Harrogate Civic Society has objected to plans to designate the Stray as common land.
The Open Spaces Society applied to register Harrogate’s 200-acre expanse as common land, a move which has been met with opposition by some in the town.
Andrew Jones, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP, and the Stray Defence Association have already objected to the proposal.
Now, the town’s civic society has become the latest to declare its opposition to the plan.
In a letter to North Yorkshire Council, Henry Pankhurst, of the Harrogate Civic Society, said registering the Stray as common land would lead to “confusion” as it is already covered by the Harrogate Stray Act 1985.
He said:
“If Stray land were to appear on the Commons Registration Act map then it would show up on local search results for property purchasers etc.
“This does not however outweigh the potential for confusion if both the Stray Act and the Commons Registration Act apply to the same land.”
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Mr Pankhurst added that the public had been consulted on changes to the Stray Act in 2016/17 and “made it clear that the act should not be changed”.
The move comes after the Open Spaces Society tabled a bid to register the Stray as common land back in January.
Founded in 1865 as the Commons Preservation Society, the OSS is Britain’s oldest national conservation body. Its past victories include the preservation of Hampstead Heath, Wimbledon Common and Epping Forest.
When the Commons Registration Act 1965 came into force, the Stray was exempted from inclusion in the common land register, but following the passing of the Commons Act 2006, the OSS has been trying to register such exempted land and wants to bring the Stray “back into the fold”.
When the application was made earlier this year, OSS case officer Hugh Craddock said:
700 people take part in Harrogate Race for Life“The decision in the 1960s to keep the Stray off the registers was understandable but misguided.
“Only a quarter of one per cent of registered common land was exempted from registration, and exemption proved to be both misleading and unhelpful. The Stray has always been common land, and ought to be registered as common land.”
About 700 people took part in the Race for Life fundraising event in Harrogate on Sunday, generating £95,000 for cancer research.
The number appears to be sharply down on last year, when some 1,400 people pledged to take part.
Cancer Research UK organises Race for Life events across the country to fund scientists to find new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer.
Participants on the Stray dodged the thunder storms to take part in 3k, 5k or 10k events.
Lisa Millett, Cancer Research UK’s spokesperson in Harrogate, said numbers were down because there wasn’t a Pretty Muddy or Pretty Muddy Kids event this year.
She said the charity was “incredibly grateful to everyone who took part”, adding:
“The atmosphere at Race for Life Harrogate was hugely moving — full of emotion, courage, tears and laughter as people celebrated the lives of those dear to them who have survived cancer and remembered loved ones lost to the disease.
“Now we’re asking everyone who took part to return the money they’re raised as soon as possible.”
Race for Life has raised over £940m towards life-saving research since it began 30 years ago. More than 10 million people have taken part.
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MP and campaigners oppose registering Stray as common land
The debate over the Stray’s official designation has been rekindled following an intervention by Andrew Jones, MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough.
He became involved in the controversy after the Open Spaces Society applied to register Harrogate’s 200-acre expanse as common land, a move which has been met with opposition by some in the town.
Mr Jones wrote to the general secretary of the OSS seeking more information about the application. He said:
“After reading it carefully it was still difficult to see why the Open Spaces Society had made this application. I was unclear what it would achieve and why this designation was needed when we already have law – the Stray Act – giving the area protection.
“The Stray Act has served us well. It limits large-scale use of the land; changes can only be made after Parliamentary scrutiny, and where the Stray is damaged it has to be restored by law.”
Founded in 1865 as the Commons Preservation Society, the OSS is Britain’s oldest national conservation body. Its past victories include the preservation of Hampstead Heath, Wimbledon Common and Epping Forest.
When the Commons Registration Act 1965 came into force, the Stray was exempted from inclusion in the common land register, but following the passing of the Commons Act 2006, the OSS has been trying to register such exempted land and wants to bring the Stray “back into the fold”.
When the application was made in January 2023, OSS case officer Hugh Craddock said:
“The decision in the 1960s to keep the Stray off the registers was understandable but misguided. Only a quarter of one per cent of registered common land was exempted from registration, and exemption proved to be both misleading and unhelpful. The Stray has always been common land, and ought to be registered as common land.”
Frances Kerner, the OSS’ commons re-registration officer who made the application, added:
“Registration can only reinforce the protection already afforded to the Stray under the Harrogate Stray Act 1985. The land will also become protected under the Commons Act 2006. And registration will ensure that those who buy and sell land adjacent to the common are always notified of its protected status.”
‘Unnecessary and alarming’
But Judy d’Arcy Thompson, chair of the Stray Defence Association (SDA), said the application was unnecessary as the Stray already enjoyed three layers of protection: it is Crown land; it was granted in 1778 to the people of Harrogate “forever hereafter” under the Enclosures Act of 1770; and it is safeguarded by the Harrogate Stray Act 1985.
