Local News
Community Diagnostic Centre opens at Ripon Community Hospital
A new Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) has opened at Ripon Community Hospital providing local residents with faster access to checks, scans and tests for a wide range of health conditions. The £1 million centre, which has the capacity to deliver over 27,000 checks a year, will enable Harrogate and...
Third consultation begins on Harrogate town council
A third consultation has been opened on plans to create a Harrogate town council. The town council would be formed for administrative purposes from April 1, 2025, and the first elections would be on May 1, 2025. North Yorkshire Council has said residents could expect to pay between £40 and £60 on ...
Ripon Men’s Shed seeks funding to secure future
Ripon Men’s Shed, which has tripled its membership since it was launched in the summer of 2021, is looking to raise funds to secure its long-term future. The group has set up a gofundme page and is selling hand-made goods created by members at craft fairs as it bids to raise £45,000. Shed manag...
Harrogate charity hails ‘heroine’ Elaine for saving its building
The quick-thinking of a member of staff prevented major flooding at the headquarters of a Harrogate mental health charity. Wellspring Therapy & Training provides affordable short and long-term private counselling for the Harrogate and district community. During Monday night’s downpour that fl...
Councillors defer decision on Crescent Gardens road closure plan
Councillors have deferred a decision on plans to erect bollards and planters outside the former Harrogate Borough Council offices at Crescent Gardens, leading to the eventual closure of the road. Impala Estates, which bought the building from the council for £4m in 2020, wants to block traffic from...
Zoe Metcalfe departs as crime commissioner
Zoe Metcalfe’s term as North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner ended at midnight last night after the role was transferred to the new Mayor of York and North Yorkshire. Labour’s David Skaith, who won the inaugural mayoral election on Friday, will now take on responsibilities for poli...
Community diagnostic centre opens at Ripon hospital
A community diagnostic centre has opened at Ripon Community Hospital. The £1 million centre aims to provide Ripon residents with faster access to checks, scans and tests for a wide range of health conditions. It has the capacity to deliver more than 27,000 checks a year and will enable Harrogate an...
‘Our home is ruined’: residents face up to aftermath of Knaresborough floods
Residents in Knaresborough are facing up today to the aftermath of last night’s floods, which affected about 30 homes. Firefighters battled for two hours to pump water from homes and some residents even used buckets to remove water from their houses. We ran a live blog last night and have followed...
Grants totalling £1 million available for small businesses in North Yorkshire
Businesses in North Yorkshire have the chance to apply for £1 million in funding through a new package of capital grants. Small and micro businesses can apply for the small business grant scheme, administered by North Yorkshire Council through thennational government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund. ...
Knaresborough floods ‘not related to condition of drains’, says council
Last night’s flooding in Knaresborough was due to the sheer deluge of rain rather than the state of drains, North Yorkshire Council said today. About 30 homes were affected by flooding last night and some people had to be found emergency accommodation. This prompted questions about whether better ...
Questions raised after Knaresborough floods
Some people were forced to evacuate their homes last night after flash floods hit Knaresborough. An intense storm hit the town and some nearby villages at about 6pm last night, with reports that two inches of rain fell in two hours. Remarkably, many nearby places stayed virtually dry. The Stray Ferr...
Council faces calls to reconsider charging parents £792 for school bus
Opposition groups are calling on North Yorkshire Council to reconsider a move to increase the basic home to school transport charge for post-16 students to nearly £800 a year, saying access to education is supposed to be free and equal. Criticism of the proposed six per cent rise to be put to meeti...
Harrogate pub to expand accommodation
A pub near Harrogate is set to expand its accommodation offering. Shoulder of Mutton, in Kirkby Overblow, submitted a change of use application to North Yorkshire Council in January. It outlined plans to convert a former women’s clothing store on-site, Best Kept Secret, into accommodation. The bui...
Business Breakfast: Ripon company raise £20k in memory of former director
A memorial fund in honour of former businessman Andrew Lupton is set to beat its fundraising target of £20,000. Ripon-based Econ Engineering set up the Just Giving campaign to raise funds for the British Heart Foundation following the death of their sales director in 2022. Mr Lupton, ran the family...
Homes flooded and roads under water in Knaresborough
Homes flooded and roads were left under water in Knaresborough following flash floods this evening. A sudden and intense downpour forced homes to be evacuated after two inches of rain fell in less than an hour. Here’s what happened. If you were affected, please let us know what happened by emailin...
Free gym classes for children in Harrogate and Knaresborough this month
Children and young people can access free fitness classes in Harrogate and Knaresborough this month. The move comes after North Yorkshire Council said this week it hopes to encourage young people to “get active” following statistics released by Sport England. In a press release, the council said...
Call to halt succession of North Yorkshire rural school closures
Liberal Democrats are calling on the Conservative-led North Yorkshire Council to place a moratorium on school closures until the first county-wide Local Plan development blueprint is adopted in 2028. Members of the 14-councillor political group have tabled a notice of motion for the next full meeti...
Readers’ Letters: Harrogate’s cycleway extension is an ‘extraordinary waste of public funds’
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 cycleway on Har...
The Harrogate coach representing Great Britain at padel tennis
It was after finding her dad’s racquet as a child that Sophie Cousins first fell in love with tennis The Ashville College tennis coach has spent her whole life invested in the sport, one way or another. But it was not until recently that she became immersed in the ever growing sport of padel tenni...
Tool shop set to open in Knaresborough this month
A tool shop is set to officially open in Knaresborough later this month. Tool Mix will open on Hambleton Grove Industrial Estate on May 18. An official open day is planned to showcase the new business. According to Tool Mix’s social media it is “a one-stop shop for tools, workwear, storage and t...