A bid to close Crescent Gardens road in Harrogate to the public looks set to clear its first hurdle next week.
North Yorkshire Council has recommended councillors approve an application to install bollards and planters at either end of the road to prevent public access.
The move would involve the loss of 35 public car parking bays and could also eventually lead to the closure of the pedestrian footpath on Crescent Gardens.
Impala Estates, which bought the former Harrogate Borough Council headquarters for £4 million in 2020, submitted plans to close the road to the public last year.
The firm was granted planning permission to convert the building into offices, a gym and a restaurant / bar, and to construct a two-storey roof-top extension in May 2022. However, work has yet to begin.
The public parking bays lost would be retained for the private use of businesses using the building.
A 12-page report by case officer Gerard Walsh to councillors on the Harrogate and Knaresborough planning committee recommends they approve the scheme when they meet on Tuesday, May 7.
The planning application would see the road running between Swan Road to the west and Montpellier Road to the east closed. Block paving would be installed on the road in front of the building to “form a clear pedestrian connection between the building and the Crescent Gardens park opposite”, the report said.
If approved, the Secretary of State for Transport could then issue a stopping up order extinguishing the public right of way.
The report said:
“Officers consider that the proposed development will have a minor positive impact on the character and appearance of the conservation area and no significant impact on the setting of nearby listed buildings.”
It added:
“The council’s highways team have no objection to the proposed development subject to proposed conditions requiring the submission of a bollard and access management plan, a construction phase management plan, and provision of a tactile pedestrian crossing at the junction of Crescent Gardens / Swan Road to improve the pedestrian facilities on the remaining highway.”
The view from the Swan Road junction.
The report said the loss of parking bays “is not a significant concern and would not warrant refusal, as there are sufficient alternative on-street parking facilities nearby, in addition to an abundance of available off-street parking options in the town centre”.
But Harrogate Civic Society, which lodged one of seven objections, said:
“Loss of public access to the parking spaces on the road would compound the previous loss of parking beside the Royal Hall.
“Crescent Gardens is important as a highway for two-way traffic to ease the passage of vehicles to Ripon Road and to and from Swan Road and the Duchy estate etc. The fact that a route other than Crescent Gardens exists is not a reason for stopping up this right of way.”
The planning committee will vote whether to accept Mr Walsh’s recommendation.
Read more:
- Plans submitted to convert Harrogate’s Crescent Gardens to private road
- Harrogate named as one of UK’s best shopping destinations
