An extraordinary meeting of Ripon City Council will be held this evening (Monday) to ‘consider the urgent matters on the site at Quarry Moor and to agree appropriate action.’
The children’s playground at the park has been closed since March after being attacked by vandals. It has suffered vandalism and anti-social behaviour on a regular basis.
The meeting, which starts at 7pm, will be held in the council chamber at Ripon Town Hall and is open to the public, who can question, seek clarification, or make
representation to members of the council.
On June 12, councillors attending a full council voted for the playground to remain closed for the foreseeable future.
The extraordinary meeting will be held in the council chamber at Ripon Town Hall.
The decision was taken in private session and confirmed in a statement on the council’s Facebook page, which said that the council:
“regretfully resolved not to reinstate the playground at Quarry Moor at the present time”.
It added:
“Unfortunately the site is being vandalised almost daily. We are working with North Yorkshire Police who are responding to the regular reports of anti-social behaviour when they occur.
“Until we can plan a way forward with our partners that includes measures that impact on the behaviour at the site we are unable to commit funds to the playground.
“We appreciate that this is caused by a small minority and that it is affecting our residents using the site. We are actively seeking solutions to the issue (and) will provide a further update as soon as possible.”
Quarry Moor is funded with an annual grant from the city council and the budget for 2023-24 financial year is £15,000.
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Victorian primary school in Harrogate undergoes major revamp
St Peter’s Church of England Primary School in the centre of Harrogate has completed one of the most substantial refurbishments in its history.
The school, which has 267 pupils, has spent £280,000 removing external fire escapes, creating additional classrooms and a new outside play area which includes parkour equipment.
Built in 1883, St Peter’s was Harrogate’s first purpose-built hospital. The hospital was closed in 1932 and then bought a few years later and turned into a school.
Today it is part of the multi-academy Yorkshire Causeway Schools Trust which includes St Aidan’s Church of England High School and a number of other Church of England and community schools in the district.
The refurbishment work meant multiple projects at the same time — all crammed into the summer holidays to avoid disrupting the children’s education during term time.
Headteacher Mr Paul Griffiths said:
“We are delighted to have completed this ambitious schedule over the summer holiday to enhance our facilities for the benefit of children, families and our dedicated and talented staff team.
“With fantastic support from Yorkshire Causeway Schools Trust we been able to achieve such a huge amount in a short space of time.
“We love the deep history and period features of our Victorian building with its lovely high ceilings and great picture windows and are delighted to be modernising this historic building for the benefit of children and families.”
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The school’s business manager Amanda Foster told the Stray Ferret that there was still more to be done at St Peter’s but for this round of work they’d thought hard about their priorities:
“We had to balance what needed to be done in terms of structural work versus what would directly benefit the children – such as the improved play area.
“With a building this old there are still major restoration needs so we are applying for more grants to get that work done.
“The work we’ve achieved this summer will make a massive difference to our pupils”
Part of the new playground area at St Peter’s