Building thousands of new homes in Harrogate could lead to more raw sewage ending up in the River Nidd, the Harrogate & District Green Party has warned.
A Stray Ferret investigation published this morning revealed Yorkshire Water released raw sewage into rivers and becks such as the Nidd, Ure and Coppice Beck for 36,000 hours last year.
Water companies are legally allowed to release sewage through overflow pipes when the sewage system becomes too full.
New housing developments are being built on Skipton Road and Penny Pot Lane.
With more developments proposed for Otley Road. it could mean over 4,000 new homes being built on the western side of Harrogate alone.
The Greens say Oak Beck, which runs from near Beckwithshaw, through the west of Harrogate and into the River Nidd, could suffer the brunt of this.
Oak Beck
Arnold Warneken, who is standing for the party in the upcoming North Yorkshire County Council Bilton and Nidd Gorge by-election, said more needed to be done to tackle the problem.
He said:
“Whose job is it to mitigate the negative impacts of housing developments on the environment?
“We would like to see that any developments in this area are built with consideration to the combined sewer overflows, that Yorkshire Water fixes long-standing issues, and ensures new housing developments do not exaggerate these issues.”
Read more
- Raw sewage released into Harrogate district rivers for 36,000 hours last year
- River Nidd fails water pollution tests due to raw sewage
Yorkshire Water said yesterday it is investing £137m in storm overflow improvements, investigation and increased monitoring by 2025.
Christmas waste and recycling in the Harrogate district“We are also investigating the environmental impact of 158 frequent spilling overflows as part of the Water Industry National Environment Programme.
“As frequency of spill does not necessarily equate to environmental harm and environmental permits do not set spill threshold limits, these investigations will be key to understanding environmental impact, and what action needs to be taken to resolve any impacts.”
Waste and recycling centres in the Harrogate district will be open every day over the festive period except Christmas Day, Boxing Day, December 30 and New Year’s Day.
The North Yorkshire County Council household waste recycling centres on Wetherby Road and Pennypot Lane in Harrogate, and Dallamires Crescent in Ripon will be open from 8.30am to 4pm.
The centres accept discarded electrical goods, Christmas packaging, broken Christmas lights, household batteries and Christmas trees.
Good reusable toys can be donated to the Reuse Santa appeal within the reuse containers at the recycling centres. Toys will go to the No Wrong Door campaign and other charities.
Wrapping paper that passes the scrunch test (if you scrunch the paper in your hand and it stays in a ball) can be put in blue recycling bags for kerbside collection. Check collection dates over the holiday period.
Read more:
North Yorkshire County Council’s household waste recycling centres in the district are managed on the council’s behalf by private firm Yorwaste.
County Councillor Andrew Lee, executive member for business and environmental services, said:
Bin collection staff verbally abused for not picking up extra waste“Working together, the county council and Yorwaste are continuing to give residents the opportunity to recycle as much as they can over this Christmas period.”
The public sector workers union, unison, has called on a small minority of residents of the Harrogate district to stop verbally abusing the bin collection teams when they don’t pick up all the curbside waste.
Branch secretary David Houlgate said
“There is a small minority that, maybe through frustration or anxiety caused by the lockdown, think its fine to verbally abuse the staff. Let’s be clear those staff are working at increased risk for themselves in delivering this vital service and do not deserve to be treated in such a way. This usually happens when a decision is taken not to take some items put out for waste removal.”
The teams of 120 workers who cover waste, recycling and green bin collections are having to deal with increased amounts being left for them on the side of roads. Currently all the recycling centres in North Yorkshire are closed.
The collection teams in Harrogate have also seen acts of gratitude and kindness with messages of thanks left on bins which Mr Houlgate said have been uplifting for the staff. Staff from the districts leisure centres and parks division have been pulled into work on waste collections- unison says there are legal limits on what the trucks can carry and guidelines on what the crews can and cannot collect.