Local News
Harrogate’s Crescent Gardens set to become private road
A bid to close Crescent Gardens road in Harrogate to the public looks set to clear its first hurdle next week. North Yorkshire Council has recommended councillors approve an application to install bollards and planters at either end of the road to prevent public access. The move would involve the lo...
Still no re-opening date for new Knaresborough playground
There is still no re-opening date for the new playground at Knaresborough Leisure and Wellness Centre. North Yorkshire Council opened the £17.5 million leisure centre in December last year. It said at the time the Fysche Hall Field Play Area alongside it would open in January. It briefly opened in ...
Light pollution policy to protect Nidderdale dark skies
North Yorkshire Council is set to adopt a policy designed to prevent light pollution in Nidderdale. Astronomers commissioned by Nidderdale AONB — which has since been renamed Nidderdale National Landscape — in spring 2022 found the night skies in the north west of the area, including Upper Nidde...
Housing scheme in Knaresborough set for refusal
Revived plans to build eight flats off Stockwell Road in Knaresborough look set to be refused. Paul Franklin applied to demolish an existing property at 13 Stockwell Road and build six two-bedroom flats and two one-bedroom flats on the site and adjoining land. Parking and landscaping would also be i...
Harrogate College’s £22m rebuild plans approved
North Yorkshire Council has approved plans to demolish the main building at Harrogate College and build a hub to train students in green technology. The £22m proposals will see new state-of-the-art facilities at the Hornbeam Park college including a mock hospital ward, digital technology suite, el...
Council has pumped almost 3,000 tonnes of grout into Ripon void
North Yorkshire Council has revealed it has pumped almost 3,000 tonnes of grout into a void underneath Ripon leisure centre as part of ground stabilisation works that began last summer and have cost £3.4 million to date. The Jack Laugher Leisure and Wellness Centre opened in March 2022 but whilst t...
Harrogate named as one of UK’s best shopping destinations
Harrogate has been named as the 17th best shopping destination in the UK in a new study. Commercial real estate company Newmark analysed the health of 1,000 UK retail centres based on factors including retail unit vacancy rate, the change in vacancy rate, space being adapted for other uses, shopper ...
Cycle lanes scrapped and new traffic measures proposed for Harrogate’s Victoria Avenue
North Yorkshire Council has scrapped plans to create cycle lanes on Harrogate’s Victoria Avenue. The council today announced it was holding a month-long consultation on proposals to change the wide avenue where the library is located. The proposals include making the junction with Belford Road lef...
Harrogate house fire family launches crowdfunding appeal
A Harrogate family whose home was devastated by fire has launched a crowdfunding appeal. Mikey Donald said his parents’ home insurance had lapsed a month before Friday’s fire, which ripped through the garage and house on Avenue Close in Starbeck. You can read about the incident here. In his appe...
Harrogate farm submit plans to create wildlife ponds
Plans have been submitted to create three wildlife ponds at Breaks Fold Farm in the Washburn Valley. The farm has submitted the propsoal to North Yorkshire Council to create the ponds, as well as the creation of scrape habitat and associated trenches, dams, spoils. According to planning documents,...
Harrogate chip shop set for new management
A Harrogate fish and chip shop looks set to come under new management. The Wharfe of Harrogate published a statement on social media on April 26 announcing it will be “leaving The Wharfes and trading from Bradleys” from May 12. It is believed the owner of Bradleys fish and chip shops has been ru...
Business Breakfast: Boroughbridge business wins employer of the year
Boroughbridge based Green-tech has been awarded the title of ‘Employer of the Year’ at the ProLandscaper Business Awards 2024. Green-tech is the UK’s leading supplier of landscaping and forestry products and is based at Rabbit Hill Business Park, just off the A168 near Boroughbridge. The ProL...
Ripon Motor Boat Club unveils new slipway
Ripon Motor Boat Club has unveiled its new slipway. The club, based in Littlethorpe, was established in 1931 and is now one of the largest inland private boat clubs in the UK. It offers 140 boat berths and now boasts a new and improved slipway, which is used to draw out boats from the water […]
Readers’ Letters: ‘Harrogate’s roads are deteriorating before our eyes’
Readers’ Letters is a weekly column giving you the chance to have your say on issues affecting the Harrogate district. It is an opinion column and does not reflect the views of the Stray Ferret. Send your views to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk. This letter follows news of the Otley Road cycleway...
Knaresborough student entrepreneurs win business award
A group of Knaresborough sixth form students have launched a business and won an entrepreneurial award. The students are part of King James School’s sixth form young enterprise team. They are operating as a business under the Young Enterprise Group, a charity aiming to support and encourage young ...
Should Harrogate have a ‘magnificent’ water feature?
There have been numerous schemes devised over the years to improve Harrogate. Some come to fruition, such as the 19th-century plan to develop a wedge of land called the Crookisnab between the villages of High and Low Harrogate, which resulted in our town centre. Others are not so successful, like th...
How will North Yorkshire’s mayor help the economy?
Investment, attracting business and growing the economy – that has been the mantra for most of the candidates vying to become the first Mayor of York and North Yorkshire. For all the six people contesting the position, each of them has sought to push their credentials for how they would help to gr...
Harrogate woman admits ‘out of control’ dog caused injury
A Harrogate woman has pleaded guilty after her dog injured someone while out of control. Danielle Romanus, 58, of Scargill Road, appeared at Harrogate Magistrates’ Court on April 12. She faced one count of being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control in a public place, which caused injury. ...
The Harrogate hospital worker bringing cheer for 50 years
Graham Cloake has been a friendly face at Harrogate Hospital for half a century. As he marks 50 years as a porter and more recently a post room worker, Graham is one of countless behind-the-scenes employees who hold the fabric of the hospital together. And he’s always done it with a listening ear,...
Editor’s Pick of the Week: Tim Stedman returns, a new mayor awaits and Ripon prepares for 1,300 homes
No corner of the Harrogate district has been immune to new housing in recent years but the sheer scale of the 1,300-home Clotherholme development will alter Ripon forever. Planning approval was passed by a whisker last year. Since then, the government agencies behind the scheme have said little so t...