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03
Jul
Council issues verdict on animal physiotherapy surgery near Knaresborough
North Yorkshire Council has approved plans for an animal physiotherapy surgery at a farm near Knaresborough.
The application sought planning permission to erect the building at East Tancred Farm in Whixley.
The proposal, approved last week, was tabled by Vanguard Physiotherapy Ltd – a company set up by physiotherapist Bethany Hilton-Cox in 2023.
Ms Hilton-Cox is qualified to treat humans and animals, but the application says the company delivers physiotherapy services to “elite equine athlete(s) and rider(s), and canine orthopaedic and neurological patients”.
According to planning documents, the two-storey building will include an animal reception, three physiotherapy rooms, a staff room, a staff changing area and a room to store equipment and medication.
The waiting area will be used for smaller animals and a “garage-style door” will allow larger animals, such as horses, to enter the building.
Planning documents say animals respond well to physiotherapy, and it is often used to treat animals with injuries or spinal and joint problems.
The application adds the rural site off the B6265 on the eastern edge of Whixley is ideal for both clients and physiotherapists:
The location detailed is ideal not only for client accessibility with space for large vehicle parking (horse box trailers and lorries), but most significantly its practicalities and requirements needed by the chartered physiotherapists to deliver safe, effective and comprehensive physiotherapy services to veterinary clients, [the] majority of which being the equine species.
A site layout for the surgery. Credit: JMD Architectural Designs
The unit will be built amongst a cluster of buildings at the farm, which is surrounded by open fields, but the application site is hidden by surrounding buildings.
The surgery building will replace existing timber sheds at the farm but will be similar in form and appearance to an adjacent garage, planning documents say.
They add:
The building is for a surgery which, as it were, acts as a hospital for animals. It requires a new built [sic] to both accommodate its specific requirements of the use but more importantly to address hygiene requirements which could not be achieved through the conversion of a farm building.
Otherwise, the infrastructure requirements are fulfilled as the proposals demand no more service supplies than a dwelling. Water, electricity and drainage requirements can all be delivered from the existing circumstances.
A council report acknowledges the surgery would boost the local economy and provide a service for animal owners in the Harrogate area, York, Boroughbridge, Wetherby and Ripon.
It adds the site is in a particularly appropriate location for the “niche animal physiotherapy business that would attract customers from a wider rural community more than a larger urban centre”.
The development was approved subject to conditions.
The Stray Ferret approached Vanguard Physiotherapy for comment but we had not received a response at the time of publication.
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