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11
Jun
Government rejects unauthorised Harrogate car wash's latest appeal
A government planning inspector has rejected an appeal from a Harrogate car wash over a council enforcement notice.
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Plans were submitted, withdrawn, re-submitted, rejected, appealed and dismissed – none of which deterred the car wash owner from trading — before the council began enforcement action on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.
But, owner Mohammed Khader appealed the notice and took the matter to the government’s Planning Inspectorate, which deals with planning disputes, and requested the business be granted a year to vacate the site.
Skipton Road Car Wash.
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”.
The council said the timeframe was sufficient to leave the premises.
Now, a government planning inspector has dismissed the appeal from the car wash and upheld the original enforcement notice.
In a decision notice, inspector A Berry said Mr Khader’s request for a year to leave the site would be in akin to granting planning permission.
They added that time period included in the enforcement notice was not unreasonable.
They said:
To afford the appellant a further 12 months from the determination of this appeal would be akin to granting temporary planning permission, which would be unjustified. Furthermore, a period of 12 months proposed by the appellant is a lengthy period for the harm identified in the enforcement notice to persist.
Accordingly, I do not find that the compliance periods afforded by the enforcement notice fall short of what is reasonable.
The move comes after Mr Khader also lodged new plans to convert the site into a car wash in March – this time with a single-storey extension unit.
The council has yet to make a decision on the new proposal.
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