Subscribe to trusted local news
In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
- Subscription costs less than £1 a week with an annual plan.
Already a subscriber? Log in here.
28
Jan
New details of Rudding Park’s major expansion revealed
Further details of Rudding Park's major leisure development have emerged.
In September 2023, North Yorkshire Council’s strategic planning committee gave the Harrogate hotel the green-light to build a new golf clubhouse, family activity centre, four tennis courts and a pavilion and restore the walled garden.
But the development has now progressed further, as two separate reserved matters applications outlining details of the first phases of the scheme – the tennis courts and a new grounds shed – have been permitted.
According to planning documents, four all-weather tennis courts will be erected on the site – adjacent to the 16th hole of the golf course and north of the boundary to the A658 – as well as a pavilion with changing rooms, a viewing area and a café.
Each court will be enclosed by six-metre mesh fencing and column lighting will be installed.
The single-storey pavilion will be 25.5 metres in width, 12.4 metres in depth and 6.5 metres in height. It has been designed to “sit low within the landscape”, plans say, to maximise views from the café at ground floor level.
There will also be an “extensive” roof terrace with seating and the large glazed openings will open to expand viewpoints dependent on the weather.
There will be 44 parking spaces to the east of the new facility, two of which will be disabled bays.
In addition, Rudding Park plans to plant new trees and meadow seeds as part of the scheme.
The proposal says:
These proposals are strategically located to seamlessly integrate into and extend the existing green infrastructure by using the same or similar species.
Proposed tennis pavilion at Rudding Park
A council report adds:
The building is considered to include high quality materials and alongside the flat roof design and moderate degree of glazing would be reflective of more contemporary additions to the Rudding Park site, which includes the spa complex.
A site play for the new tennis area and maintenance facility at Rudding Park.
Maintenance facility
The tennis courts are labelled phase 1A on the plans, while the new maintenance facility is labelled phase 1B.
The reserved matters application for the maintenance facility, which also sought approval for an open workshop and vehicle storage, says the single-storey building will be of “rural, industrial character” with roller shutter doors.
There will also be access to a 26-bay vehicle store, a track connecting the maintenance facility and the tennis courts and toilet and shower facilities.
Planning documents add:
The building would measure 15.3m in depth, 45m in width, 6.2m to the eaves and 9m to the ridge. The walls would be clad in vertical timber Yorkshire boarding stained black, with a split stone plinth, dark grey steel roller shutters and metal deck roof in dark grey.
The roof slope also comprises an array of photovoltaic solar panels.
Rudding Park also plans to plant new trees around the grounds maintenance shed.
Both applications were approved subject to conditions.
Wider expansion
Planning documents for the wider scheme at the time said the new facilities would result in an additional 75 full-time jobs and lead to an extra £14.3 million being spent in the local area every year.
They added the current golf clubhouse was originally built as a temporary facility but had outgrown its useful life and “considerably discredits the course”.
The new two-storey building will include swimming pools, restaurants, a gym and changing rooms.
The outline application was approved at a meeting in Northallerton in September 2023, but it was referred to the former Secretary of State for Housing, Levelling Up and Communities on September 20, 2023.
However, the Secretary of State at the time confirmed he would not call the application in and deferred it back to North Yorkshire Council.
The application was then officially approved a year later, according to the council’s website.
0