Members of the Kingsley Ward Action Group (KWAG) hope the discovery of badgers will thwart a proposed housing development on Kingsley Road.

Redrow Homes won outline planning permission to build 133 homes on appeal in August 2020 after it was initially refused by councillors on Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee.

A reserved matters application that gives a final rubber-stamp to development is yet to be signed off.

As part of the application, the developer submitted two ecology studies.

These found there were four badger setts in the area but only one or two were still actively used by the animal.

Members of KWAG bought a trail cam, which is a camera that is left outside and captures the movement of animals.

They claim their investigation found evidence of 11 badger setts, 6 of which it says are still active.

Mr Tremble said:

“How can complete amateurs spot this much badger activity so easily when so-called professionals failed completely?”.

KWAG has sent the results of their investigation to HBC councillors.

How the proposed development will look

Badgers and their setts are protected by law.

Developers must have a licence from Natural England to remove or modify a badger sett.

John Hansard from KWAG said the planning application must now be put on hold until the licence is approved, which could take months.

He said:

“There is proof of badgers on site. It’s the breeding season now so they can’t apply for a licence until the end of June. Nothing can happen until then.”

Redrow’s response

Traci Moore, land and planning director for Redrow (Yorkshire), said:

“We are committed to protecting wildlife in and around the proposed development. We have undertaken surveys of local wildlife and submitted ecological reports in line with the outline planning permission, including a detailed badger survey in 2021.

“We have also submitted proposals to reduce the impact of the development on the native badger population. These proposals are subject to ongoing discussion and agreement with the council’s ecologist.”

A disused Methodist chapel near Masham dating back more than 100 years could be converted into a home.

The Old Chapel at Breary Banks, Healey, was built in 1911 for workers building reservoirs that served people in Leeds. Breary Banks was later used as a prisoner of war camp during the First World War.

The slate roof chapel is not a listed building but is considered to be a non-designated heritage asset located within the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Harrogate Borough Council has now received a planning application from Clementine Godwin to convert the chapel into a single house.

The rear of the chapel.

Planning documents submitted to the council say:

“The proposal is to convert the redundant former chapel into a single dwelling unit. This will be open plan and the sleeping area will be on an upper mezzanine level.

“The intention is to repair and maintain the external character and appearance of the old chapel. The entire development is contained within the existing envelope of the building, without the need for additional structure or openings in the external walls.

“The external repairs to the building will all be carried out with the utmost care and be sympathetic to the original construction.”

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Masham Parish Council has supported the application.

Breary Banks village was constructed in 1900 by the Leeds Corporation, which had commissioned the creation of two nearby reservoirs to supply Leeds with water.

The village was designed to house the navvies working on the construction of the reservoirs and their families. By spring 1904 the settlement accommodated 400 men with more huts being built, according to planning documents.

Sixteen men lived lived in each hut.

Planning permission was granted for the chapel to be used as a furniture workshop in 1983 but it was never acted on.

A decision on the future of Harrogate Borough Council’s former Crescent Gardens offices is set to be made this month, according to site owner Impala Estates.

The Harrogate-based property investment company bought the building in January 2020 for £4m.

It submitted a planning application in March 2021 to transform the site into offices, a gym and a rooftop restaurant.

Under the plans, the empty building, which was built in the 1890s, would be extended by adding two floors.

James Hartley, director at Impala Estates, told the Stray Ferret in an email today that it expected the proposal to be considered by councillors on the planning committee on April 21.

‘Much-needed’ office space

Documents submitted by the developer in November said the conversion would add “much-needed” office space into the town centre.

It said:

“It has been noted that there is a significant lack of high quality office space within the centre of Harrogate along with more office buildings being approved for conversion to residential within the town centre, this being exacerbated by changes in permitted development rules”.

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In December, the public body Historic England said it objected to the two-storey roof-top extension and would prefer a “suitably designed” single-storey extension instead.

It said:

“Whilst we remain supportive of the proposals to sustainability reuse the former council offices, the revised scheme does not address our previous concerns and our position remains unchanged. Unfortunately, the two storey upward extension is still being pursued.”

The Stray Ferret asked the council to confirm whether Crescent Gardens will be on the agenda at the next planning committee meeting but we had not yet received a response by the time of publication.

