Wetherby Services on the A1 has the joint highest petrol price in England — costing an eye-watering 202.9p per litre to fill up.

Prices at the pump have risen yet again this week due to increases in the cost of crude oil, which is used to make petrol and diesel.

The website PetrolPrices publishes up-to-date fuel prices at sites across the country.

It shows the BP station at Wetherby Services has passed the £2 per litre threshold and is now the joint highest petrol price in the country.

It’s the same price as other BP motorway petrol stations in Cumbria, Sunderland and Wiltshire.

It was announced today that it now costs over £100 to fill up a 55-litre family car, which the motoring body RAC called a “truly dark day” for motorists.

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• Reservoir parking costs could cause ‘tremendous problems’ on nearby roads

In Harrogate, PetrolPrices says the most expensive place to fill up is Texaco on Skipton Road where it costs 197.9p a litre for petrol and 194.9p for diesel.

The cheapest place for petrol is Morrisons in Starbeck, where it’s 170.4p.

For diesel, it’s Asda where it currently costs 181.7p

In Ripon’s three petrol stations, the most expensive is BP where it costs 183.9p for petrol. The cheapest is Morrisons at 180.9p.

In Knaresborough, the Co-op on Manse Road has the most expensive petrol at 184.9p.

The Otley Road cycle path has seen drastic alterations to the road and pavement but the sheer number of signs erected has been called confusing and damaging to Harrogate’s visual appearance.

North Yorkshire County Council, which is behind the £2m scheme, has erected 37 new signs to let cyclists, pedestrians and motorists know where the path starts and ends.

It means blue and white signs dominate the eyeline on a stretch of road in Harrogate that is less than half a mile long.

Critics of the scheme suggest if the cycle path had a better or more streamlined design, it wouldn’t need so many signs.

‘It’s confusing’

Harrogate Civic Society was formed in 1971 with an aim to preserve the appearance of the town.

Members of the group walked the cycle path route last week and were disappointed by the volume of signs.

Its chair, Stuart Holland, said the group would like to see some of them removed.

He added:

“We think there are too many signs. We’d welcome a reduction. We think there needs to be more clarity about where cyclists go as it is confusing. As a society, we encourage less signage in the town.”

Read more:

• Next phase of Otley Road cycle path delayed and reviewed
• Cycling group to meet council to raise concerns about Otley Road cycle path

‘Street clutter’

Otley Road resident Chris Dicken has been an outspoken critic of the scheme since it was first proposed several years ago.

He said he warned North Yorkshire County Council about the number of signs but “they didn’t listen”.

He said:

“My argument is that it’s not much of a design if you need that many signs to alert people to the cycle path and then of course many cyclists either don’t understand it’s a one way system or choose to ignore it. That’s not even taking account of the impact on the environment in a town that is proud of its heritage and its green credentials.

“Most towns are looking to reduce street clutter. Here, North Yorkshire County Council are adding lots to it. This is all in a short distance too, with many more to come for the next phase.

“To me, as a main artery into the town, Otley Road should be of a high standard and make visitors welcome with a tree-lined boulevard. Instead we get grass and tree removal and a plethora of blue and white signs. It has certainly disturbed the ambience of my road.”

Mr Dicken will meet North Yorkshire County Council next month as a representative of Harlow and Pannal Ash Residents’ Association to discuss the next phase of the cycle path, which will connect Arthur’s Avenue to Beech Grove.

He is pessimistic that the number of signs will be reduced for phase 2 because the route has already been designed.

However, he is more hopeful for phase 3, which will connect the route up towards Cardale Park. Mr Dicken hopes to see a “better-designed” route and far fewer signs.

Council’s response

Melisa Burnham, North Yorkshire County Council’s highways area manager, said:

“All signs within the Otley Road cycle way scheme are as indicated in the designs presented at the public engagement event in 2019 and subsequently published on our website.

“Appropriate signage is important in mitigating the risk of conflict between cyclists and pedestrians using the space. The signs, all of which are within highway land, were identified as necessary to the improvement scheme.

