Plans have been approved for a second time to build an apartment block at the former Dunlopillo factory in Pannal.
Developer Echo Green Developments was granted planning permission in September last year to demolish the main office block and build 48 apartments.
In December the developer then submitted new plans that would supersede the previously approved plans.
It included 38 apartments, fewer than the original proposal, but would still be two storeys taller than the demolished building.
The initial decision to approve the plans, which was made under permitted development rights, was met with anger from some residents.
Pannal historian Anne Smith said the village would be lumbered with a “skyscraper-type building”.
Read more:
- New plans submitted for smaller Dunlopillo development
- Harrogate council should have acted quicker on Dunlopillo housing plans, review finds
Permitted development rights were brought in under the Conservative government and can be used by developers to fast track the redevelopment of disused offices.
Nevertheless, Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough Andrew Jones intervened to say the scheme should have been decided by a vote from the council’s planning committee.
A review by the council concluded the plans were “appropriately considered”.
Mr Jones called on residents to submit objections to the second application. In the end, it received 26 objections.
