A £1 million penalty paid by Yorkshire Water for polluting Hookstone Beck should have been awarded to a Harrogate group, according to the local councillor.

Yorkshire Water said last week it had agreed to pay £500,000 to York-based Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and £500,000 to Pateley Bridge-based Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust.

The payments were to atone for an unauthorised sewage discharge that polluted Harrogate's Hookstone Beck in 2016 and killed fish.

Cllr Pat Marsh, a Liberal Democrat who represents Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone on North Yorkshire Council, said the money could have paid for "desperately needed" repairs in Hookstone Woods.

Cllr Marsh, who is also chairman of Hookstone and Stonefall Action Group, said she was "outraged" by the pollution and the decision to spend the penalty elsewhere, without consulting local councillors, "rubbed salt in the wounds".

She said volunteers at HASAG, who look after the Pan Handle, Stonefall Park and Hookstone Wood, were trying to raise money to rebuild the willow bridge that connects two ponds in Hookstone Wood.

Cllr Marsh said:

Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust will use the funding on developing the iNidd campaign to improve the River Nidd.

Read more:

• Yorkshire Water pays record £1m to charities after polluting Harrogate beck


• River Nidd clean-up campaign boosted by £500,000 from Yorkshire Water