Stop Ure Pollution (SUP) was unanimously voted into existence at a meeting at Leyburn Methodist Church Hall on June 25 2024.

Over 70 attended the meeting as they were so concerned about the pollution of the River Ure, including that caused by the discharge of raw sewage.

The chair of the interim committee of the ‘Health of the River Ure’ group, Prof Richard Loukota, said the aims of SUP were: to stop the discharges of raw sewage when storm conditions were not occurring; to upgrade water treatment facilities; and to identify pollution caused by the run-off from farms.

One man asked how they could bring about change when agencies such as Defra and the Environment Agency were so under-funded and under-manned. ‘You can collect as much data as you like but when you look at Defra they don’t have the resources because of the cutbacks.’ He also wondered what could be done if polluters weren’t breaking the law.

Richard replied that there were instances when polluters were breaking the law and Ofwat has the power to impose unlimited fines. ‘They need to be pushed to do so,’ he said.

Sheila Toper from Aysgarth commented: ‘We have got to start somewhere and the more voices raised the more successful we will be.’

When asked how soon data could be collected Charlotte Simons of the Yorkshire Dales River Trust (YDRT) explained how volunteer citizen scientists could assist with sampling the river water throughout its length and from that data  hot spots could be identified.‘The data collected by volunteers will be more specific and there will be far more testing along the river.’

Along the Rivers Wharfe and Nidd volunteers had tested between 30 and 40 sites she said and added: ‘That gives you a far greater picture of where the pollution might be coming in.’

She explained the YDRT will now work with the SUP volunteers to identify testing sites, hold training days for volunteers and organise a date for the first sampling by the end of August.

Since the meeting about the health of the river on April 30, sponsored by the Association of Rural Communities, over 40 people have volunteered to help with water sampling.

Some at the meeting questioned the independence of the testing of the water samples as the cost of this would be met by Yorkshire Water. Charlotte confirmed that the laboratory is an independent accredited and has been used by YDRT for both testing of samples from the Wharfe and the Nidd.

Richard pointed out that testing water samples was very expensive and it will take time for the new group to build up funds. He said he had attended Save Our Swale meetings to learn from them about setting up such a group.

Both he and Charlotte emphasised that this needed to be a collaborative effort, working with not only Yorkshire Water and the Environment Agency but also the Yorkshire Dales National Park, and other river groups to be effective. This, Richard said, included parliamentary candidates.

He introduced two parliamentary candidates: Liberal Democrat Daniel Callaghan and Kevin Foster of the Green Party, both of whom have included cleaning up rivers and seas in their aims.

SUP committee

Chair: Richard Loukota – lives in Thornton Rust, is a professor emeritus of surgery, and a keen fisherman.

Toby Milbank –  lives near Bedale and is a Chartered Surveyor and Master of Land Economy.  He is a former chairman of North Yorkshire committee of the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust and is an amateur conservationist, ornithologist and fisherman.

Douglas Palethorpe – I live in Middleham.  He said: ‘I’m currently a chef and maintenance man and I’ve noticed a decline in the river/fish population whilst living here.’

Luke Pearce – lives at Ulshaw, ‘I’m an Investment Manager but more importantly a fisherman who is married to a wild swimmer.  I walk the dogs down the Ure twice a day.’

David Read – Lives in Redmire ,is a  Scientist and Chartered Engineer, a keen Tri-Athlete/ Open water swimmer.

Mark Thompson – water modeller with Yorkshire Water

Plus  Pip Pointon – the clerk, membership secretary and publicity officer. She lives in  Aysgarth, is a retired journalist and overseas aid worker. Her local voluntary work includes being the administrative officer of the Association of Rural Communities which sponsored the meetings that led to the creation of SUP.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Surfers Against Sewage  (SAS) team paid a visit to Aysgarth Falls on the morning of Thursday June 20 2024 to find out about pollution in the River Ure. (Above from left: Ann McKelvey,  Chloe Flood, Kirsty Davies,  Katie Bone and Richard Loukota).

They were invited by Prof Richard Loukota, the interim chair of the group being formed to campaign against the pollution of the River Ure and its tributaries.

Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) has embarked on an Election Road Trip travelling the length of the UK  to galvanise communities to demand election candidates to end sewage pollution. It wants to take the sewage debate to political, sewage and surfing hotspots.

It was invited by Save Our Swale (SOS)  to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s constituency to hold one of its hustings at Richmond on Friday evening (June 21 2024).  The CEO of Surfers Against Sewage, Giles Bristow, commented: ‘Local activists [in Swaledale] have been fighting to clean up their favourite beauty spot.’

In Wensleydale Aysgarth Falls is a key beauty spot but  the Association of Rural Communities, which has sponsored the creation of the River Ure group, has pointed out that the Falls are affected by raw sewage discharges.

With its brightly painted open-top double-decker battle bus (see below)  its team on Thursday (Ann McKelvey,  Chloe Flood, Kirsty Davies and Katie Bone) were delighted to be able to visit the Upper Falls at Aysgarth where they were met by Richard and others keen to see an end to the pollution of the River Ure.

