Stanley Mackintosh, who called for a referendum on Ripon Cathedral’s £8m annexe, has withdrawn from the process and requested the parish meeting that was due to debate his own proposals be cancelled.

However, the meeting at Holy Trinity Church is still set to take place on Monday at 6pm without his support.

This is because a notice has already been published and advertised, according to Ripon City Council.

Mr Mackintosh told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he would not participate in the meeting after he received legal advice related to an alleged assault on him last year. The incident is under investigation by North Yorkshire Police following a complaint by Mr Mackintosh.

A police spokesperson confirmed a man voluntarily attended an interview and was released under investigation to allow further enquiries to take place.

Mr Mackintosh told the LDRS he now wants to take a “back seat” as it would “not be appropriate” to comment publicly on cathedral matters at present.

It now means the referendum, also called a parish poll, is unlikely to take place and the parish meeting could be a short one.



Ripon City Council leader Andrew Williams told the LDRS that it was “not Stanley Mackintosh’s meeting to cancel so it will have to go ahead”.

He said the council had booked the church at a cost of £400 which would have to be honoured. He described the parish poll proposals as a “complete waste of council time and resources”.

Cllr Williams suggested that Mr Mackintosh had lost the support of the 10 people needed at the meeting to call the poll. However, Mr Mackintosh disputed this and said he was confident he would still have had the backing.

Earlier today, the Save the Trees campaign group issued a statement that came out against the parish meeting and poll.

It said:

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