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06
Feb 2023
Tesco supermarket in Harrogate set to be approved next week
Harrogate looks set to get a Tesco supermarket after a long-running saga dating back more than a decade.
The store will be built on the site of the former gasworks, off Skipton Road, and include a petrol station and 209 car parking spaces. It is expected to create about 100 jobs.
Harrogate Borough Council 's planning committee has been recommended to approve the plans next week, despite "significant concerns" about the impact on the nearby Co-op in Jennyfields and neighbouring shops.
In her report recommending approval, case officer Kate Broadbank says there is "real potential for the proposed Tesco store to have a significant adverse impact upon the Co-op store and the wider performance of the Jennyfield local centre".
The report adds the cumulative impact of a new Tesco on the Co-op could be as high as -22.4% and the Co-op "acts as a key anchor to the local centre, including its wider post office offer".
The local centre in Jennyfields
Tesco will therefore be asked to sign an agreement to use "reasonable endeavours" to open a Tesco Express at Jennyfields local centre if the Co-op closes within five years of Tesco opening and will operate this for at least five years.
Ms Broadbank's report adds:
New footpath and cycle lane
The report says no environmental impact assessment will be necessary for the brownfield site project even though trees will be felled on the north side of Skipton Road to accommodate the creation of a new roundabout at the site entrance, where the A61 Ripon Road and A59 Skipton Road meet at New Park.
The site of the former gasworks
North Yorkshire County Council plans to widen Oak Beck Bridge in a scheme that could see six months of roadworks in the area.
The report adds:
The 209 parking spaces will include four click and collect spaces, six electric vehicle charging spaces, 12 blue badge spaces and nine parent and child spaces. Two motorcycle spaces and 24 cycle spaces are also provided.
£50,000 for bus services
North Yorkshire County Council has requested a contribution from Tesco for improvements to bus stops on Skipton Road and Ripon Road. Ms Broadbank's report adds:
The report also says discussions have taken place between the applicant and Northern Gas Networks about "potential interaction" between the proposed petrol station and an existing Northern Gas Networks high pressure gas transmission pipeline located beneath the site.
It says the risk of interaction is "acceptably low".
The site is highlighted on a planning document.
Majority opposed to scheme
The council received 82 representations about the scheme. Just 24 were supportive and 57 objected, mainly on the grounds of amenity, traffic, environmental and drainage impacts.
Ms Broadbank has recommended the project be approved subject to conditions being met. The Conservative-controlled planning committee will decide whether to accept her recommendation when it meets on Tuesday next week. The meeting will be broadcast live on the council's YouTube page.
It will be the penultimate meeting of the planning committee before Harrogate Borough Council is abolished at the end of next month.
Ms Broadbank's report concludes:
Tesco first secured planning permission on the site in 2012 but revived its plans in December 2021.
Read more:
- New Tesco supermarket would threaten future of Jennyfields Co-op, warns report
- Waitrose objects to plans for new Tesco in Harrogate
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