Richard said: ‘Surfers Against Sewage are very keen to have safe water for everyone and they have been incredibly supportive of Save Our Swale.  They have kindly offered their support with everything you need to know when you are setting up a group. ‘

He added that many of the visitors at the Falls that day did not realise how much the River Ure was polluted, both from sewage and also agricultural run-off.

Having a River Ure group will, he added, help them to work collaboratively not only with SOS, the Nidd Action Group and  the Ilkley Clean River Group but also nationally with others such as Surfers Against Sewage. ‘We are struggling together,’  he said. And that included those who had become ill swimming in rivers.

He hoped an online database for rivers could be developed similar to the Surfers Against Sewage one for our seas and oceans.   ‘I think the pollution of the rivers is becoming something people are concerned about and it is going to affect their voting,’ Richard commented.

(Below: The SAS battlebus with Aysgarth church in the background)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above: Charlotte Simons of Yorkshire Dales River Trust addressing the meeting

Some key points from the meeting at Leyburn Methodist Church Hall on Tuesday April 30.

We need to set up our own group of citizen scientists with its own committee. That’s why I have been working on a confidential (BCC) email address  list of all those who have expressed an interest, with the aim of organising another meeting.

We need to work with the Yorkshire Dales River Trust and with Yorkshire Water’s River Health Improvement team to ensure that any water testing we do will be fully accredited and accepted by the Environment Agency.

Here is a more detailed report on the speeches and questions at that meeting:

Alastair Dinsdale, chairman of the Association of Rural Communities (ARC)

Welcome and introduction:

I have lived alongside the River Ure, and its tributary Ellerbeck, all of my life.  I remember my fifth birthday party, playing in the stream and I spent many years exploring and fishing the Ure.

But I have noticed a gradual decline in the health of the river over the years, particularly in the summer months as flow rates decline.  Algae and sediments have choked out the gravels and it’s now very difficult to find a caddisfly fly larvae, a bullhead stickleback or even a minnow.  Crayfish, which were so abundant at one time, are now are almost non-existent.

But why?

In the winter months we see more frequent and much larger flooding of the river.  This winter brought the highest flood level at Wath bridge that I have seen in my whole lifetime, and the flood water barely fit under Aysgarth Yore Mills bridge.

Climate change is real and is happening.

Agriculture, which is often blamed, is in decline in the upper dale with a huge reduction in the numbers of sheep and cattle post the foot and mouth disease outbreak, plus soil health and nutrient management are improving at a pace.

On the flip side, more land is being covered in concrete, tarmac and hard surfacing, for roads, car parks, driveways, caravan sites and similar development making flash flooding much quicker.

Sewage and water treatment plants are inadequate and out-dated as they have not kept pace with house building and summer time loading. In droughts and very low flow periods a significant amount of the flow in the river has been through a sewerage system, raising temperatures and picking up nutrients. This, combined with further warming in low flow pools, is making the water toxic to river life.

Once upon a time the dales were served by local spring water supplies but nationalisation changed all that and now water falling in the upper catchment runs down the river picking up all sorts of nasties before it is drawn out at Kilgram Bridge, stored at Thornton Steward, cleaned and pumped back to the top of the dale.  It is stupid and I hate telling people how ridiculous it is.

Surely storing water in reservoirs, lakes and ponds in the upper catchment would alleviate the peaks of flooding and be there to drink or release into the river to cool and keep the river live?  It happens for the Tyne and Tees, why not here?

When ARC decided to support Aysgarth and District Parish Council in objecting to a holiday lodge development overlooking Aysgarth Falls, despite raising significant concerns that the proposed development with its associated hot tubs was likely to overwhelm the existing sewerage system, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s (YDNPA) planning committee voted to grant permission and stated that they didn’t need to consider the impact on the river within their remit as a planning authority.

I guess that is the same with planning authorities elsewhere in the country.  How is this a sensible way forward?  We know the water companies are failing to invest and update the infrastructure.  Local authorities need to develop an integrated approach to planning and its impact on the environment, including the rivers.  What is required is change.

We want tonight to be positive and bring about accountability and change.  We need a strong group of people to monitor the state of the river, and we need to lobby to improve things before the River Ure becomes the Wensleydale sewer.

Charlotte Simons , Senior Project Manager, Yorkshire Dales River Trust, and its lead for its Wharfe Catchment Management Plan

She said that in England the main sources of pollution were: agriculture and fishing in rural areas; sewage and waste water; and diffuse pollutions such as the run-off from urban areas

The River Ure is 74 miles long with its source at Ure Head with 38 water bodies across two operational catchments before it flows into  the River Ouse. Citizens’ science came into play, she said, when people wanted to find out what the main sources of pollution were, what was causing them and how to improve the situation.

The Yorkshire Dales River Trust (YDRT) had started working with volunteers along the River Wharfe and it was the first inland water body to gain bathing water status, thanks to a large scale citizens’ science monitoring programme. The volunteers  had taken water samples along the whole length of the river and set up an accredited  citizens’ science framework. A report has been submitted by the Environment Agency. The Trust has a community data sharing platform and wants to extend this to not just the Wharfe but the Swale, the Ure and the Ouse, she said.

