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29
Aug
RHS given go-ahead for £2 million redevelopment scheme at Harlow Carr
The Royal Horticultural Society has received approval to redevelop its service yard at Harlow Carr on the outskirts of Harrogate.
The gardening charity’s plans were unanimously supported by councillors on North Yorkshire Council’s Harrogate and Knaresborough planning committee today.
It will enable the organisation to transform the yard alongside RHS Garden Harlow Carr in a scheme expected to cost £2 million and last up to a year.
The yard currently hosts a mixture of building types and functions, including staff mess facilities, polytunnels, glasshouses and storage shelters.
Under the proposals, a workshop and machinery store will be erected and there will also be a new composting store, electric vehicle charging points. staff welfare building, events store, polytunnel and glasshouse.
The service yard will be developed.
The existing steel framed machinery store and joiners’ workshop will be retained and adapted to adjoin the proposed workshop and machinery store.
'Long-term benefits'
Council planning manager Nick Turpin told councillors at today’s meeting it was a “relatively uncontentious application” that would normally have been delegated to a planning officer. But because the RHS leases the land off the council, the application went before elected councillors.
Councillor Chris Aldred, a Liberal Democrat who represents High Harrogate and Kingsley, said the yard “could do with a bit of TLC” and crucially the application had not attracted a single objection during consultation. The nearest homes are 100 metres to north.
Cllr Paul Haslam, an independent who represents Bilton and Nidd Gorge, said he was surprised a major horticultural organisation like the RHS did not outline some sort of sustainability approach in its application.
Council case Officer Kate Exley said in a report to councillors before the meeting:
The proposed redevelopment works within the service yard of the RHS are acceptable in principle, improving the functionality of the site and would therefore have long-term economic and tourist benefits for the locale.”
Ms Exley’s report added a diverted public right of way which passes through the site is required to be protected as part of the redevelopment scheme.
Liz Thwaite, head of RHS Garden Harlow Carr, told the Stray Ferret it was “committed to continually improving our facilities and being as sustainable in our practices as possible”. She added:
Subject to the weather, our groundworks are expected to begin in November. The overall project should be completed within 12 months and will cost about £2 million. The investment will include a new glasshouse heated by an air-source heating system, new machinery, workshop storage facilities, and charging points for electric vehicles. Alongside this it will help us to develop our facilities for staff and volunteers whilst also helping us to improve our day-to-day activities of managing our amazing garden and plants.
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