Harrogate Borough Council will spend £650,000 on long-awaited plans to bring 11 one-bedroom flats in Ripon back into use.
Plans to refurbish the council homes at Allhallowgate date back seven years but have been delayed due to sinkhole concerns in the area.
In 2015, planning permission was granted to demolish a block of flats at 4-14a Allhallowgate and replace them with nine townhouses. The plan also included a major refurbishment of an existing block of flats.
The flats were demolished but the rest of the scheme was halted in 2019 after an engineering firm found ground instability “could be foreseen” on or near the site. They warned that measures to reduce the risk of the townhouses collapsing were not cost-effective.
Ripon sits above a layer of gypsum, which is a water-soluble rock that leads to the formation of large underground caves that can collapse.
The council pledged to continue with the refurbishment of the existing flats that weren’t demolished. However, its plans were paused again during covid as they were used as temporary accommodation for homeless people.
In May, the council was quoted £1.1m for the project by a contractor — almost double its budget of £650,000. It has since removed plans to build an extension to the building to reduce costs.
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The council’s cabinet met on Wednesday night to approve spending money on the refurbishment.
Conservative cabinet member for housing and safer communities, Mike Chambers, who is also councillor for Ripon Spa, said he was happy the project was finally moving forward.
He said:
“This is a project that for a number of years has hit the buffers for various reasons. It is now appropriate we start moving it forward again. It is somewhat of an eyesore so I’m delighted we’re moving forward.
“It will improve the streetscene and a number of residents are concerned about the state of the block following the demolition. It’s high time we moved on.”
Subject to planning permission, HBC hopes to complete the refurbishment by May 2023.