She continued: Such a project helped communities to influence decision making about their river. ‘You can’t always guarantee that this will happen but there’s been an awful lot of changes along the Wharfe because of the results coming out.’

She explained that on the mornings when volunteers tested water from one end of the Wharfe to the other, two sets of samples were taken: one to be tested for nutrients (phosphates) and the other for bacteria. This was because bacteria samples must be tested more quickly than those for nutrients. There had been two days of water sampling – one on a wet day and the other on a dry day. The tributaries were also included. In that way an overall picture of the health of the river could be ascertained.

‘The lessons we have learnt:  its best to look at the whole river and under different conditions – high flow and low flow. If you want to do advocacy you need to ensure you have got accurate and credible results. You need to make sure  you are following the protocol that is accepted by the Environment Agency and Yorkshire Water.

‘But before you do all that you need to be clear about what questions you are asking – what do you want to find out about the river. Because there are different ways to find out different things And then you match  your testing methods to the questions you want to ask .’

She added: ‘Citizen scientists are worth their weight in gold – we can’t do [this] without support of people in the community and without your interest on the ground.

‘What can we all do for our rivers? Be aware of the issues – raise awareness. Get to know [your river]  know your own stretch. If it doesn’t look right report it to the Environment Agency . Be more concerned as a consumer. Think before you put something down the drain.’

She emphasised that wet wipes must not be flushed down  toilets or put down drains as these combined with fat to create fat balls – which were costly to clear.

To a question, she responded that the pollution of rivers had increased since the 1980s and there was more than one source. One factor was the impact of pharmaceutical and personal care products which were entering rivers and tributaries from other sources, not just sewage works, such as sun screens when people were swimming.

Hannah Fawcett – YDNPA Farm Conservation Advisor/Catchment Sensitive Farming

She explained that catchment assisted farming was a national Defra and Natural England scheme administered in the National Park by the YDNPA.  She had worked on the Semerwater catchment scheme for ten years during which time biodiversity had increased.

The Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) team offers a range of help to those farmers who contacted it for  help and advice. The team could help with applying for grants through the national countryside stewardship scheme and could obtain specialist advice from a national consultancy.

The team worked  with farmers to reduce  phosphates and sediment in the Ure and its tributaries and reducing contact between livestock and water courses..  There were grants available for water quality work such as for putting in new drainage to separate clean and dirty water. But she warned that these were not 100 per cent grants and that could be a barrier to getting work done.

Clare Beasant – Yorkshire Water’s River Health Improvement Manager

She reported that the  River Health Improvement team had come into being on January 15 this year as Yorkshire Water wanted a more proactive response to working with people across Yorkshire.

‘What we don’t do is talk to people enough, and what we don’t do is listen to people enough. And that’s why we are really excited about being here tonight, ‘  she told the meeting.

She explained that what they wanted to do over the next five years was to have continuous water course monitoring of the Ure to get a good picture over its whole length.  YW wanted to work with citizens’ science teams to find out where the issues were. It also wanted to understand why waste treatment works were not operating as people would want them to and resolve problems, she said.

As the river health improvement team was quite small they did need to work with communities. ‘We can’t do it on our own. We really need your support as local groups like this and citizens’ science can help us build up that picture. We don’t have the resources  [to do all the water sampling] and so any help is fantastic. We want to be involved and we want to support you as much as we can.’

This, she said,  would include offering to cover the high cost of the water sampling kits and analysis, the latter being carried out by an independent laboratory.

Report from Mashamshire Litter Busters

Read at the meeting: We are a team of about eight volunteers that do our best to collect litter in an area centred on Masham, every week and obviously patrolling the bank and the Burn.  The Town street drains we are certain mostly drain to the Ure carrying litter – except that we hope we catch just some of it before it goes down the drains.    We sometimes patrol up river towards Marfield and down towards West Tanfield.   We are supported by Masham Parish Council who pay for our public liability insurance, high vis vests and grabbers.

If we had sufficient funds and influence I think it would be a revelation to install one of those large nets in the Ure that traps litter and transport it into Masham Market Square for all to see!  Or even at the outlets where street drains end

Nicholas Copes  read a report about the survey carried out for the Wild Trout Trust by Prof J Grey. This had shown that in some of the becks around Hawes there are very few young fish in the spawning grounds.

On his advisory visit in 2021 Prof Grey had reported: ‘Smaller tributaries are of disproportionate importance for the wild fish populations at spawning and nursery areas because of a lack of such habitat in the larger channels. While they are subject to the same environment stressors, restoration measures can achieve notable and quick results because of the smaller scale of such systems.  He noted that diffuse pollution sources of silt/soil ingress was apparent wherever livestock had access to the banks.

Hawes and High Abbotside Angling Association invested in the fish population survey of six tributaries of the Upper Ure, undertaken by Prof Grey, and has been allocated funds towards a river bank protection project  when landowner agreement has been secured.

