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09
Jan
Government urged to dismiss unauthorised Harrogate car wash's appeal
Council officials have called on the government to dismiss an appeal from a Harrogate car wash over an enforcement notice at the site.
Skipton Road Car Wash has been at the centre of an enforcement row with North Yorkshire Council for months for operating without planning permission.
Plans were submitted, withdrawn, re-submitted, rejected, appealed and dismissed – none of which deterred the car wash owner from trading — before the council began enforcement action on November 3, 2025.
Under the terms of the enforcement notice, which were revealed by the Stray Ferret last year, Skipton Road Car Wash was given 60 days to cease all operations. This includes removing the two jet washers and one hoover used at the site, as well as on-site adverts.
However, the owners of the site appealed the notice and took the matter to the government’s Planning Inspectorate — which deals with planning disputes.
Mohammed Rasool Khader, who owns the car wash, filed an appeal against the enforcement notice and called for a year to vacate the site.
The appeal application, submitted by Mohammed Ilyas of planning firm The Planning Person on behalf of Mr Khader, described the 60-day window afforded to the car wash as “meagre” and claimed Mr Khader had been left in a “dire and cornered position caused by unreasonableness by the council”.
Now, the council has responded to the claims in a statement to the Planning Inspectorate.
The authority said that the car wash had been in operation for more than 52 weeks despite it being unauthorised.
It added:
Whilst there has been a change of use at the site no significant structures have been erected, no buildings have been erected, fences erected etc. and therefore there is little work that is required to comply with the notice.
The council added that the timeframe offered enough time to remove equipment at the site, which it described as “not overly excessive works”.
It said:
Therefore, the council is of the opinion a 30-day period to cease the use, and then a further 30 days (60 days in total) is acceptable to remove vacuum cleaners, and power washers, adverts from the site. This is not overly excessive works and can easily be done within the set timeframes.
A government planning inspector will make a decision on the appeal at a later date.
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