Writing to the commons registration officer at North Yorkshire Council, she said:
“The SDA has been contacted by many who are worried and would like to know what is going to happen. All are bewildered as they have always felt certain that their beloved Stray was already fully protected and they are alarmed in equal measure as to what might happen should the OSS application be approved.”
A drone image of West Park Stray. Picture: David Simister
Ms d’Arcy Thompson also pointed to the fact that some parts of the Stray are not connected with the main 200-acre expanse, such as land in the Woodlands area and the grass verges, or “slips”, along Wetherby Road, Skipton Road and Knaresborough Road. She said if the Stray was designated common land, some people could theoretically be barred from crossing those verges, effectively denying them access to their own property.
She also feared that the OSS may be working from the wrong maps – a concern first raised by the late Harrogate historian Malcolm Neesam.
She said:
“This kind of designation has happened elsewhere and has caused such legal machinations that in some cases it has ended up in the High Court and cost a lot of money. We don’t want that to happen here.
“It might not turn out like that here, but knowing how careful people have to be with maps and boundaries, the OSS only need to get one small thing wrong to cause a lot of trouble. This may prove to be a legal minefield in the making.”
‘It would strengthen protection’
In its reply to Mr Jones, the OSS said that, using a mechanism provided by Part 1 of the Commons Act 2006, its policy is now to apply to register as common land all exempted land in North Yorkshire, including the Stray. It said:
“Registration will ensure that the exempted land properly is recognised as registered common land and will be reported as such on a search conducted in relation to a purchase of land or house adjacent to the common (where for example access is required over the common).
“It will also ensure that the land definitively is brought within the protection of Part 3 of the 2006 Act, which provides for controls on works on common land, with a régime for the Secretary of State to consent to such works.”
It added:
“The controls in Part 3 of the 2006 Act will be in addition to those set out in the Harrogate Stray Act 1985. Far from weakening the 1985 Act regime, registration will strengthen the protection for the Stray.”
But Mr Jones said:
“In the response from the Open Spaces Society I could still see no positive reason to progress this application. They may think that the exemption in 1965 was misguided and they may have some blanket policy they are implementing from their Henley-on-Thames HQ. But the important thing is to ensure the Stray is protected rather than ticking some policy box.
“The Stray Act is very powerful protection. That will not change, so the question remains about the purpose of this new common land application. I simply haven’t yet been given any meaningful reasons by the Open Spaces Society to support their proposal.”
Ms d’Arcy Thompson also remains unswayed. She said:
“We’re not being petty – we’re just foreseeing potential problems. Why open the Pandora’s box to possible litigation here, there and everywhere?
“It’s all ifs and buts and maybes, but we don’t want to see something happen that could cause stress and expense when the status quo works very well.”
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Mum of boy seriously injured on school run in Harrogate issues plea for 20mph limit
The mother of a 15-year-old boy seriously injured in a collision on the way to school in Harrogate has issued an emotional plea for road safety improvements.
Stephanie Talbot’s son Reuben was one of two Rossett School students hit by a pick-up truck on Yew Tree Lane on February 2.
Four months on from the collision, she has given her backing to a campaign to impose a 20mph limit on streets across a swathe of south and west Harrogate.
In a statement read by road safety campaigner and fellow parent Jenny Marks at today’s meeting of North Yorkshire Council‘s Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency committee, she said:
“They were on the pavement [when they were hit]. My daughter was also involved in the collision as her car was hit by the same truck. My youngest son was right behind his brother on the pavement and so witnessed the whole incident.
“My husband and I were right there within a few minutes of the accident happening. Reuben’s body had landed in positions it should never be in.
“Pieces of wall had to be removed from his body and he had eight broken bones: arms, leg and back… I was later told that when the paramedics arrived his stats showed that he could easily have died while on the ground there.
“I will never get over what I saw and heard that day.”
Some members of the committee were moved to tears as Dr Marks continued to read Ms Talbot’s statement.
It said her daughter had never felt safe walking to school in the area and had even been hit by a car near Rossett Sports Centre last September – which also happened while she was on the path.
Ms Talbot said she felt a 20mph network around schools in Harrogate would make children and parents feel safer to walk and cycle around the area, adding:
“Putting action in place should not be done as a consequence to a child’s injury or even death, but this accident should be a wake-up call to all parents, grandparents and the community to know that we need to make a change in our beautiful but busy town to enable our children to feel safe.
“Seventeen weeks on and many aspects of our lives are still on hold because of these injuries. I cannot even explain the pain and trauma that we have all gone through and will live with for the rest of our lives.
“Please be the people that make a difference.”