Eddie Wyvill , the chairman of the Yorkshire Dales Salmon Group, told the meeting that he was also born in Wensleydale but in the last ten to fifteen years had seen changes which had had a massive impact upon the landscape with a direct correlation with the quality of water in the river.

He said: ‘The Yorkshire Dales was one of the strongholds of [hay] meadows. They used to be full of different kinds of grasses and full of flowers.

‘What makes a river? It’s not you and I swimming in it or canoeing in it. It’s what lives in it. And that’s the fish and the insects and that all has to work side by side. But now, due to intensive dairy farming, particularly in Coverdale, many of the hay meadows have been replaced with rye grass, a monoculture with no insects.’

He added that the fields of rye grass were sprayed with slurry and cut five times a year. ‘Just before heavy rainfall down the slurry tankers come, the whole Dale stinks …. I spoke to one of the farmers [who sprayed] 1,500 litres of slurry per acre per cut. That’s eight and a half thousand litres of slurry per acre. And some are doing it down by the River Ure – on the flood plain.

‘What is the National Park going to do about land use and about the dairy intensity? ‘ He believed  that the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority  (YDNPA) should be held accountable for land use in the Dale.

Hannah Fawcett, the YDNPA farm conservation advisor, pointed out that the Authority owns less than one per cent of the land in the national park. She and the Authority’s Catchment Sensitive Farming team, therefore, works with private landowners and farmers by offering advice  when requested.

She believed there were less cows in Wensleydale now but what had changed was the way they were managed. ‘We recognise that and we work with  dairy farmers …concerning farming in protected landscapes.’

She said there was a whole sweep of priority habitats in the National Park which were nationally and internationally important. ‘We are working with Natural England and the Environment Agency to protect those habitats and to restore them where possible.

Alastair Dinsdale said it was the changing economics of dairy farming which had led to the creation of bigger farms. There was also a problem with the wetter weather so that the animals were housed in barns for longer.  Even sheep farmers were finding the winter weather no longer fit to keep livestock outside. He pointed out that there were legal rules about what could be spread on farm fields. The fields were supposed to be tested to check exactly what nutrients were necessary before anything was spread on them.

Prof Richard Loukota  from Thornton Rust told the meeting that according to the Environment Agency  there had been 11,612 hours of discharge of untreated sewage during 2023 as compared to 4,370 hours in 2022. This, he said, was an increase of 160 per cent.  There had been discharges for 3,233 hours in 2023 from the treatment plant between Leyburn and Harmby, he added.   The rivers, he said, are ranked and the River Ure comes 57. ‘Which doesn’t sound too bad until you realise that is 57 out of over 4,000.  He wondered  how much Yorkshire Water would spend on the River Ure and its tributaries out of the £180 million it plans to spend in this region.

Neil Smeeton, who lives at West Burton, spoke on behalf of Burton cum Walden Parish Council. He described how upset he was to see visitors allowing their children play in Bishopdale Beck.

He reported that in 2022 the sewage treatment plant at West Burton discharged untreated sewage on 138 separate days for a total of 1,079 hours. And it was only slightly better in 2023. He said:  ‘West Burton sewage treatment plant was the worst for days of discharging untreated sewage in the whole River  Ure catchment area  all the way from Hawes right down to Ripon.  And 29th worst  of all the 2,224 similar plants in the whole of Yorkshire Water area.

‘The farmer who owns the field with the outfall pipe tells me that the bank by the pipe can become so disgusting that he has to contact Yorkshire Water to come and clean it to protect his stock. A fisherman in West Burton told me that the area around the outfall pipe is often surrounded by human waste, wet wipes, condoms, sanitary products and  sometimes it just stinks.

‘Burton cum Walden Parish Council has asked Yorkshire Water to increase the storage capacity of our local treatment plant so no untreated  sewage has to be pumped straight into our beautiful Bishopdale Beck. Untreated sewage only adds to the beck’s problems from Thoralby’s treatment plant upstream.’

He and others reported on the considerable decrease in the number of fish especially in the breeding areas along the becks near Hawes.

Nathan Lawson, Partnership and Community Engagement Advisor for the YW’s River Health Improvement Team –

Apologised for what had happened at some treatment works and said  the operations team would be asked to investigate.   He assured the meeting that Yorkshire Water would follow up on these reports and expected to have funding available next year.

Robert Loukota –  reported that planning permission had just been granted for 122 houses and 27 bunagallows off Moor Road in Leyburn. But the Harmby/Leyburn treatment plant can’t cope now let alone if there are 149 more dwellings.

Clare Beasant – explained that Yorkshire Water does not give its approval for a new  housing development now unless the surface water is to be kept separate from the foul water, thus decreasing the additional  input into sewage treatment works.

One member of the audience said that if the input into a treatment plant was being increased then the size of the treatment plant should also be increased.

Ms Beasant responded that all treatment works were built with extra capacity based on the likely increase in the number of houses.

