Knaresborough Town Council

Knaresborough Town Council

LATEST NEWS

Knaresborough Town Council Precept 2025 – 26

Knaresborough Town Council have set their budget for the financial year 2025 – 26. The

budget has been considered and planned by Town Councillors taking into account the

current economic climate we all face, the desire to ensure minimal financial impact to

residents, whilst also supporting the Council’s aspirations to respond to the

opportunities that are being presented by North Yorkshire Council and the double

devolution process.

The budget voted on by Town Councillors informs the precept. The precept is the main

source of income for parish/town councils and is collected through residents’ council

tax. The precept is a key factor in determining the level of services and amenities that

the council can provide. With KTC’s aspirations to work with the current opportunities

presented, the Council have voted for a precept increase for 2025 – 26 to support the

budget they have set.

Knaresborough Town Council’s precept remains one of the lowest in the area, with the

planned increase adding an additional £10.07 per year per Band D household, taking

the town’s precept for 2025-26 to £36.99 per Band D household for the year.

The approved Budget will be available on the KTC website in the New Year

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Aside from the Castle, sights to see in Knaresborough include Mother Shipton’s Petrifying Well, The House in the Rock and several cave dwellings, one of which is a chapel dating from the Middle Ages. Knaresborough is also the site of Ye Oldest Chemist Shoppe in England, opened in 1720. There is also the Courthouse Museum which is located in the Castle grounds. The Castle grounds are used as a public open space which includes a bowling green.

Each year the Town hosts a number of large social events, chief among them being the Great Knaresborough Bed Race. Every summer since 1966, teams comprising six runners and one passenger, decorate special tube frame ‘beds’ for a parade through the town. Then, once the beds have been stripped of their non-essential decorations, they compete to push the bed on a race throughout the town. The event has attracted over 25,000 people to the town.

There is also an annual arts festival, FEVA (Festival of Entertainment and Visual Arts) which has been running since 2001. This takes place in the summer in various locations throughout the town centre.

The principal areas of public open space in the town are the grounds of Knaresborough Castle, the nearby Bebra Gardens (formerly Moat Gardens) named after Knaresborough’s twin town in Germany, the grounds of Conyngham Hall, Horseshoe Field, King George V Playing Field and Jacob Smith Park, a 30-hectare parkland on the edge of the town bequeathed to Knaresborough by Miss Winifred Jacob Smith.