Petition
Campaigners Hazel Peacock and Vicki Evans presented a petition at the meeting with 924 signatures from people in support of reducing the speed limit to 20mph across the Oatlands, Hookstone, Pannal Ash and St George’s areas, where around 9,000 children attend local schools.
Ms Peacock told the meeting that evidence from other projects around the UK showed the reduction could have a significant impact on the severity of collisions.
She added:
“You have just heard of the devastating effects of the collision on Yew Tree Lane in February, and you are also aware of the collision outside Oatlands Junior School, also on the pavement, in January.
“These awful events coupled with overwhelming evidence of the benefits of 20mph limits demonstrate why change is urgently needed.”
Hazel Peacock handed the petition to North Yorkshire Council last month, with support from councillors and campaigners
While councillors on all sides of the chamber gave their support to the calls for a reduced speed limit, the Conservatives highlighted the fact that a pilot project had already been requested.
North Yorkshire Council is developing a policy on 20mph limits around schools and other urban areas, and Cllr John Mann (Conservative, Oatlands and Pannal) said he was keen to see the results of that work guide how a lower speed limit could be used in the area.
Conservative Cllr Sam Gibbs of the Valley Gardens and Central Harrogate division said:
“I do have one very slight reservation: 99% of the roads that are in this scheme I don’t have an issue with. However, the main roads of Leeds Road and Otley Road would be a slight concern to me if they were brought in to 20mph.”
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Cllr Paul Haslam, the Conservative councillor for Bilton and Nidd Gorge, said there needed to be a shift in attitudes and behaviours to make the school run safer, adding:
“We can put in a 20mph speed limit, but at the end of the day it’s all about behavioural and attitude changes to this. When we did the stats on Harrogate in 2018, I think more than 60% of the journeys in this town are less than 1.8km – not even miles, 1.8km.
“Surely we should be able to walk those distances, and a lot of that is to do with school commuting.”
The Liberal Democrats put forward a motion in support of the petition, calling on North Yorkshire Council to deliver a 20mph limit on streets across the area.
The proposal was voted through and will be passed to NYC’s executive.
Liberal Democrat Cllr Matt Walker, representing the Knaresborough West division, added:
Trans-Pennine Run cancelled as organisers seek new Harrogate venue“This is an opportunity that we should not miss and we need to show the executive our views on this.
“This tragedy should not have happened and it’s within our gift to send that message on our views to the executive so that this does not happen to anybody else.”
A popular event that has been held in Harrogate for more than 50 years will not return this summer.
The Trans-Pennine Run, first staged in 1969, sees dozens of historic vehicles driven from Greater Manchester to Harrogate.
Residents and visitors would flock to the Stray along Oatlands Drive to look around the vans, lorries, buses and other vehicles after their arrival.
However, in 2019 the Stray was left unusable by heavy rain, leading the Historic Commercial Vehicle Society, which organises the event, to seek an alternative site.
It found a home at the Yorkshire Event Centre, on the Great Yorkshire Showground, and returned there in 2022 after a two-year break during the covid pandemic.
But this year, event chairman Chris Sant told supporters:
“The management of the Yorkshire Events Centre have informed us that the large area of hard standing that we have in past years used for the finish will not be available this year.
“I contacted them in early January to request the use of the site, and after confirming receipt of my request it [took] over two months to inform us that the area will be unavailable, leaving us too little time to find an alternative.”
Mr Sant said he was hopeful it would be possible to hold the Trans-Pennine Run again in 2024 and was working to find another location for the vehicles to convene at the end of the route.
A spokesperson for the Yorkshire Event Centre said no agreement had been made to use the venue this year, adding:
“We stepped in to help organisers two days before the Trans-Pennine Run in 2019 when their original site at the Stray was waterlogged. The event was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to covid and an agreement was made for it to be held again at the showground in 2022.
“Unfortunately, no agreement was put in place for 2023 and the area is now under offer for another event.”
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Ramshackle phone box transformed into Stray information point
A ramshackle red phone box in Harrogate has been moved and transformed into a history of the Stray.
The disused phone box on the Stray, just off Otley Road, had fallen into a dilapidated state.
So the Stray Defence Association, which safeguards the 200 acres of parkland against building and encroachment, hired a specialist renovation company to uplift it on March 16.
It was restored to its original bright scarlet and moved to a more prominent town centre spot on West Park Stray, where it stood beneath a white cover for several days.
Two children removed the covers at an unveiling ceremony this afternoon to reveal the new-look phone box with panels displaying the history of Harrogate’s Stray and the Stray Defence Association.
Its old position on the Stray, next to Otley Road, has been restored and reseeded to return it to Stray land.
