Ripon Civic Society has welcomed plans to rejuvenate the city's historic Spa Baths, which have fallen into disrepair since being closed two years ago.

Ripon-based investment and development company Sterne Properties Limited has proposed creating a hospitality-led development, which would see the spa building retained and refurbished.

The new-build element of the scheme would include four residential flats and a single-storey glazed extension, with a landscaped courtyard area linked to the adjacent Spa Gardens, providing a new public access to the parkland area.

This would replace the swimming pool building introduced before the Second World War, when the spa was converted into a public baths.

In response to the planning application, the civic society said:

Mindful of the dilapidated and vandalised state of the grade two listed building, the society added:

Regarding the new-build element of the scheme,  the society said:

The society's response, which can be seen along with other documents on the North Yorkshire Council planning portal, added:

The civic society, which accepts the need for a residential element in the scheme to make the development viable, said it supports the application in principle, subject to clarification on a number of points of detail, largely relating to the retention of decorative features dating back to 1905 when the spa opened.

The main picture is an architectural perspective viewed from Park Street, which shows how the spa building will look after renovation. Image: Architecture:ab

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