North Stainley Estate 01765 635 550 Company Registered in England No 02043818

The Old Estate Office North Stainley Ripon HG4 3HT North Stainley Estate 01765 635 550 Company registered in England No 02043818. Registered office: Estate Office North Stainley HG4 3HT VAT registration No.500 1726 06 17th October 2014 Dear Resident Potential development within North Stainley to support the building of a new school, convenience store & other complimentary facilities Whilst the majority of us have very little to do with the Village School, its future obviously affects us all and not only because of the link between a good school and local house prices. You may therefore already be aware of the aspirations in the Village to build a new school, following Richard Plummer’s announcement at a Parish Council meeting 23rd July 2013. As Head of the School’s Governors, he praised the achievements of Headmistress Liz Watts and her team, but warned of an uncertain future despite these successes (please see ‘North Stainley Village School Governors’ Statement attached). Whilst North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) fully recognises the issues detailed in the attached governors’ statement, the competition for funding is extremely fierce, naturally favouring larger schools and those offering potential for expansion. Village schools will always therefore be a lower priority. Furthermore, as every possible opportunity for improvement has already been taken advantage of at our School, its problems can unfortunately only be resolved by building new premises, a fact that becomes even more critical considering it is already over capacity, with demand forecast to increase even further in the foreseeable future. The Governors of the School are not willing to accept that its otherwise bright future might one day be eclipsed due to the size and age of its premises, not at least if it is in their power to do something about it. Nor do they want our School to be viewed as a candidate for closure if there is ever a move towards district rationalisation. Building a new school could eliminate both of these issues, but will only ever be possible if the majority of funding can be secured privately. In most communities this would be an immediate showstopper, but I have every confidence that this will not be the case in North Stainley. The precedent for this is of course our outstanding Village Hall. Facing a similar scenario, the Parish Council and a small number of residents worked on and agreed a plan with Robert Staveley, Head of North Stainley Estate (NSE) at the time, whereby the building of the houses at Watermill would subsidise the building of the Village Hall, and in recognition of the importance of its legacy, the whole scheme would be designed around the new building, making it the main focal point and hub of the Village. I hope you agree that the results speak for themselves. North Stainley is now seen by many as a highly desirable place to live, providing a perfect example of how the building of new houses can foster an exceptionally strong community spirit. It’s hard not to notice this when you drive through the Village in summer, when dozens of excited children get together on The Rec for cricket practice. Passers-by frequently comment on this spectacle, often making reference to the unique look and feel of the Village. Unfortunately however, comments around the state of the old shop and garage frequently follow. As the owner of this site, I readily admit to being embarrassed by it, not to mention my frustration with having to drive somewhere just to buy a pint of milk or newspaper. I know I’m not alone here and of course the situation is far more serious for those without a car, for some of our more elderly residents and for those with mobility issues, with several people feeling forced to move out of the Village as a result in recent years. Based on the number of people who signed the recent petition asking for something to be done about the current situation, few, if any, would object to the building of a new shop. Clearly such a shop must have the capacity to cater for a broad range of needs at a price and quality competitive to the major supermarkets. Unfortunately building a new shop is extremely expensive, particularly if we are to build premises of a sufficient size and quality to attract a retailer capable of providing a genuine alternative to the supermarkets. Whilst several such companies have expressed initial interest in the site, none so far have been willing to finance a new building and unfortunately NSE has too many other commitments. The only realistic solution therefore would appear to be similar to the one taken in respect to the building our fantastic Village Hall. In fact, this is the very same solution I immediately suggested could be extended to resolve the funding issue for a new school building, upon first hearing of our Governors’ predicament. Whilst there is little doubting NYCC’s desire to help from a funding perspective, the only thing for certain at this stage is that the Village will have to lead the way in securing the future of our school and a new shop. There are many things in our favour here, including the gifting of a suitable site; the Church’s pledge to donate the proceeds from the sale of the existing school and our track record as a Village of overcoming similar challenges in the past, with many of the same people being willing to get involved. However, I cannot stress enough that success will ultimately depend on the majority of residents giving these plans their formal support. Without this, nothing will happen and the future of our community and local facilities will lie in the hands of a small number of residents - with their ‘Not In My Back Yard’ (NIMBY) based objections and members of Harrogate Borough Council’s Planning Department (HBC), all of whom living miles away, appear to have little interest in helping us achieve our aspirations. I wish I could say that the disinterest from HBC was just down to our location, but unfortunately it appears there are more sinister prejudices at play, with a member of their leadership team recently confirming that North Stainley is seen by planners as a great success, despite being at odds with some aspects of local policy, but ultimately we should be happy with our lot and therefore our aspirations do not warrant any further consideration! They went on to state that there can be no exceptions to the rules, despite us constructively demonstrating serious shortfalls with these, including a ‘lack of alignment’ with National Policy. I am pleased to report that subsequent events, more specifically the recent collapse of HBC’s current Local Development Framework (LDF), HBC’s master plan to assess all planning applications against, has proved our understanding to be in fact correct. More importantly, we find ourselves facing a rare opportunity, unlikely to ever be repeated, whereby we can think beyond the many petty, often ill-conceived and bureaucratic local planning rules, concentrating our efforts on developing a scheme that could make North Stainley one of the best places to live in North Yorkshire and possibly even the Country. Perhaps this is why HBC didn’t give our discussions the consideration they deserved, as after all, they couldn’t have a Village near Ripon steeling their crown. It is far too early to start talking about the physical design of the school and shop, however just like the Village Hall, the new school must benefit everyone and not simply through higher house prices! One option would be to include a sports hall in the design, possibly including indoor cricket nets, a climbing wall and gym alongside the more traditional equipment. It is my understanding that the Cricket Club is now so popular, that it ideally needs its own junior members pitch, which could be incorporated in to the design of the school’s games field and would reduce the likelihood of a child getting hit by a cricket ball playing during a match day on the Rec, something I understand to be a serious concern. Regarding the shop, it is critical to build a store large enough to enable residents to do their weekly shop without having to leave the Village. Success will ultimately boil down to our ability to make the site attractive to potential retailers and them having the confidence that the local population will make their business sustainable. Unfortunately the predictive models used by these companies - which take into account a wide range of factors including the location of their competitors, traffic volumes and local demographics - all currently conclude that the Village currently lacks sufficient ‘critical mass’ to warrant further consideration. One also has to ask why the garage and shop failed in the first place and whilst the latter was too small to be of use to anyone, building only a slightly bigger one doesn’t solve the travel issue, nor would it generate anything like a sufficient return to warrant the initial costs and that’s before those relating to the removal of the old fuel and waste oil tanks are factored in. A bigger shop also affords the opportunity to include a Post Office into the design, particularly now they offer a range of everyday banking facilities. Whilst I am a frequent user of the West Tanfield Shop & Post Office and have nothing but admiration for the team behind it, I would nonetheless prefer not to have to get in a car every time I remember to buy a lottery ticket! I would also like to explore the possibility of including a deli/farm shop into the design and possibly a coffee shop to sit alongside the convenience store, with the primary aim of making the Village a destination in its own right.

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