The saga of the former council site

The future of Crescent Gardens, which has been empty for five years since the council relocated to Knapping Mount in 2017, has become a long-running saga.

Harrogate Borough Council announced when it moved into its new offices that local developer Adam Thorpe would buy the site for £6.31 million.

Mr Thorpe said he would spend £75 million on a refurbishment, which would include an art gallery, underground car park, swimming pool, restaurant and luxury apartments.

Two years later he said he had agreed the sale of 10 of the 12 properties but Mr Thorpe’s company, ATP Ltd, then collapsed with debts of almost £11million, including £24,394 to the council.

The site then went back on the market and was eventually sold to Impala Estates.

It set up a website outlining its vision for the building. The ‘project updates’ section has not been updated since April 1 last year.

Harrogate Borough Council has refused a bid to build a luxury eco-resort with 350 lodges on the former Flaxby golf course.

The plans included a hotel, outdoor swimming pool, spa and sports area as well as a pub/cafe, farm shop, gift shop and activity hub.

The developer Flaxby Park Ltd had previously said the resort would attract “the most discerning visitors” and would have a focus on sustainability to allow families to “reconnect with nature”.

But council planning officer Kate Broadbank said the development would have a negative impact on the district’s natural environment as well as harming views from the nearby Temple of Victory, which is Grade II* listed.

The golf course, off the A59 and A1(M), closed in 2014 and has been derelict ever since.

Ms Broadbank wrote:

“The scale and layout are considered to have an unacceptable adverse impact upon the district’s natural and historic environment.

“In addition, the application site is not considered to be accessible to local services nor is it demonstrated that an acceptable connection to public utilities can be achieved.”

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The application generated 31 objections, including one from Knaresborough Town Council which feared the hotel would never be built and the site would be re-marketed as a residential development.

An aerial computer generated image of the proposal. The A1 (M) is to the east and the A59 is to the south.

The council added:

“The applicants seem to have no experience of running a holiday park, have no proven business case and have not considered the constant traffic noise from the adjacent motorway.”

The Stray Ferret has approached Flaxby Park Ltd for a response but we had not received one by the time of publication.

History of the site

In 2008 The Skelwith Group bought the site from farming family the Armstrongs for £7m. It published plans for a 300-bedroom five-star hotel on the site that it touted as the future “jewel in Yorkshire’s tourism crown”.

But in 2016 the company went out of business after these plans never materialised.

Flaxby Park Ltd is a company made up of businesswoman Ann Gloag and regeneration specialists Chris Musgrave and Trevor Cartner.

It bought the 260-acre golf course site from administrators in 2016.

Its original proposal for the site was to build 2,750 homes and a rail link at Goldsborough. But these plans ended after the council chose the Green Hammerton area as the site for a new settlement in the district.

In October 2020, the developer challenged the council’s decision in the High Court but was unable to overturn it.

Plans have been submitted to build 770 homes and a new primary school at Otley Road in Harrogate.

The development also includes a sports centre, a convenience store and community hub.

Land promoters Anwyl Land and national housebuilder Redrow Homes are behind the Windmill Farm development, which would be the biggest housing scheme to be built in Harrogate for decades.

It would dwarf the nearby village of Beckwithshaw, which has a population of 400.

The homes would be built on green fields on the opposite side of the road from the charity-run nursery Horticap and behind RHS Harlow Carr. Part of the land is currently used by Beaver Horse Shop.

Parameters Plan

A design and access statement, submitted to support the application, says the application has been informed by the West of Harrogate Parameters Plan.

The parameters plan, which has been prepared by Harrogate Borough Council, will be used to identify what infrastructure is required to meet the needs associated with future developments in the area.

It also offers guidance on design, open space and landscaping.

The application says 40% of the homes will be classed as “affordable”, with the remaining 60% sold at market rate and being between two and five-bedroom properties.

The homes would look like these

Forty of the homes would be self-build, which are plots reserved for people who want to build their own home.

Bus stops and three access points would be created on Otley Road to leave and enter the site and a new cycle route would also be installed, which the developers hope will eventually connect to the Otley Road cycle path.

The existing Otley Road/Howhill Road junction would be reworked to include one of the entrance points to Windmill Farm and will have traffic lights.

