The owners of the former Flaxby golf course could attempt to create a 400-lodge eco-resort on the site after their hopes of building 3,000 homes there were dashed last week.
A High Court judge ruled last week that Harrogate Borough Council’s decision to choose Green Hammerton over Flaxby as the site of a new 3,000-home settlement does not have to be made again.
This decision could prompt Flaxby Park to instigate alternative plans to transform the site into a tourism resort.
A report published by planning consultants Lichfields on behalf of Flaxby Park this year outlines a vision to transform the golf course, which closed in 2015, into a “sustainable eco-resort”.
The report claims the resort could generate £35m a year of visitor spending and employ 600 full-time staff.
As well as the 400 eco-lodges, the proposals include an indoor sports area, paddle boarding and boating, a swimming pool, a spa, shops and restaurants.
An aerial view of the Flaxby site.
According to the report, the “driving principle” of the resort is to allow families to “reconnect with nature, providing an ecologically rich environment” using renewable energy.
It says:
“The development of this unique, environmentally conscious eco-lodge holiday complex would generate significant benefits for the local economy and that of the wider region.”
Plans for the eco-resort have not yet been submitted to the council, but they would be a major addition to district tourism if they came to fruition.
A spokesperson from Flaxby Park confirmed to the Stray Ferret the eco-resort was a potential option for the golf course.
Read more:
- Flaxby fails to stop Green Hammerton development at High Court
- Flaxby vs Green Hammerton: the saga so far…
Flaxby Park Ltd has owned the site since April 2016. Previous owner the Skelworth Group had planning permission to build a 300-bedroom, five-star hotel but the company went out of business before the plans materialised.
In separate plans, Harrogate company Forward Investment already has outline planning permission for an eco-friendly business park immediately south of the golf course at the junction of the A59 and A1M.
