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25
Jul 2024
Hornbeam calls for rethink on Harrogate College redevelopment plans
Property firm Hornbeam Park Developments has called for Harrogate College’s planned redevelopment to be paused to find a “better solution”.
The college has been granted permission to demolish its main building on Hornbeam Park, just outside Harrogate, and build a new site with facilities such as a mock hospital ward, a renewable energy technology centre and an electric vehicle workshop.
But its plans were thrown into doubt when Hornbeam Park Developments, which owns most of the adjacent business park, mounted a legal challenge amid concerns about the loss of parking spaces to businesses caused by the scheme and North Yorkshire Council’s decision to approve it without proper consultation.
The legal challenge means the project is in jeopardy due to the tight deadline imposed by its primary funder, the Department for Education.
Hornbeam Park Developments said in a statement today “pausing for thought will allow a better solution to be examined, save taxpayers millions and allow for future expansion”.
It said Department for Education-controlled land next to the college could provide more capacity for development, prevent a £5m building from being demolished and resolve parking issues.
A CGI showing how the college's proposed new renewable energy technology centre would look.
Chris Bentley, who owns Hornbeam Park Developments, said he supported the college’s expansion but warned rushing through the current proposals to meet a deadline to receive £16 million of public money was the “wrong solution for students, taxpayers and the local community”.
Mr Bentley who has over 35 years’ experience in property development, said the current plans were flawed because they required a ‘perfectly good’ building with a 100-year lifespan to be demolished just seven years after £5 million of public funding was used to refurbish it.
He added the council would never support a private developer to take such a “wasteful approach” to development.
Mr Bentley said:
There have been suggestions that we are against the development of the college, that couldn’t be further from the truth. What many people don’t realise is that the large, empty field next to the college site is controlled by the Department for Education.
Instead of demolishing the existing building, a new college could be built on the adjoining land which would give it room to expand and would allow the college to sell the existing building for around £5 million and would resolve the issue of car parking. The intention was to always use this land for college expansion.
Selling the existing building via the open market would be a much more cost-effective solution.
Hornbeam Park Developments said although this approach would take longer, it presented a better solution his company could support.
He urged North Yorkshire Labour mayor David Skaith and Tom Gordon, the Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, to liaise with the Department for Education to make this happen.
Mr Skaith and Mr Gordon have both called for the government to extend the funding timeline for the college, which is owned by Leeds-based Luminate Education Group.
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