'Petty' row breaks out over £8m plans for new annexe at historic Ripon site

With plans to construct a two-storey annex on public land known as Minster Gardens, housing toilets for the cathedral as well as a cafe and a song school, expected to be decided by North Yorkshire Council later this year, the war for words is, if anything, getting more intense.

The latest spat follows a letter by pro-annexe campaigners Ripon Cathedral Support Group claiming that a recent petition by anti-annexe campaigners Save the Trees had artificially “swollen the numbers of objectors”.

The letter claims that 560 of the approximately 3,000 signatures on the petition, which opposes “the felling of ancient trees on public land to make way for the new build proposed by Ripon Cathedral” lack a surname or a a postcode, or both.

In addition, Ripon Cathedral Support Group’s letter also says a significant portion of the signatures were collected before Ripon Cathedral submitted an amended application, meaning the petition does not take into account changes made to address earlier concerns.

It highlights one high profile objector, former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who has now joined many local community leaders, business figures, and politicians in backing the Ripon Cathedral’s revised plan.

But members of Save the Trees, who oppose the destruction of 11 trees to make way for the annexe, said the claims over the petition “smacks of pettiness” and that they amount to a ”deliberate attempt to taint the validity of those people who have made objections in good faith”.

They add that the council portal for the public to post their opinions shows that objections now outweigh supporting comments.

A spokesperson for the Save Our Trees campaign said: “Over the past two years, the numbers of this paper petition have not been questioned once, as they have been publicly available and accepted by the Planning Officer.

"As the numbers grew, this was reported by regional and national press and there was no complaint from any individual about their veracity owing to the public nature of the petition.”

When Ripon Cathedral’s plans for a new annexe were first revealed in 2022, supporters argued the expansion would increase visitor numbers at the historic site and would bring a £3 million regional benefit.

Independent research commissioned by Ripon Cathedral suggests that the project could increase visitor numbers by approximately 35% over five years.

The original plans included the loss of a veteran Beech tree but the new version would see the tree protected by altering the building’s shape and relocating part of it to the stonemason’s yard.

But Ripon Civic Society questions whether the plans prioritise sufficiently the safeguarding of the young choristers in the layout of the proposed new annexe.

A meeting in December saw Ripon City council members vote by seven to one against supporting the cathedral’s application for the annexe, despite impassioned pleas from members of the public to back the plans

Campaigners in support of the scheme were furious that several Ripon City Council members did not speak in a debate on the revised plans.

The latter would see 300 trees planted to mitigate the loss of the others.

In September Dame Judi Dench intervened to called for all the trees to be saved.