“We will be inviting stakeholders, including representatives of the residents’ association and the civic society, to a workshop in May to discuss detailed designs for phase two of the scheme. The workshop will also present details of the wider Harrogate sustainable transport packages, recognising the key links to the Otley cycle route that will be made in the future.

“Mr Dicken has previously raised concerns about aspects of the scheme, including conflicts between road users, though not signage. We have corresponded about those concerns. After the engagement event in 2019, our designers met Mr Dicken on site to discuss the designs in detail.

“We have invited Mr Dicken to meet officers again after next month’s workshop, should he wish to discuss any of his concerns further.”

Villagers in Bishop Monkton say climate change has led to increased flooding in their village over the past decade — and two housing developments, with a total of 125 new homes, will exacerbate the problem.

Bishop Monkton Action Group was formed two years ago to raise awareness in the village about a 98-home development on Moor Road by Alfa Homes and 25-homes by Kebbell Developments on Knaresborough Road.

The group’s members are residents Kenneth Barker, Jonathan Beer, Harvey Bigg, Martin Minett, Raj Selvarajan and Bob Upton.

Both sites in the village, which is five miles south of Ripon, were allocated for development in Harrogate Borough Council’s Local Plan, which means they are likely to be approved in some form.

But the action group is holding out hope that they will be dismissed outright because surface water at the two sites will run off into Bishop Monkton Beck, a small river that runs through the village.

Major implications

The group says freak flood events are becoming more common in the village.

One resident submitted an objection to both developments that said from 2011 to 2020 the village faced nine days of floods, which was the same as the previous 50 years combined.

A spokesperson for the action group said

“The wider cumulative impacts of these developments will have major implications to the village in our view.”

The Alfa Homes proposal

Read more:

• Plan to build new classroom at Bishop Monkton school
• Plan to expand Bishop Monkton caravan site

Flood risk assessment

A flood risk assessment submitted on behalf of Alfa Homes says surface water from the development will be discharged into Bishop Monkton Beck, which the Environment Agency classes as a river.

The developer said it has factored in a 30% increase in rainfall due to climate change but the risk of flooding would remain low.

A flood assessment submitted on behalf of the smaller Kebbel Developments scheme said surface water run-off into the river “will not increase flood risk elsewhere.”

That scheme will store water in a tank before it is discharged into the river.

However, members of the action group fear the two schemes, as well as a plan to increase the number of caravans on a local holiday site, could make flood events like those seen in 2015 and 2020 worse.

The two applications have almost 300 objections between them, with many people citing fears about flooding in the village.

North Yorkshire County Council, which is the flood authority, said HBC should refuse the application on flood grounds. It said:

“[The development] will ultimately increase the risk of flooding and exacerbate an already flood prone area; potentially further jeopardising people, property and critical infrastructure.”

Mike Mulligan, director at Kebbell Developments, sent the following response:

“The site is allocated for residential development in the adopted Harrogate Local Plan and therefore the principle of development has already been established. The comments and concerns of local residents on surface water flooding are noted and our engineers are liaising with the relevant bodies on the detailed design of the on-site attenuation and drainage scheme.

“We can confirm that the surface water drainage scheme for the development will meet all the necessary requirements. The key principle of the scheme is to ensure that the surface water is attenuated on the site in a large storage tank before being slowly discharged into the Beck at an agreed discharge rate.”

Afla Homes did not send a response at the time of publication

Harrogate-based charity Disability Action Yorkshire has explained why many pedestrian crossings in Harrogate town centre do not make a beeping sound to let blind or visually impaired people know it is safe to cross.

It follows a Stray Ferret article published on Saturday about Harrogate man John Raho, 80, who relies on the noise to help him cross the road safely when vehicles stop and the green man appears.

But from the top of Cheltenham Parade up Station Parade and to the Victoria Avenue junction, 9 out of 10 crossings did not make any noise at all, which Mr Raho said was ‘shameful’.

Mr Raho received some messages of support on social media from people who named other pedestrian crossings in the district where they would like to hear a beeping noise.

Could be confusing

Disability Action Yorkshire was founded 84 years ago and helps disabled people live the life of their choosing.