Alastair Dinsdale commented  that he could not remember when the Middleham sewage treatment  was updated.   And someone responded ‘In the 1970s.’

Ms Beasant responded that the plant at Middleham was included in the present investigations .

Marjorie Iveson said that the treatment plant for Leyburn had been built on land she and her husband had owned.  She said the land around it was full of streams. They had been approached  that week as Yorkshire Water wanted to acquire more land to extend the treatment plant.

Juliet Maddan -said that water was a very precious source, and Water Authorities were charging more and more. The latter were treating the water with chemicals, such as chlorine, which then goes into the rivers. ‘I think Water Companies need to start being honest about what’s going into our water.’ She said there were other ways of making water cleaner and palatable.

Alastair Dinsdale referred again to the decision of the YDNPA planning committee  in October and to the issue of more housing at Leyburn.  He asked if it was right for planning permission to be given before it could be shown there was adequate sewage treatment facilities. ‘We desperately need housing in the dales but I think we need to change the process,’ he said.

North Yorkshire Cllr Yvonne Peacock  Said she had agreed with Alastair at the planning committee meeting when the lodges at Aysgarth Falls Hotel were discussed.

She said that although the recommendations  of  a Highways Authority could be over ruled by a planning committee she was not sure if could over rule those of Water Companies. She would ask about that – and how the concerns expressed at the meeting could be raised during the discussions on the YDNPA’s new local plan.

‘We ought to see if we can actually over rule a planning application based on the fact that [it would] affect the river. We don’t want those houses until [sufficient sewage treatment] is in place – or make sure that the treatment plants are [updated] first.’She added that when bungalows were being built in Bainbridge in the 1970s they were told that the sewage system was good enough.  And since then there have been a  lot more new buildings. ‘It’s an excellent question Alastair and I will follow  it up,’ she said.

Pip Pointon, administrative officer of the Association of Rural Communities – ‘We want to move on, and set up a group that’s going to do similar to what had been reported concerning the River Wharfe. Because without the evidence we are going to get nowhere. And we need the guidance to do it properly.

She thanked Ms Beasant for the news that Yorkshire Water would finance the cost of sample kits and testing. Pip added: ‘Just a warning – the Association of Rural Communities has been the catalyst, has sponsored this meeting. But it is going to depend upon those among you that a group is formed  and has its own committee. That  will be separate from our association. I really do hope that comes about. ‘

Alastair added ‘ We will be really pleased if you form a strong and powerful group that will bring about the changes we all need.’

My editorial in the March 2024  edition of the Upper Wensleydale Newsletter, as the administrative officer of the Association of Rural Communities

What do the Wharfe, the Nidd and the Swale have that our Ure doesn’t? The first three have groups of volunteers who are monitoring those rivers with the aim of reducing pollution. Surely it is time we also had such a group.

I would love to see the headwaters and upper reaches of our rivers truly representing the objectives of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA). These include conserving and enhancing the natural beauty and wildlife of the National Park, and promoting opportunities for the enjoyment of the special qualities of the area by the public.

As a member of the YDNPA’s planning committee pointed out in October 2023 – a polluted river does not attract visitors.

Nor, indeed, does it protect and conserve wildlife.  A Wensleydale angler told me: ‘The state of the river is very worrying. We have noticed a significant fall in insect life and also a big fall in fish numbers. For the latter, part of this has been due to legislation regarding re-stocking but [it’s] mostly due to the fall in insect life. It appears to us, that the Environment Agency has little interest in the river.’

In its annual report the Angling Trust stated in January that the Ure, Nidd, Swale and Upper Ouse were among the rivers with mapped catchments having the highest phosphate site averages. It said that the main sources of phosphorus in rivers were sewage effluent and losses from agricultural land, and added: ‘Frustration has mounted as essential testing by the Environmental Agency and water regulators has been reduced, and information about pollution remains elusive.’

Alastair Dinsdale, Wensleydale farmer and chairman of the Association of Rural Communities, told the YDNPA’s planning committee in October 2023: ‘A lot of work has been undertaken by various agencies and landowners to reduce pollution into the River Ure. According to the Environment Agency the Upper Dales Yore Catchment has a problem with phosphate pollution, the cause of algae blooms. Phosphates are a major ingredient of cleaning products and probably responsible for 90% of the problem in the catchment due to outdated and ineffective sewerage plants.’

He was concerned that the two sewerage treatment plants at Aysgarth were almost or even already at full capacity and that those bathing and paddling at Aysgarth Falls could become ill.

So what do we do about it? Can we not learn from the Ilkley Clean River Group, the Nidd Action Group and Save Our Swale (SOS)?

One of first steps is to obtain firm scientific evidence about water quality and that will involve volunteers being trained so that they can regularly collect samples for testing. The Yorkshire Dales River Trust is willing to provide guidance and support. Once we have firm evidence we can campaign on such issues as stricter regulations on when Water Companies can discharge raw sewage into rivers and for sewerage treatment works to be upgraded.

