harrogate. The proposals by Rowan Green Developments Ltd will see the homes built at Cow Dyke Farm near Jennyfields. The land is allocated for housing in the council’s local plan and the scheme was recomme...

The Stray Ferret

CCTV appeal following supermarket theft in Boroughbridge

North Yorkshire Police has issued a CCTV image of a man it would like to speak to following a theft in Boroughbridge . More than £170 worth of alcohol was stolen from the Morrisons supermarket on Wetherby Road at 4.45pm on March 12. A police statement today said: “Please contact us if you recogni...