Harrogate estate footpath and cycle route finally reopensBusiness Breakfast: Former director of British Council appointed Ashville bursar

Business Breakfast is sponsored by Harrogate law firm Truth Legal. 

A former director of the British Council has been appointed bursar at Harrogate’s Ashville College.

Richard Rooze has taken on the financial role after spending two decades with the United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities.

Ashville College head Rhiannon Wilkinson said:

“This is an incredibly important role as a bursar is a school’s financial director.

“Having started his career as a teacher – and spending many years at a very high level within the British Council – he (Richard) brings with him a wealth of experience within the education sector.”

Mr Rooze said:

“After more than 25 years working abroad, I was looking at both a career change and to move to the Harrogate area, so when I saw Ashville advertising for a bursar I knew this was the perfect position for me…

“My goal is to use my skills to deliver excellent outcome for students and partners, and to build the brand of UK education over the long term…  I’m excited to be helping develop and deliver Ashville’s strategy for the next five years, which will see the college celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2027.”

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Housing developer supports poverty charity

Redrow homes has held an event at its Granby Meadows development in Harrogate to announce a partnership with a charity that supports people living in poverty.

Zarach, which is based in Leeds, aims to support children and their families who are struggling with the cost of living.

Redrow said Granby Meadows is a showcase development for the company in Yorkshire with its first re-branded, digital-led and paperless customer experience suite. Every new home purchased at the Harrogate site will also receive a copy of Zarach’s bedtime book entitled Zed Ted.

Steve Jackson, sales director for Redrow Yorkshire, said:

“We are always keen to help worthwhile charities and causes, and I have never been more delighted to offer our support than with Zarach which is, sadly, a much-needed organisation.

“Having a bed to sleep in and food to eat so they can get a good night’s sleep should be a basic right of every child; likewise that families, as Zarach points out, should be able to thrive and not just survive.”

Redrow has made a first donation of £2,500 to help fund the work of the charity.

L-R: Steve Jackson, sales director at Redrow Yorkshire, Amy Green, co-ordinator of volunteers for Zarach, and Redrow Yorkshire’s managing director John Handley.

Residents say new Granby Farm homes will ‘tower over’ them

Residents who live adjacent to the 95-home Granby Farm development have complained to Harrogate Borough Council about the height of some of the new properties being built, saying they will “tower over them”.

The council investigated the complaint and found Redrow Homes breached planning rules at the development by starting to build 15 houses before receiving the correct planning approval.

Outline planning permission for the development was granted in April 2021. It will be called Granby Meadows and will have a mixture of 95 one, two, three and four-bedroom properties.

In recent months, contractors have started preparing the land, laying roads, and building some of the houses.

The homes are being built on a field that is prone to flooding and the council said some of the homes are being built between 0.5m and 1.35m above existing ground level to help with drainage.  However, the increase in the ground elevation had not been approved at the planning stage.

Residents concerns

Granby Residents Association, which includes people living in properties adjacent to the development, complained to the council that the homes were being built too high and would “tower over” nearby homes.

Gary Walker, a member of the group, said:

“Residents along the site boundary with both Roseville Drive and Kingsley Drive expressed grave concerns once the work on the infrastructure commenced.

“You only have to visit the properties on Kingsley Drive to see how high the levels have been increased and how these new houses will tower over them.”

Work underway at the site.

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Mr Walker shared with the Stray Ferret email correspondence he had with the council’s planning enforcement officer Andrew Lancashire.

Mr Lancashire confirmed that work on 15 homes took place before the planning condition had been discharged.

He wrote:

“It would appear that the foundations for the units 80-94 have been laid and ground levels will be raised between 0.5m to 1.35m above the existing ground levels to the internal finished floor level (FFL) of the new dwellings.

“The engineering operation to increase the FFL were not approved at the planning stage and development has begun without these planning conditions first being discharged. This is a breach of planning.”

Action

Mr Lancashire said the council investigated the planning breach further to decide what action to take.

As the homes would be up to 1.35m taller, he measured what the distance was between them and Kingsley Drive.

He found all met the recommended distance except for two properties. 

Mr Lancashire said the difference was “relatively minor” and requested that trees be planted as mitigation.

He wrote that Redrow Homes have “recognised this shortfall and are in the process of submitting a revised and enhanced landscape buffer to deal with this situation”.

David Faraday, technical director for Redrow (Yorkshire), said:

“We are developing this site in accordance with the approved plans. Prior to the planning permission being granted we had supplied all relevant and requested information to the council regarding site levels.

“We are currently liaising with officers at the council regarding an issue identified with the site levels and we have committed to provide additional landscaping along the boundary. This will be maintained long-term, initially by our site team and on an ongoing basis by a management company for the site, once they have been appointed.

“Site drainage proposals remain consistent with the strategy agreed during the planning process and Yorkshire Water have confirmed their intention to adopt the scheme as proposed.”

Granby Farm 95 homes move closer as developer buys land

The construction of 95 homes on Granby Farm has moved a step closer after a housing developer bought the land.

Richborough Estates had worked with developer Redrow Homes to apply for planning permission from Harrogate Borough Council.

The council approved the plans in April 2021 despite complaints from residents that it would result in the loss of the last remaining link between the Stray and countryside.

It also faced complaints from residents of Redrow’s Devonshire Gardens who did not appreciate how the plans would see a street built over park Pickering Gardens.

Now it has permission, Redrow Homes has officially bought the 10.1 acre land from Richborough Estates.

The Stray Ferret asked both Redrow Homes and Richborough Estates how much the land was bought for but we received no reply by the time of writing.

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The plans for 95 homes will include a mixture of one, two, three and four-bedroom properties.

Workers have already started preparing the land for the development, which is to be known as Granby Meadows.

Jonathan Bloor, managing director of Richborough Estates’ Western Division, said:

“We’re delighted to have completed this sale to Redrow just months after they purchased our 18-acre residential site at nearby Kingsley Road.

“I’d like to congratulate our team for their huge commitment in bringing forward this former grazing paddock as a prime site for much-needed new homes.

“The project began in 2015 and has involved input from our planning, design and technical divisions as well as extensive stakeholder discussion and consultation.

“We’re now really looking forward to see construction getting underway and the new homes coming to life.”

John Handley, managing director of Redrow Yorkshire, said

“Redrow is delighted to have completed the purchase of this fantastic site in the heart of Harrogate, continuing our commitment to delivering high quality new homes in the town.

“We hope to have the first homes on sale off-plan early next year, closely followed by the first of the 146 homes planned for Kingsley Road.