If I’d been given a fiver for every time I’ve been asked ‘How did they get permission for that?’ concerning the lodges under construction at Aysgarth Falls Hotel I would have over £100 now! Above: the lodges as can be seen from the main gates of St Andrew’s church.
For my report on how the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s planning committee came to that decision in October 2023 see Aysgarth Falls Hotel and River Pollution. That decision led to the founding of Stop Ure Pollution.
There is now an application to install open air baths at the lodges . Those will be connected to the foul water system and onto the small sewage treatment plant which discharges in the Ure above the Middle Falls. According to the plans submitted with that recent application the lodges won’t be visible from the church.
The main application for the lodges was made in January 2023 and, as a major development, was approved in October 2023. For a farmer in Kettlewell, however, it took over four years to obtain permission for a barn he so badly needed. He held a barn dance in May this year to celebrate once it was finally built. Below: a joyful barn dance.
And there are some more interesting planning applications and approvals.
Alastair Dinsdale, the chairman of the Association of Rural Communities, told the planning committee in November 2024 that without the evidence of livestock on the Howesyke Estate the application for a rural worker’s dwelling at Kidstones Gill Bridge in Bishopdale was a sham. No evidence was forthcoming – and the application was approved even though the applicants owned a nearby farmstead where the rural worker’s dwelling could have been located without being in the open countryside.
On May 20 this year a member of the YDNPA planning committee, Alan Kirkbride, told the committee that approval of an application involving Thorns Farm near Countersett would be for a development that would include two new buildings in open countryside. The planning officer had recommended approval but Mr Kirkbride warned ‘We have got to be very, very careful if we approve this that we aren’t setting a precedent.’ The committee decided there should be a site meeting and the application will be discussed again on July 15.
And at the YDNPA planning committee on April 15 North Yorkshire councillor Robert Heseltine pointed out that Natural England had used a barn at Chapel le Dale as an office, workshop and laboratory for 30 years without planning permission. He commented: ‘It’s a national body that has been operating out of sight and out of mind and then, when they have got sufficient years under the belt they come forward, not needing planning permission, [and apply] for a lawful development certificate. To my mind and to all other applicants particularly on the agricultural side that stinks – really stinks.’
The Association of Rural Communities agrees with North Yorkshire councillor Yvonne Peacock who stated: ‘‘We have got to start thinking about being consistent and being fair to all.’
Natural England did make changes to the application and it was approved by the planning committee on May 20.
Stop Ure Pollution
I was amazed at how soon Stop Ure Pollution came into being after I wrote an editorial for the March 2024 edition of the Upper Wensleydale Newsletter (Oh For a clean River Ure!). And I have met some truly amazing people. Over 130 have signed up the campaign to fight for a cleaned-up river.
We look forward to the day when there is, once again, an abundance of insects along the River Ure, plenty of fish – and a safe place for children and adults to bathe.
Stories from the past:
One of my most interesting jobs each year is to edit Now Then, the annual magazine of the Friends of the Dales Countryside Museum at Hawes.
Last year a story about the playground at Townfoot in Hawes led to research on the presence of the Army in that area during WW2. Were they testing amphibious tanks at Gayle? Local people thought they were but maybe these were only semi-amphibious tanks. I will follow up on this for this year’s Now Then.
I’ve been collecting stories from the past from the Hawes Parish Magazines of 1896 (Street Criers of London) and also from The Church Monthly dating back to 1892 owned by St Andrew’s Church, Aysgarth, as well as those from the Heritage Event held at that church in 2009. The stories include these from 1894: how to care for horses and a ride on a railway engine; how lighthouses were powered with paraffin lanterns and using steamer horse-drawn fire engines. When rushing to a fire these days those on board the fire engine no longer have to yell ‘Fire! Fire!’ as they did in the 1890s. Nor do they have to harness horses before they could head out to a fire.
From the Heritage Event there is A Mothering Sunday story about a man who I believe remembered his mother in a most unusual way at Aysgarth church; and the Doctor’s Window.
From The Church Monthly is Children’s Playtime in early 1890s and the first two of the Rev Wood’s articles covering his natural history rambles in January and March 1892 plus some local information about Aysgarth parish at that time. The Rev Wood’s nature rambles are included in Nightingale Duet.
And there is the story about the Telegraph Messenger boys of the 1890s. In that article it was stated: ‘If on any given day the electric telegraph suddenly came to an end, business would speedily become disorganised.’ The delivery of those messages depended upon boys aged 13 to 16 working nine hour days!
Visit Penhill Benefice website for details of services in mid Wensleydale.
Personal memories:
There have been some special moments recently – such as meeting with my friend, Carolyn Murray, and hearing all about her work with Immanuel Kindergarten in Yei. In October 2021 she went to Windsor Castle to be presented with the MBE by the Princess Royal. She has returned to South Sudan again this year.
Fundraising is ongoing for the Kennel Field south of Thornton Rust which was such a special place for my late husband, David Pointon.
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