It has headquarters and a training centre on Hornbeam Park, a residential care home on Claro Road, and a holiday lodge in Lincolnshire.

Its chief executive Jackie Snape said she sympathised with Mr Raho’s plight but said having too many crossings making the noise could be confusing.

Ms Snape said:

“[Crossings that don’t beep] is something we hear quite a lot but I do fully understand the reasons.

“It’s where there are two or three crossings close to each other. People could get confused and walk into the roads.”

Jackie Snape, Disability Action Yorkshire chief executive.

Read more:

• Partially sighted Harrogate man says it’s ‘shameful’ that many crossings don’t beep
• New Harrogate Leon set to open early May

Ms Snape said there needed to be greater awareness that crossings that don’t beep have a small cone underneath that can be touched. The cone turns when the green man lights up to indicate it is safe to cross.

But she added that since covid, many people did not feel comfortable touching it.

Many crossings have a plastic cone underneath that turns when it is safe to cross

Victoria Avenue junction

Whilst Ms Snape said it would be confusing to have too many crossings on Station Parade making the beeping noise, the silent crossing at the Victoria Avenue junction “needs looking at” because it wasn’t in close proximity to other crossings.

She said crossings like this should be reported to North Yorkshire County Council through its website.

Ms Snape said:

“We’ve reported machines in the past when they have stopped working. Unless they are reported, the council does not know they are not working properly.”

Ms Snape added that if any blind or partially sighted person would like to report a crossing that does not make a beeping noise, the charity can do it on their behalf through its website or by calling 01423 855419.

North Yorkshire County Council will trial collecting the grass it cuts from verges, saying cuttings that have for years been left to rot away are “a potential revenue-earner”.

The council will examine the commercial demand for harnessing energy from the cuttings to boost the country’s electricity supply while also improving the biodiversity and appearance of its road network.

The authority has approved investigating the benefits of taking grass cuttings to one or more anaerobic digesters as it continues trials of alternate rural grass cutting regimes to identify ways it can help to enhance flora, while ensuring changes grass cutting regimes do not impact on highway safety.

It comes days after Harrogate Borough Council said it intended to repeat last year’s experiment of leaving parts of the Stray to grow wild to encourage biodiversity.

Three-year trial

The trials at about 20 locations across the county are set to last three years.

Following the authority significantly reducing the amount of verge mowing in 2015 to save an annual £500,000 as part of austerity cutbacks, grass cutting and verge management has continued to be one of the leading issues raised by residents.

With county council-funded cuts in urban and rural areas reduced to five and two per season respectively, the authority has been approached by several town councils seeking to enhance biodiversity in their communities.

Read more:

• Harrogate council to repeat Stray rewilding experiment
• Harrogate district residents’ chance to learn about new North Yorkshire Council

An officer’s report states while cut grass is currently left on the verges to decompose, the authority is preparing a proposal for funding from its Beyond Carbon programme to allow for a commercial cut and collect operation to be assessed, alongside identifying the “wider appetite for verge cutting material” from anaerobic digestion firms.

Cllr Don Mackenzie, the authority’s executive member for access, said although collecting the cuttings would cost more, the grass could be used at the Allerton Waste Recovery Plant near Knaresborough to generate electricity and make money for the authority.

He said:

“If you remove the grass cuttings, the advantage to the environment is it makes the soil much less fertile which would encourage the growth of the sorts of wildflowers, such as buttercups, poppies and cornflowers that people would like to see on their verges.

“Leaving the grass cuttings on the verges tends to encourage only the growth of nettles and course grass.”

The authority’s leadership believes that with the relatively simple change of collecting the cuttings they could see what was a lose-lose situation transform into a win-win one.

Cllr Mackenzie said:

“You get criticism from both sides of the spectrum. Certain people say because some verges have been left uncut they look untidy while others question why the verges are being cut as it doesn’t encourage biodiversity. While we get criticism from both sides, if we are in the middle we are just about getting it right.”

Two-way traffic lights will be installed on Otley Road, between Harrogate and Beckwithshaw, from Monday until Friday May 6.

North Yorkshire County Council will put the lights next to Persimmon Homes’ Harlow Hill Grange development whilst roadworks take place.