Maybe our government can learn about cleaning   up   rivers   from   Singapore   which  is  closely  linked  to  one  of  the  shareholders in Kelda Holdings which owns Yorkshire Water. GIC Special Investments, a sovereign wealth fund owned by the government of Singapore, has a 26 per cent interest in Kelda Holdings.   Singapore is proud of the way its river has been cleaned up and is now attracting more wildlife.

The Association of Rural Communities wants Wensleydale to have the same pride in a cleaned-up river. The Association will sponsor a public meeting in April to see if we can set up a group to monitor and help take care of our river. If you are interested in joining a working group prior to that please do contact me at pipspatch@gmail.com and write River Ure in the subject.

Our aim is very simple: We do want our river to be safe and clean, where both we and visitors can enjoy it without being afraid of the consequences. And where wildlife will thrive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above:  People bathing at Aysgarth Falls just below the sewerage treatment works that serves Aysgarth Falls Hotel.

An ARC News Service report on the debate at the YDNPA planning committee on October 3 2023 when approval was given to  Aysgarth Falls Hotel  for full planning permission  for 14 hotel lodges (2 accessible, 3 family and 9 regular) and two facility buildings, together with alterations to the hotel including additional restaurant and bar area, enlarged kitchen facility, minor external layout configuration and staff accommodation. This  also included an 18-space car park, landscaping and drainage proposals including an attenuation pond. The pond will be at the north east end of the field close to the footpath.

This decision led to the Association of Rural Communities deciding to sponsor an open meeting about the health of the River Ure on April 30 at Leyburn Methodist Church Hall. There were presentations by Charlotte Simons of Yorkshire Dales River Trust; Hannah Fawcett, farm conservation advisor, Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority; and  Clare Beasant, River Health Improvement Manager, Yorkshire Water. Plus some reports and questions from the audience.

Alastair Dinsdale’s statement to the committee regarding river pollution:

Many years ago I used to empty the small sewage settling tank in the meadow which served the hotel and the youth hostel.  The system was already inundated 50 years ago and discharged raw sewage into the wood and river below. Eventually Yorkshire Water installed the small package sewerage plant below the mill cottages. This is made inaccessible to anything other than small vehicles by the tunnel under Yore Mill and will make removal of solids and other bulk materials difficult. The system discharges directly into the river above the middle falls. When i=I visited the outfall last Wednesday afternoon it was discharging milky coloured liquid with unfiltered solids sweetcorn kernals.

These sewerage plants work using bacteria and will not work with amounts of fats, oils, cleaning chemicals, disinfectants and certainly not the contents of hot tubs, which are emptied along with their chemical contents and refilled between each new guests, as standard practice. All these products kill the bacteria and render the treatment plant ineffective – useless.

According to the environment agency the Upper Dales Yore Catchment has a problem with phosphate pollution, the cause of algae blooms. Phosphates are a major ingredient of cleaning products and probably responsible for 90% of the problem in the catchment due to outdated and ineffective sewerage plants.

The applicant has put forward arbitrary figures suggesting a reduction in discharge but what sort of discharge? What goes down that pipe ends up in the Falls. Nitrates, phosphates, chlorines, medicines, and all those other nasty’s.

Capacity of the sewerage plant

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the plant was at capacity before the granting of planning permission  in May 2022 for the Yore Mill development of nine apartments plus retail, including toilets. No mention of sewerage in that application apart from to say surface water drainage will be dealt with via the existing sewerage system. Does the Authority have the population equivalent dry weather peak flow loads at high tourism season?

In view of the lack of detailed information from Yorkshire Water a full environmental assessment should be undertaken of the whole catchment area of the sewerage treatment plant as it is now – without further development.

Above : the small sewerage treatment plant near the Middle Falls which serves properties in Church Bank as well as Aysgarth Falls Hotel  Photo by Alastair Dinsdale

Conclusion

These proposals fail to pass the test of the statutory purpose of the National Park to conserve and enhance natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage. The proposal also fails national park policy framework on sustainable development or sustainable rural tourism – very high carbon footprint, no renewable energy,

Environmental impact, open country, legal protection etc

A lot of work has been undertaken by various agencies and landowners to reduce pollution into the river Ure. Does this committee want to act against these efforts and be responsible for causing more pollution? Yorkshire Water is listed as the worst for discharging sewage into water courses in the country. Does this committee want to be its partner in pollution?

Planning Committee debate

Polluting the River Ure will have the opposite effect upon attracting more tourists to stay at Aysgarth North Yorkshire councillor Simon Myers told Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s planning committee on October 3.

The majority of the committee voted to approve the application by Aysgarth Falls Hotel to extend the accommodation there by building 14 lodges because, as one said, it would have a positive impact on the local economy – a belief that Aysgarth and District Parish Council strongly disagreed with (see below).

Cllr Myers however had stated:  ‘I am very troubled about Yorkshire Water, as they often [just say that] “we don’t have a problem with it”, when the evidence of the objectors is that this system is at full capacity.’

