Harrogate has lost its “feel-good factor” due to poorly designed housing being built in the town, according to a key member of Harrogate’s Civic Society.
Speaking to The Stray Ferret, Stuart Holland, joint chairman of the group, warned that the housing is putting the town’s “unique ambience” under strain.
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However, he said it can still be protected through good design.
He said:
“We’ve got to encourage better design but we won’t change it overnight.”
Several major housing schemes have been built across the district in recent years, with more in the pipeline as part of Harrogate Borough Council’s Local Plan.
Yet the design of many of the new homes are a familiar source of complaint for people living here.
Formed 40 years ago, the civic society published a new strategy earlier this month that hopes to influence better housing design.
Mr Holland hopes the strategy can help the group reinvent itself so it’s more relevant to a new generation of people who care about the town.
But what would the Victorian architects who designed heritage buildings like the Pump Rooms, Royal Hall and have to say about the new housing schemes?
According to Mr Holland, they would “be horrified”.
He added:
“They’d say they’re so small, they lack detail. But we’re spoilt in Harrogate with the architecture we’ve got. We can’t expect to be building the homes of the late 1880s.”