According to the council’s website, works include installing new street lights and signs, connecting gullies to a ditch and building a new footpath.

Motorists using the section of Otley Road closer to Harrogate have faced over a year of disruption due to the construction of the Otley Road cycle path. Phase two is set to start later this year.

Read more:

• Harrogate’s Otley Road cycle route ‘on budget’ despite problems
• Next phase of Otley Road cycle path delayed and reviewed

A transport assessment that suggests Persimmon Homes’ 181-home development on Kingsley Drive will not significantly increase traffic in the area has been called ‘fundamentally flawed’ by a Harrogate building surveyor.

The housebuilder submitted its latest proposal for the site this month after a larger development for 217 homes was rejected by councillors last year.

Persimmon commissioned transport consultant Bryan G Hall to undertake a transport assessment to assess how the homes would impact nearby roads.

At over 500 pages long, his report includes measurements, surveys and conclusions about traffic in the area.

It found the impact of the extra homes on local roads would not be ‘severe’.

The report concluded:

“The residual cumulative impact of the proposed residential development on the road network cannot be considered to be ‘severe’ and there are therefore no traffic or highways related reasons why planning permission should not be granted for this site.”

Visuals of the Persimmon Homes plan for Kingsley Drive.

However, Steve Marshall, owner of surveyors Airedale Surveys and a member of Kingsley Ward Action Group, spent five days reviewing the document, which he called on the council to reject.

Mr Marshall said this was because one of the traffic surveys took place when part of Kingsley Drive was closed due to roadworks.

He also said the report ignored how the extra homes will impact the nearby Empress roundabout.

Disputed surveys

Mr Marshall disputed a claim in the report that Rydal Road, Birstwith Road and Leyland Road, which all have junctions with Kingsley Drive and Knaresborough Road, were not being used as ‘rat runs’.

North Yorkshire County Council, which is in charge of roads in the district, had specifically asked Persimmon to look at the rat run issue in the transport assessment, as well as how fast vehicles were travelling on the three roads.

Persimmon undertook traffic surveys on the roads from July 31 to August 6 2020 but Mr Marshall said this took place when part of Kingsley Drive was closed.

“The bottom half of Kingsley Drive was shut due to road works during the whole period of the survey. This means no one had access to the three surveyed roads along the rat run route.”

Read more:

• Plea for ‘moratorium’ on controversial 181-home Kingsley development
• Starbeck residents pledge to fight 181-home Kingsley Drive plans ‘tooth and nail’

Mr Marshall criticised the report for not taking into account trips generated at two nearby housing developments of 165 homes.

He also said the surveys did not factor in how the homes would impact the Empress roundabout and the Granby Road/Skipton Road junction during rush hour.

Mr Marshall wrote:

“This roundabout causes massive queues at rush hour despite Harrogate Borough Council’s Transport Background Paper of August 2018 saying it is not a problem junction.

“There cannot be any justification for allowing this development as it stands if one of the key assessments and the subject uppermost in the minds of local residents, ie the traffic assessment, is fundamentally flawed.”

Persimmon’s response

In February, representatives from Persimmon, as well as highways consultant Geoff Bowman from Bryan G Hall, fielded questions from residents in Starbeck about the plans, which included the transport assessment.

Residents queried Mr Bowman about the traffic surveys and suggested they did not give an accurate picture of how many cars use the area.

Mr Bowman said:

“There has been very extensive surveys of traffic in the area. There is a perception that we are nasty developers and it’s dead easy to get through planning, but the highways authority are rigorous.”

The Stray Ferret asked Persimmon Homes for a response but we had not received one by the time of publication.

North Yorkshire County Council has said it will use two new state-of-the-art machines to blitz potholes across the county this month.

The machines are able to fix the potholes through a technique called spray injection patching.

With this method, the machines clean and dry the holes then fill them with a cold bitumen compound to seal cracks. Finally, an aggregate is used to fill the hole.

The county council said in a press release yesterday that acquiring the machines would enable it to undertake “an extended programme of pothole repairs across many North Yorkshire neighbourhoods during March”.