He wanted an answer he said because so many water sources up and down the country were being polluted by sewerage and mentioned the River Nidd. The committee was told by local farmer, Alastair Dinsdale, chairman of the Association of Rural Communities that Yorkshire Water had installed a small sewerage package plant several years ago to serve the houses near Aysgarth Falls.

‘The system discharges directly into the river above the middle falls. When I visited the outfall last Wednesday afternoon it was discharging milky coloured liquid with unfiltered solids sweetcorn kernals. ‘These plants work on bacteria and will not work with amounts of fats, oils, cleaning chemicals, disinfectants. All these products kill the bacteria and render the treatment plant ineffective.’

He especially mentioned the hot tubs which had been included in the planning application. He continued: ‘According to the environment agency the Upper Dales Yore Catchment has a problem with phosphate pollution, the cause of algae blooms. Phosphates are a major ingredient of cleaning products and probably responsible for 90% of the problem in the catchment due to outdated and ineffective sewerage plants.’

He said anecdotal evidence suggested that the plant was at capacity before the granting of planning permission for the Yore Mill development of nine apartments plus retail, including toilets, in May 2022.  He added: ‘In view of the lack of detailed information from Yorkshire Water a full environmental assessment should be undertaken of the whole catchment area of the sewerage treatment plant as it is now – without further development.’  (see end of report for his full statement)

The parish council had stated: ‘We remain convinced that [fourteen]  lodges with their own toilets and unrestricted use of bath and shower facilities all year round represents a significant increased load on the local service compared to the limited demand from caravans and campers who predominantly use the site in the summer season only. It would appear that Yorkshire Water still have issues with the proposal.’

The applicant’s agent, Steve Hesmondhaigh, told the committee: ‘Our engineers have demonstrated and agreed with Yorkshire Water that a neutral or better than neutral outflow would result from this scheme. In other words, there will be no increase in outflow from this site as part of the planned development.’

Member Allen Kirkbride said he wanted to know more about the impact upon the River Ure and asked for a decision to be deferred so that there could be a site meeting.

Cllr Richard Foster, the head of development management, Richard Graham, and other members, however, said it was unlikely Yorkshire Water would be able to provide any further comment

Cllr Foster said: ‘Their role is to provide sewerage works in the area. We may see this as a problem but we cannot make planning decisions on the basis of that.’

Mr Graham told the committee that Yorkshire Water had not yet responded to a request for further information in addition to what was stated in the officer’s report that it had no objections to the proposed development subject to conditions requiring the development to be carried out in accordance with the drainage strategy, and subject to an undeveloped easement in the vicinity of the public sewer.

The planning officers, Mr Graham said, were quite satisfied with all the information that the applicant had submitted with the application.

Members were, however, concerned about hot tubs being beside some of the lodges. So, through the chair, the agent for the applicant was questioned about this. There was laughter at the response – that the hot tubs would be replaced with outdoor baths (so no chlorine). [The conditions now state there must be no hot tubs and no outdoor baths can be installed without approval.]

Jim Munday was one of the members who emphasised the business aspect of the application

‘This is a significant investment in the development and updating of an existing business. We should think of it for what it is – it is additional bedrooms. We have a great shortage of hotel accommodation within the Dales – there are very, very few that could take a small bus load and this would help all year round. Also, it retains staff accommodation as well as giving opportunities for further increases in staff. Yorkshire Water will say what Yorkshire Water will say.’

He believed that the lodges ‘in the back garden’ would look better than the ‘visually awful’ hard standings for motorhomes and caravans.

Mr Hesmondhaigh stated one of the aims was to stimulate further expenditure in the local economy. ‘Our aim was to produce a scheme that is sensitive to the national park setting and objectives whilst reflecting the need … to ensure that the Aysgarth Falls Hotel complex is a successful [and] financially viable facility in this key national park location.’

He said it was a two-pronged approach to planned development: to improve the facilities of the hotel especially the restaurant; to replace the caravan, mobile home and camping site with an accessible hotel room pods scheme to develop the sustainable investment in the hotel facilities; to extend the off-season and to enhance the viability of the business.

John Dinsdale told the committee that the parish council and the local community believed that some issues had been misrepresented in the planning officer’s report and by the applicant’s supporting documents.

He said: ‘The planning officer’s recommendation is to approve this application and cites planning policies designed to promote tourism, but our view is that recommendation fails to take account of all the relevant data.’

He reminded the committee that this had been listed as a Major Planning Application. That was not addressed by the planning officer in her report. Cllr Foster said he was surprised that this was not mentioned and that the application was only referred to the planning committee because the parish council had objected.

(According to the National Planning Policy Framework  permission should be refused for major developments in National Parks except in exceptional circumstances and where it can be demonstrated they are in the public interest. Consideration of such applications should include an assessment of: The need for the development, including in terms of any national considerations, and the impact of permitting it, or refusing it, upon the local economy… and any detrimental effect on the environment, the landscape and recreational opportunities, and the extent to which that could be moderated.)