An energy statement says the homes would not have any low carbon or renewable energy technologies.

They would be fitted with “high-efficiency” combi gas boilers to heat the homes. The government will be ban gas boilers from new homes in 2025.

It says to reduce emissions, the homes would be well insulated and be positioned to make the most of the sun.

There are no firm details included about the primary school and the number of children it can accommodate, but it would be built on the side of the development facing RHS Harlow Carr.

It says the size of the school and its surroundings would be 5.19 acres.

The new primary school would be built near RHS Harlow Carr

Local Plan

The site is allocated for development in the Harrogate district Local Plan 2014-35, which is a document that lays out where development can take place in the district until 2035. It says 776 homes can be built there.

If the Windmill Farm development is granted full planning approval, it would mean over 1,200 homes could be built on that section of Otley Road.

The government’s housing agency, Homes England, has plans to build 480 homes on Bluecoat Park, near Harrogate police station.

The majority of homes at the 125-home Harlow Hill Grange development are now completed.

Environment concerns

Whilst the development is likely to be granted planning permission in some form due to the fact the site is included in the Local Plan, a spokesperson for Harlow and Pannal Ash Residents Association told the Stray Ferret in September it was “very concerned” about the scale of the development and its impact on the environment.

Planning documents submitted on behalf of the developer say the scheme is a “high-quality proposal”.

“The proposed layout seeks to meets the aspirations of the draft Parameter Plans for the West of Harrogate masterplan. The proposed scheme provides a residential development that fully integrates built form, landscaping and quality of place in order to provide a high-quality proposal that is where people are proud to live.”

The plans are open for comments on the council’s planning portal and the reference is 22/00089/EIAMAJ

Harrogate Islamic Association has said it is confident of raising enough money to buy the former Home Guard Club and convert it into the town’s first mosque.

A price of £500,000 was agreed to buy the building, which is on the corner of Tower Street and Belford Road, before the association obtained planning permission.

The current owner set a deadline of Monday next week to complete the sale.

The group already has several hundred thousand pounds set aside to buy the building but does not yet have enough to pay the full asking price.

After planning permission was granted last month by Harrogate Borough Council, the association launched a crowdfunding campaign to help raise the extra money needed to buy the building as well as for much-needed repairs, setting a target of £200,000.

With days to go until the owner’s deadline, the crowdfunder is currently on just £18,000.

However, Zahed Amanullah, a member of the association, said there was no risk the deal could fall through because it had loans in place to cover any shortfall.

Mr Amanullah said:

“We are on our way to getting the money. It’s not all reflected in the crowdfunding campaign, which we’re extending to the end of April, which is the month of Ramadan, and will be used to pay back loans.

“We’ve been raising money from other sources, such as pledges from the community directly.

“Where there might be a shortfall, we have people to loan us the difference, so we can pay them back. Our intention is to make the payment in time with a combination of loans and crowdfunding.”

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The association, which was set up in 2011, has been looking for a permanent home for several years, with previous attempts at securing a site falling through. Around 100 Muslim worshippers currently meet in the Quakers’ Friends Meeting House on Queen Parade.

The association also organises prayer sessions at Chain Lane Community Hub in Knaresborough.

Mr Amanullah said once the group has the keys to the building, the immediate focus will be on repairs and restoring original features.

All being well, it could open to the public by the end of the summer.

Plans for a new 36-flat supported housing development in Harrogate have been given the go-ahead today.

Jackie Snape, chief executive of the Harrogate charity Disability Action Yorkshire, made an impassioned plea to councillors for the scheme to go ahead. She said disabled people wanted to be given more control of their lives.

Ms Snape told Harrogate Borough Council‘s planning meeting that the need for supported housing was growing ever greater as disabled people “want so much more than residential care”.

She was speaking in support of plans to replace the charity’s existing Claro Road care home with 36 flats, which will allow residents to live more independently.

Ms Snape said:

“Disability Action Yorkshire has provided residential care for disabled people in the Harrogate area for the past 60 years, and for at least the last six years we have been working towards stopping that part of our service.

“The reason for this is that the disabled people we work with are telling us very loudly that they don’t want residential care.

“I asked the young disabled people currently living in 34 Claro Road what they thought I should say to you today.

