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22
May
Council suspends enforcement action again as car wash owners appeal planning rejection
Enforcement action against an unauthorised car wash in Harrogate has been suspended by North Yorkshire Council for a second time after its owners appealed against a rejected planning application.
The Leeds-based operators of the pop-up Skipton Road Car Wash applied in December 2023 for planning permission for a “change of use of land to car wash with valet bay and associated works” at the former Jewson site.
The applicants, a Mr Rusool and a Mr Khader, withdrew that application in March 2024, but the car wash business continued operating for months, prompting North Yorkshire Council to take action – it first launched enforcement proceedings in October 2024.
But the council suspended its enforcement action when the business owners applied just weeks later – in November 2024 – for retrospective planning permission for a “change of use of part of land and building to car wash and valet bay and associated works”.
Flags flying at the entrance to the site.
Again, the car wash business continued to operate from the Skipton Road site pending a decision.
That application was rejected on April 29, but the car wash continues to operate.
Even so, the council has once again suspended enforcement action.
North Yorkshire Council's head of development management, Martin Grainger, said:
A retrospective planning application relating to a car wash on Skipton Road in Harrogate was refused on April 29 due to concerns about the effect of noise from the site on nearby residents.
We have since been notified that the applicants have appealed the decision, and the matter has been referred to the Planning Inspectorate.
Enforcement action has now been suspended until the outcome of that planning appeal.
In the decision notice it published in April, the council gave the reason for its rejection of the application:
The proposed location of the development is right next to noise-sensitive properties. Insufficient information has been provided to demonstrate that the proposal would not have an adverse impact on these properties.
Yet the applicants had supported their application with an independent noise impact assessment conducted by Doncaster-based Environmental Noise Solutions Ltd.
The report concluded “noise levels associated with the car wash are considered to represent a low impact” on the terraced houses on Skipton Road to the south-east and on Roker Road to the south-west.
It also said that noise levels were found to be “below a level considered to have an adverse impact" on the flats on Woodfield Road to the north-east, and on the three-storey apartment building on Bartle Avenue to the north-west".
The Stray Ferret contacted the applicants’ agent, LS Design and Planning Ltd, but its director, Waqar Younis, declined to comment.
There were no customers when the Stray Ferret visited.
Under English law, there is no fixed limit to how many times an applicant may apply for planning permission for the same site, and they are free to resubmit applications as soon as a previous one is refused.
A council may decline to determine an application if it has refused similar applications within the last two years and there is no appeal.
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