Harrogate Borough Council has agreed to pay developers behind a planned Leon drive-thru on Wetherby Road £25,000 for appeal costs.
The authority had been in discussions with Blackburn-based Euro Garages after it took the council to appeal over its decision to refuse the proposal.
In July 2021, a government planning inspector granted permission for the new drive-thru, which was initially proposed to be a Starbucks.
Helen Hockenhull, the inspector who approved the plan, awarded costs against the council after it “demonstrated unreasonable behaviour”.
A spokesperson for the council confirmed that it had agreed to pay Euro Garages £25,000 as part of the appeal cost.
The spokesman said:
“Officer recommendations are always taken with a balanced approach and are based on careful consideration of a wide range of issues, including local and national planning policy, case law, consultation responses and anything else considered to be ‘material’ to the decision, including the comments of local residents.
“In this case, the officer recommendation of approval was overturned by the planning committee and permission was refused, which has led to an appeal by the applicant.
“The council lost at appeal as it was unable to substantiate the committee’s grounds for refusal. The planning committee was therefore found to have acted unreasonably in taking this decision and the council is required to pay costs to the sum of £25,000.”
Read more:
- New Harrogate Leon set to open early May
- Harrogate council ‘demonstrated unreasonable behaviour’ over Starbucks rejection, says inspector
The council turned down the development back in 2019 on air quality and highways grounds, but later withdrew its objection and did not defend itself at the appeal hearing.
Speaking in May 2021, John Worthington, the council’s executive officer for development management, said officers could not stand successfully at appeal because their previous recommendation would “undermine” their case and that losing also risked legal costs of over £50,000.
The move forced residents fighting the proposal to defend the authority’s reasons for refusal themselves at the hearing.
Ms Hockenhull said she understood concerns from residents, but added that she was not convinced that the development would cause “significant harm”.
In a decision notice last year, she said:
“I recognise that my findings will be disappointing to the local residents and ward councillor who gave evidence at the hearing.
“However, based on the technical evidence before me and all that I have seen and heard, with the proposed mitigation measures secured by planning conditions, I am not persuaded that the development would cause significant harm.”