“They said ‘just tell them we are ready, we want choice and control over our own lives, we just want our own front doors, we want what everyone else has.’”

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Disability Action Yorkshire, which this year celebrates its 85th anniversary, is working with Highstone Housing Association to build three apartment blocks at the Claro Road site.

Residents ‘no longer want residential care’

Ms Snape said the need for this type of accommodation has been growing over the last decade, but became in even greater demand during the pandemic which “solidified the resolve” of Claro Road residents that they no longer want residential care.

She said:

“For the past two years they have been treated differently to the rest of society, at one point not being able to have visits from friends and family while the rest of the country went out to eat out.

“Nearly every day somebody said we wouldn’t be in this situation if we had a home of our own.”

The charity’s plans – which included a mix of one and two-bed flats – were approved with “open arms” by Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee today.

Works will now start later this month to construct the first of the flats on the grounds of the current home and on a derelict playground which was sold off by the council last year.

The existing care home will be replaced with flats, as well as a base for support staff who will be on site 24-hours-a-day.

Speaking at today’s meeting, councillor Stuart Martin said:

“This is exactly the sort of development we should be building and it’s one of the easiest decisions I’ve taken on this planning committee.”

New details have emerged about Harrogate Spring Water’s rental agreements with the borough council, as the company has still yet to reveal latest expansion plans for its bottled water plant.

After being refused permission to expand onto Rotary Wood in January 2021, the company said it would submit new plans “in the coming weeks”.

But eight months on after that statement last July, there is still no sign of another planning application from the firm which faced a backlash from campaigners, residents and councillors after having its proposals recommended for approval by Harrogate Borough Council.

The council has now revealed new details of a turnover-based rent agreement that it has had with Harrogate Spring Water since the company first opened its Harlow Hill site in 2002.

In response to a Freedom of Information request, the council refused to say how much money it has received as the details are deemed to be of “commercial value”.

But it did disclose for the first time that it receives 0.5% of Harrogate Spring Water’s annual turnover.

And when calculated using the company’s turnover figures, the Local Democracy Reporting Service has found that the council has received an estimated £853,033 over an 18-year period.

This is on top of an annual base rent which was initially agreed at £10,000 in 2002 and has since climbed to £15,232 following a review every five years.

Aerial view of Harrogate Spring Water. Pic: Pinewoods Conservation Group

Conflict of interest questions

These financial benefits for the council have previously raised questions over a potential conflict of interest in its decision-making for Harrogate Spring Water’s expansion plans.

But the council has repeatedly said there is no such risk and that it has followed the correct procedures when dealing with the proposals.

A council spokesperson said:

“As we’ve said numerous times, there is no conflict of interest.

“Land/site ownership is not a material consideration when an application is considered.

“It is normal practice for planning authorities to take decisions on planning applications relating to land in its own ownership.

“There are no requirements nationally for a planning application – whether it is on council-owned land or not – to be determined by another local planning authority or other mechanism.”

The council also confirmed it has no other turnover-based rent agreements with any other of its tenants.

And it said the rent from Harrogate Spring Water is used to “deliver valuable front-line services across the Harrogate district.”

125-year lease

This comes as emails obtained in a separate Freedom of Information request show the council has said it would consider selling Rotary Wood to Harrogate Spring Water.

The site is subject to a 125-year lease which is reportedly worth £1.13 million.

When the council recommended the company’s expansion plans for approval last year, it said there were “significant economic benefits of the proposed development, including job creation, other financial benefits to the district and the enhancement of the Harrogate brand.”

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But this was not a view shared by campaigners who argued that in the face of a climate emergency, it was vital that the council preserved green spaces and not replaced them with a larger factory producing plastic bottled water.

This argument was backed by members of the council’s own planning committee who accused the authority of putting “profit and plastic before impact on the environment”.

Harrogate Spring Water was first granted outline planning permission to expand its bottling site onto Rotary Wood – which was planted by children and forms part of the 40-hectare Pinewoods forest – in 2017.

Two years later, the company submitted a revised application that was 40% larger than the one originally approved, but then failed to win full permission.

In a new statement issued this week, Harrogate Spring Water said it is currently “evaluating its plans” but did not hint at when its latest proposals could be revealed.

