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25
Mar
Highways chief rejects calls to save Harrogate’s little temple
The councillor with oversight of transport in North Yorkshire appears to have rejected calls to save Harrogate’s tempietto from destruction.
The tempietto, which is Italian for ‘little temple’, was built between 1988 and 1992 as part of the redevelopment of Station Square to create Victoria Shopping Centre.
North Yorkshire Council now plans to rip up Station Square as part of the £14.6 million Harrogate Station Gateway scheme, which it says will improve transport facilities and public spaces around the town’s railway station.
The council granted itself final planning approval this month to demolish the tempietto, trees, vegetation, traffic signs and a concrete planter and send them to a tip so Station Square can be reconfigured.
Station Parade and Station Square
Our articles on the tempietto’s impending demise sparked a wave of comments calling for it to be retained.
Bernard White, who lives in Ripon, contacted us to say he was a council officer involved at the time when the tempietto was erected.
He said:
I am sure that with the proper consultation, North Yorkshire Council could find a new, permanent home for the tempietto. People will have their views on the structure, along with the surrounding area but from my observations, the tempietto still has many years of life left in it. Careful cleaning and removal/rebuilding shouldn't be too much to ask.
Starbeck postmaster Andrew Hart called for it to be relocated in Starbeck. He said:
“It would look fantastic in the centre of Prospect Park. It should be a celebration of the growing prosperity of Starbeck.”
Bilton environmental campaigner Keith Wilkinson said the tempietto “has served Harrogate well for some years and it would seem an awful waste of expertise and materials to consign it to landfill”.
There have also been calls to relocate the little temple in Valley Gardens.
'Twee nonsense'
However, subscriber Charles Cross described it as a “twee piece of nonsense that won’t be missed” and added he hoped the Victoria Shopping Centre met a similar fate.
We asked Councillor Malcolm Taylor, the Conservative executive member for highways, whether he would consider intervening to save the tempietto.
Cllr Taylor told us he would “liaise with the operational team”. When asked for an update six days later, he said:
“I have received no representations from the Harrogate councillors so nothing further to add to the press release.”
We replied asking whether he would consider the views of residents, but have not yet had a response.
The council has not published a press release about its plans to remove the tempietto but, in response to questions from the Stray Ferret, Karl Battersby, its corporate director of environment, said in a statement on March 18 the gateway project would encourage sustainable transport and improve public spaces.
He added:
The start of work has been delayed due to several unsuccessful legal challenges and, as a result, there is a risk that planning consents for the scheme will expire.
To prevent this happening, and to save the cost of having to re-apply for these consents, some minor works to reduce the height of a wall in the One Arch area and removing a small part from the top of the tempietto’s roof have been undertaken.
The tempietto, which is made of Jedburgh sandstone, is based on the work of 16th-century architect Andrea Palladio’s basilica at Vicenza in Italy.
A legal challenge to halt the gateway scheme was rejected this month.
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