It added “local communities will be informed of locations and anticipated dates for the work very shortly”.

The council was encouraged by a recent trial of the machines and believes they are a cheaper and quicker way to fill in potholes. It also said repairs can last longer.

Read more:

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• Stray Views: More houses in Harrogate district should mean lower council tax

Conservative councillor Don Mackenzie, executive member for highways, said:

“The trials carried out were very successful and this is a great opportunity to repair more roads.

“This is good news for residents of North Yorkshire, spray injection patching is a much quicker process of repairing potholes and the repairs tend to last a lot longer.

“It offers a cost-effective way of repairing potholes whilst reducing the inconvenience to the travelling public. We have also secured the services of this specialist equipment later in the year.”

A multi-million pound project to upgrade junction 47 on the A1(M) at Flaxby will be completed by the end of this month.

Work began at the start of September 2020 to widen slip roads and install traffic lights to prevent vehicles queueing.

The project, carried out by contractors Farrans Construction on behalf of North Yorkshire County Council, also involves upgrading the road network just off the junction.

Work was originally due to be completed in September 2021 but has encountered several delays. The council blamed ‘unforeseen ground conditions’ and the discovery of great crested newts for setting the project back.

Final repair works on the A168 bridge and verges along with resurfacing of the A59 will run from March 14 to 26 under overnight weekday closures.

Read more:

• Police investigate serious crash on Cold Bath Road
• 23 trees in Knaresborough to be felled this week for new leisure centre

Once the traffic signals are installed there will be a period where the signal timings are adjusted by engineers to the optimum settings for traffic flow conditions. This may result in some extra delays during March and April.

Conservative councillor Andy Paraskos, member for the Ainsty division, added:

“The upcoming works will involve repairs, resurfacing as well as the installation of road markings and traffic loops. For the safety of our workforce this must be carried out under a full road closure and we apologise in advance for any inconvenience this essential work may cause.

Conservative county councillor Don Mackenzie, executive member for access, said:

“The finish line is in sight for this important scheme which will support the future growth of the Harrogate and Knaresborough areas.

“The scheme promises to reduce congestion and improve road safety at this major junction. It is a great example of how we are delivering on our aim to improve east-west connections across North Yorkshire.”

Rising costs

The council initially earmarked £7.7m for the project, but it said last year it now expected it to cost over £10m.

The project is being funded by the council, with £2.47m from the government’s Local Growth Fund along with contributions from Highways England and developer Forward Investment LLP.

The Stray Ferret has asked the council for the current cost of the project but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

North Yorkshire Police has confirmed that an investigation into missing Porsche sports cars at a former Knaresborough dealership Gmund Cars is still ongoing.

The police launched its investigation in the summer of 2019 after allegations from customers that Gmund transferred ownership of more than £1 million worth of cars without their permission.

In July 2019, North Yorkshire Police arrested a man in his fifties but no charges have been brought currently.

No further arrests have been made since the investigation began.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesperson said last week:

“The investigation is ongoing and as such we cannot provide any further statement.”

Frustration

One customer of Gmund, who asked not to be named, told the Stray Ferret last week that they are “very frustrated” with the pace of the investigation.

The customer bought a car from Gmund but said they have been told by the police they are not able to sell or modify it until the investigation is complete.

They said:

Read more:

• How Harrogate Borough Council responded to a complaint around Cllr Mearns and Gmund Cars
• Exclusive: Harrogate MP aide and councillor at centre of £1 million Porsche investigation
• Harrogate MP refuses to answer Porsche investigation questions

History

The company started in 2006 and built up a strong reputation as a place that bought and sold classic Porsche cars.

In 2020, six alleged victims told the Stray Ferret spoke to about their experiences with the firm.

The company, which was based at the Nidd Valley Business Park, has now been dissolved and its owner Andrew Mearns was declared bankrupt.

His wife, the former Conservative councillor for Knaresborough Scriven Park, Samantha Mearns, was company secretary until December 2018.

Ms Mearns told the Stray Ferret in 2020 she was never interviewed by police in relation to the allegations.

In July 2021, she resigned from the council and moved to Wales citing family reasons.