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20
Jan
Major plans to refurbish former Harrogate Debenhams set for approval
Plans to revive the former Debenhams building in Harrogate look set to be approved.
The famous building on Parliament Street has been vacant since the department store closed four years ago this month.
Wetherby-based property firm Stirling Prescient initially applied to demolish the site and replace it with a five-storey building containing 50 flats and two commercial units.
But it resubmitted plans to refurbish the building into 34 flats and a commercial space in November 2023.
The new plans proved more popular with local and national heritage groups and now North Yorkshire Council has recommended councillors on its Harrogate and Knaresborough planning committee approve them at a meeting next week.
Under the plans, the lower floors of the building would be retained and refurbished either for commercial use or as a bar.
The upper floors, including a proposed roof extension, would accommodate nine one-bedroom flats and 25 two-bedroom flats.
Alterations would also be made to the buildings, including replacing the façade of the 1960s element and new shopfronts. Windows and the slate roof may also be removed and replaced.
Some demolition work would take place. Council case officer Jillian Rann's 58-page report, which you can read here, says the central part of the building would be demolished:
...to create a central, landscaped courtyard at first floor level, around which the upper floor apartments would be arranged, with external walkways at upper levels around the internal courtyard providing access to the apartments on the floors above.
How the proposed changes would look from Parliament Street.
Ms Rann's report says:
The main issues for consideration in this application include the effects of the development on heritage assets (including the non-designated heritage asset within the site, the settings of listed buildings nearby, and Harrogate Conservation Area), residential amenity, highway safety, ecology and biodiversity, and fire safety.
Some aspects of the proposed development would result in harm to the significance of the non-designated heritage asset within the site, and less than substantial harm to the Harrogate Conservation Area and to the settings of nearby listed buildings.
However, the proposed development would also provide a number of public benefits. These include bringing a vacant building, on a large and prominent site within Harrogate town centre, back into use to provide commercial space and new residential apartments within the town centre, which would contribute to the vitality and viability of the town centre and to housing supply in the town.
Harrogate Civic Society and Save Britain’s Heritage both support the revised plans.
Funding for schools and healthcare
The report also outlines the details of the section 106 agreement between the council and Stirling Prescient.
Under the agreements, developers agree sums to mitigate the impact of development on local services.
In this instance, Stirling Prescient could pay more than £130,000 towards local schools, healthcare and village halls.
The developer has agreed to pay £65,952 towards improving capacity at existing secondary schools. This could go towards helping Harrogate Grammar School and/or Rossett School and/or Harrogate High School, the report says.
It adds £42,695 will be divided between various “open space typologies”.
A final contribution towards local healthcare is yet to be agreed, but it could be as much as £25,000.
The report says the minimum the developer will pay towards improving capacity at Moss Healthcare on King's Road is £18,198, whilst the maximum is £25,796.
A one-off travel plan monitoring fee of £2,500 has been agreed, plus a £1,170 section 106 monitoring fee.
The report recommends the development is approved subject to 58 planning conditions.
The conditions include issues such as the housing mix, crime prevention measures, a construction management plan and more.
Members of the area planning committee will meet at the Civic Centre in Harrogate on Tuesday, January 28, to give their verdict on the plans.
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