The company also said it is “committed to working with the public” and “will continue to keep people engaged and informed as part of the process”.

Rotary Wood plans

Pinewoods Conservation Group – the charity responsible for the conservation of the Pinewoods forest – has been at the forefront of the objections to the company’s expansion over Rotary Wood.

The charity said there have been “no proactive discussions” from Harrogate Spring Water over its latest plans which it said should be scrapped altogether.

A charity spokesperson said:

“With each year that passes the Rotary Wood area of the Pinewoods becomes a more mature woodland with increasing bird and plant life, improving the biodiversity of the area and improving air quality.

“The continued delays are however now impacting on any future plans for that area of the Pinewoods. We know, for example, that footpath works are much needed but are reluctant to potentially waste limited charity funds.

“We hope that with continued public pressure on unsustainable businesses such as Harrogate Spring Water, and this community site specifically, that any expansion plans are now abandoned.”

Two potential plans for housing at Harlow Nurseries in Harrogate have emerged.

The site next to the Pinewoods is owned by Harrogate Borough Council and sells plants, pots and compost to the public.

However, the council’s Harrogate district Local Plan 2014-35, which outlines where development can take place, says 40 homes can be built there. The nursery will relocate if a development goes ahead.

Two options for how it could look were displayed at Pinewoods Conservation Group‘s annual general meeting on Monday by the charity’s chair Neil Hind. Both contain more than 40 homes.

The plans were drawn up by consultants on behalf of the council.

The first option includes 57 homes that are a mix of family homes and apartments.

The second option includes 62 homes and apartments and has less garden space than option one.

Both options include 30% ‘affordable’ homes. The two plans also say the development could achieve net-zero emissions, but don’t give further details on how this might be achieved.

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In September 2020, the council appointed three external consultants to draw up plans for the nurseries, as well as for two other brownfield sites in Harrogate.

The consultants will be paid with funding secured by the council in 2018.

The council received £200,000 from the Leeds City Region Business Rates Pool and £36,000 from the York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

Impact on Pinewoods

The plans could still change before the final report is published in May.

It would need to be rubber-stamped by councillors before moving to the next stage, which could involve the sale of the site to a developer.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr Hind said:

“My view is there is no point objecting, it’s in the Local Plan, it’s a brownfield site and it’s going to happen. Our role is to ensure it has as little impact on the Pinewoods as it can have.”

Pinewoods Conservation Group’s AGM on Monday evening.

Harrogate Spring Water

The AGM was attended by around 25 people. Also on the agenda was Harrogate Spring Water’s hopes to expand its bottling plant on Harlow Moor Road.

The Stray Ferret reported this week that Harrogate Borough Council has said it would consider selling Rotary Wood to the company, which is preparing to submit a new planning application.

Mr Hind told the meeting that Pinewoods Conservation Group had lawyers on hand to ensure due process on any sale was followed.

Plans to demolish a 20-bed care home on Claro Road in Harrogate and replace it with a new facility have been recommended for approval.

Disability Action Yorkshire has submitted the proposal, which would see a 34-bed facility built on its current site and on adjacent disused land.

The new home would be built in three three-storey blocks and would ease the shortage of accessible supported housing for local disabled people.

Senior Harrogate Borough Council officers have recommended that the scheme is approved at a planning committee meeting next week.

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The proposal consists of 24 one-bedroom and 12 two-bedroom flats.

Should it be approved, Disability Action Yorkshire plans to complete the scheme in partnership with Highstone Housing Association.

The council agreed to sell the adjacent land to the housing association for an undisclosed sum in November 2021.

It is hoped the project will be completed by the end of 2023.

Masterplan of the care home development on Claro Road as proposed by Disability Action Yorkshire.

Jackie Snape, chief executive at Disability Action Yorkshire, said previously:

“Our vision is to empower disabled people to live the lifestyle of their choosing, and independent living is at the heart of this.

“This is an incredibly exciting move for us, and something we have been planning for a number of years. Our partners, Highstone Housing Association, are experts in building supported housing.

“Whilst they will develop the site, it will be our staff supporting the residents, all of whom will have tailor-made care packages put in place before moving in.

“Our customers at 34 Claro Road have been fully consulted, and they looking forward to having their own front doors.”