Stray Defence Association chairman Judy d’Arcy Thompson and committee member Syd Bell
Judy D’Arcy Thompson, chairman of the Stray Defence Association, said:
“It is the Stray Defence Association’s hope that it will become a valued part of the West Park street scene and an intriguing and iconic information source for both local people and visitors to Harrogate.”
Today’s unveiling, which was attended by members of the Stray Defence Association, Harrogate In Bloom and Harrogate Civic Society, coincided with the 90th anniversary of the Stray Defence Association, which was formed on May 12, 1933
Cordelia, 7, and Harry, 5, performed the opening by cutting a ribbon to highlight how children are the future custodians of the Stray.
A Stray Defence Association donor paid for the renovation, which was approved by the Duchy of Lancaster and both Harrogate Borough Council and the new North Yorkshire Council.
The phone box being uplifted
Panels on the restored phone box tell the story of the Stray.
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Cherry trees on Harrogate’s Stray vandalised again
Three cherry trees in Harrogate have been vandalised in the latest incident of its kind on the Stray.
Nearby resident Cheryl Flint was upset to notice the snapped branches on the parkland off York Place this morning.
What appears to be a school tie is hanging from a branch opposite one of the damaged trees.
Another snapped branch
Ms Flint said:
“We wait all year for these beautiful trees to bloom — then some idiots think that it is acceptable for the mindless behaviour.”
The rows of cherry trees are a popular attraction on the Stray, particularly in spring when they blossom. But they have become a magnet for vandals.
The latest damage is less severe than that which occurred in August 2021 when eight trees were affected.
In October 2020, a police officer tweeted about a number of trees “destroyed and killed” on York Place Stray.
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Floral tribute to King Charles created in Harrogate
A floral tribute to King Charles has been created in Harrogate.
North Yorkshire Council‘s parks team created the eye-catching display on Stray land on Montpellier Hill. It is currently behind railings, which will be removed on Saturday’s coronation day.
The parks team made the royal cypher using a technique called carpet bedding, which involves using plants so compact and tightly knitted that the result looks like a woven carpet. The display will stay in place for 12 months.
Some of the parks team that worked on the display.
A council spokesperson said:
“The display is made up of more than 15,600 plants, including sedum, sempervivum and ajuga, which are all compact plants ideal for this type of display.
“The temporary fencing will be removed first thing on Saturday morning to enable people to enjoy the display fully.”
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£29,000 to be diverted from street light budget to pay for Stray lights
A total of £29,190 is to be diverted from the Harrogate district’s street lighting budget to pay for the replacement of decorative lights on the Stray.
The trees line the Stray around West Park, Otley Road, Leeds Road, Montpellier Hill and York Place and are a popular winter attraction.
Last autumn Harrogate Borough Council replaced the old sodium lights with energy-efficient LED bulbs and wrapped them round trunks to prevent them hanging from branches and getting damaged.
The new lighting being installed
In a report due before Cllr Mike Chambers, cabinet member for housing and safer communities at Harrogate Borough Council, council officers are set to request retrospective permission to pay for the lights.
The report says the cost of the new lights “has been partly funded by parks and environmental service budgets” but a £29,000 shortfall remained.
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The report says responsibility for annual maintenance of the Stray tree lights rests housing and property services.
It adds:
“However, parks and environmental services were able to provide one off funds to contribute from the cost of the new lights from underspends in the financial year 2021/22. This left a shortfall in funding of £29,000.
“The housing and property reserve includes £84,680 which has built up over the years in relation to street lighting cyclical works which had not been carried out.
“It is recommended that £29,190 of this should be utilised to fund the cost of Stray lights.”
The report adds the council has only received one complaint about the new lighting.
Boy, 15, robbed by men in balaclavas on the Stray in Harrogate
A 15-year-old boy was left shaken after being robbed by two men wearing balaclavas on the Stray in Harrogate.
Two men stole the boy’s beige tote bag containing spare clothes, a black North Face puffer jacket and wireless headphones.
North Yorkshire Police today issued an appeal for witnesses to the incident, which happened on Milton Way between 6.30pm and 8.30pm on Saturday.
It said in a statement:
“The boy did not suffer any injuries but was left very shaken by the incident.
“Witnesses or anyone who recalls suspicious behaviour in the area on Saturday evening are urged to come forward.”
The suspects are described as about 6ft tall, muscular builds, dark clothing including black puffer jackets with furry hoods. Both were wearing balaclavas.
Milton Way on the Stray leads to Leeds Road.
They ran off towards the Tewit Well area of Leeds Road.
Anyone that assist the investigation can email elizabeth.parry@northyorkshire.police.uk or call 101, select option 2, and ask for Elizabeth Parry.
If you wish to remain anonymous, you can pass information to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Quote the North Yorkshire Police reference number 12230044608.