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12
Sept 2023
Harrogate's Rudding Park expansion approved
Councillors have approved plans by Rudding Park Hotel and Spa near Harrogate to a build a new golf clubhouse, family hub and four tennis courts and reinstate a walled garden.
North Yorkshire Council’s strategic planning committee met in Northallerton this morning to consider the application, which the resort said will result in an additional 75 full-time jobs and lead to an extra £14.3 million being spent in the local area every year.
Planning documents said the current clubhouse was originally built as a temporary facility but had outgrown its useful life and “considerably discredits the course".
The new two-storey building will include swimming pools, restaurants, a gym and changing rooms.
How the new clubhouse will look.
Another visual of the new clubhouse.
Simon Mackaness, owner of Rudding Park, told councillors the scheme would secure the future of the business.
He said:
The buildings will be constructed to the BREEAM 'excellent' environmental standard to put them in the top 10% of new buildings in the country.
Andy Brown, the Green Party councillor for Aire Valley, praised the scheme's eco credentials.
He said:
Green belt concerns
Rudding Park is a sprawling 300-acre estate three miles south of Harrogate. But because it sits on green belt land, planning policy only permits development in “very special circumstances”.
Neil Swannick, the Labour councillor for Whitby Streonshalh, said the positives did not outweigh the harm of building on the green belt.
He said:
However, Andrew Lee, the Conservatives and Independents group councillor for Appleton Roebuck and Church Fenton, argued the strict tests for building on green belt had been met.
He said:
Councillors voted to approve the application with conditions by 12 votes to 1.
Read more:
- Major expansion of Rudding Park recommended for approval
- Rudding Park installs 12 new electric vehicle charging points
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