Harrogate Borough Council looks set to press ahead with plans to sell land at Harlow Nurseries for housing.
The site next to the Pinewoods is owned by the council and sells plants, pots and compost to the public.
The council’s Harrogate district Local Plan 2014-35, which outlines where development can take place, allocates 40 homes to the site. The nursery will relocate if a development goes ahead.
Consultants hired by the council came up with two options this year. The first option was to build a mix of 57 family homes and flats. The second was to build 62 homes and flats with smaller gardens.
A report due before councillors next week recommends the 62-home option and invites expressions of interest for the land before proceeding to tender for a conditional sale.
The council says the area “provides a good opportunity for sustainable, low carbon and high quality place-making”.
The report says:
“The masterplan illustrates how a bespoke, high quality, carbon efficient, housing development could be delivered at Harlow Nurseries.
“It would create a community that sits well in its setting with a dedicated pedestrian and cycle tree lined avenue at its heart.
“A mixture of dwellings is proposed totalling 62 homes including 40% affordable.”
Read more:
- Harlow Hill and Pannal Ash residents bracing themselves for ’15 years of disruption’
- Plans for housing at Harlow Nurseries emerge
- Plans for new plant nursery in Harrogate progress – but council refuses to reveal location
The plans have previously been met with anger from residents who objected to the closure of the Harlow Hill nursery where thousands of plants are grown each year for the district’s award-winning gardens.
In June, Cllr Sam Gibbs, the council’s cabinet member for environment, waste reduction and recycling, signed off £50,000 for “in-depth professional advice,” site surveys and other works to progress the replacement nursery plans.
At the time, a council spokesperson said the proposals were in the early stages and that it wanted to see whether the unnamed preferred site is “viable”.
The Stray Ferret has approached the council to ask whether it has now identified a preferred site for the existing nursery.
