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20
Jan 2024
Frustration after Ripon dog park plans deferred at last minute
Around 50 Mickley villagers were left frustrated on Thursday when councillors deferred making a decision on plans to turn an agricultural field into a dog park.
North Yorkshire Council's Skipton and Ripon planning committee met at Ripon Town Hall in the hope of considering plans by Ms L Furlong to create a secure place for up to 12 dogs to exercise off-lead.
The site is located south of Mickley, which is a village five miles from Ripon and about the same distance from Masham.
It’s bordered by farmland currently occupied by grazing sheep and breeding ewes, which led a council officer to recommend the plans for refusal due to noise from the dogs potentially worrying the sheep.
However, on the morning of the meeting the council received a fresh representation from the National Sheep Association, which had previously objected to the plans and wanted to add that permission had not been sought from all the farmers who own land next to the proposed dog field.
The organisation added:
The public gallery was packed with people but before the meeting was due to get underway, a council officer intervened to say that no decision would be made on the day.
This was because of the new information from the National Sheep Association which the officer said could change their recommendation to councillors, meaning a new report would have to be drafted.
The officer wanted to continue by giving a presentation on the plans but councillors instead voted to end the meeting.
Cllr Andrew Williams (Conservatives and Independents, Ripon Minster and Moorside division) said for an objection to be put forward so late in the day was “simply not acceptable”.
He added:
His comments were backed by Cllr Nick Brown (Conservative, Wathvale and Bishop Monkton). He said:
After the meeting ended, chair Cllr Nathan Hull (Conservative, Washburn and Birstwith), told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the committee had no choice to defer the meeting as due process had to be followed. He suggested the plans could come back to councillors either next month or in March.
But the decision did not go down well with those who had travelled down from Mickley.
One resident told the Local Democracy Reporting Service :
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