Comparisons between planning officer’s report and the parish council’s objections

Planning officer: ‘Some harm will arise from the loss of the tent and touring caravan pitches but this is considered to be offset by the benefits of providing a year round tourism offer, plus economic and employment benefits in a sustainable location.’ She said the loss of 20 tent and 10 tourer pitches met the test of an insignificant loss which would be offset by the economic employment, supply chain and year-round tourism benefits.

John Dinsdale told the committee:

‘To say that the loss of facilities at this site for campervans and caravans only represents a tiny proportion of the sites in Wensleydale is a total misrepresentation of the true impact and appears to be contrary to the aims of newer policies. In reality, the loss of this site represents not 5% but 66% of the space in the immediate area. If the Street Head site is included, that is reduced to about 40%, but the other sites all quote 90% occupancy for the time they are open, so there is no spare capacity.

‘When casting the net wider to include the next nearest sites, the ten-mile radius is reached; this puts them out of walking distance, especially as campervans and caravans are usually static once they have arrived and setup for their stay. Visitors from the further sites to this area would need to drive which newer policies are designed to discourage and would only add to pollution, road traffic and the already documented serious parking problems that this area suffers from. Additionally, and quite properly, the current high cost of accommodation at the site run by the applicant and the likely cost of the proposed new accommodation has not been considered, but the loss of lower cost accommodation in the immediate area must be considered.

Planning officer: It would expand the short-stay tourism season into the quieter months and also has good potential to increase the number of day/evening visitors to Aysgarth, through the increased food and drink offers. As the site is within a ‘honeypot’ location, there is a reasonable likelihood that the proposal would complement existing tourism offers and increase spend in the local economy. The [applicants’] Guest Management Plan clarifies that just as in other hotel offers, visitors would not be required to take all meals within the hotel, only breakfast, and there is a high likelihood that other premises would also be visited during stays given the sustainability of the location.’

She said staff accommodation would ensure staff stay local to their workplace and would spend in the local area. In general, the proposal would increase the number of jobs available, and figures have been supplied to justify the suggested net gain of 17 jobs.

Parish council:

The parish council had pointed out that there was a shortage of workers for the local hospitality industry and so the additional competition would impact on other businesses nearby.

It stated: In these changing economic times touring caravans have become an increasingly important asset to boost the local economy. There is now a Shop/Post Office in Aysgarth which caters for the needs of self-catering visitors, and caravanners and campers are regular users of the facilities. The sale of these self-catering consumables makes a significant contribution to the profitability of that enterprise, and this footfall also supports other businesses in the local area. Clearly, closing the site to self-catering visitors would have a detrimental impact on the shop and damage its viability as well as having a harmful effect to the local economy generally.

The parish council also stated:

The Parish Council re-affirms the strong objection submitted on 02.02.23 .The Parish Council closed its submission in February with ‘The Parish Council welcomes investment in the businesses and infrastructure in our area and will look to support diversification, where appropriate, to deliver maximum local community benefit. We seek to engender a collaborative approach with all parties to support the future prosperity of our area and encourage everyone to communicate and engage with us’. In the five months since this submission, there has been no attempt by the applicant to engage with the Parish Council or rebut any of the serious concerns expressed by the Parish Council and residents. The amended proposal seems to merely be a rearrangement of the proposed lodges and a change to some of the materials used. We find nothing in the updated proposal that addresses the main concerns and objections.’

Impact upon the landscape:

The planning officer reported that both the Area Ranger and the Police had recommended a fence to be constructed between the footpath and the lodge site.

She stated: ‘As the footpath crosses the northern portion of the site, users of the PROW would directly experience the development in its entirety, and throughout the year rather than the existing seasonal experience. Taking account of the existing manicured and semi-engineered landform, clear relationship with the hotel building and other settlement features, and also the design quality, the development in this area would not be so unexpected to the user’s experience as to be unduly harmful.’

She also stated: ‘Whilst the proposal undoubtedly spreads the extent of development deeper into the site, the proposals for low-profile lodge rooms (including DDA compliant accommodation), is considered to be a positive means of expanding the business without providing a large extension to the hotel building itself, and the design challenges associated with this form of expansion. On balance the proposal has an acceptable landscape impact and design quality, taking account of the existing use and appearance of the site, the landscape proposals, and the sensitive design treatments.’

Parish council: The footpath follows a well-established route and crosses down the camping field behind the Aysgarth Falls Hotel. People using this footpath do so to avoid using the road and to enjoy the rural setting and visual amenity immediate area’. This development it said would damage the experience the visitors have come for and expect.

Light pollution.

The parish council argued that the terrace extension at the rear of the main building will generate significant light pollution directly over the immediate adjoining SSSI of Aysgarth Falls which it will overlook. It stated this would be a significant change and would have an impact all year round.

In her report the planning officer quoted the wildlife conservation officer who stated: ‘Concerns with regards to external lighting, and its impact on the woodland beside the River Ure can be addressed by condition.’

In the decision notice there is a condition regarding any external lighting to ensure the protection of the dark skies of the national park – but no mention of light from the terrace extension.

The parish council also listed the sewage issues, and the new late premises licence leading to noise pollution and disruption.