Hampsthwaite’s Memorial Hall has been given the green light for a £230,000 extension and upgrade.

North Yorkshire Council has granted approval for a single-storey front, side and rear extension that will enable the building to provide more activities for villagers.

The current hall was built in 1967 after a timber hut hastily assembled in 1952 to commemorate villagers who fell in the two world wars burned down.

It has become the main community location for residents of Hampsthwaite and surrounding villages. The Hampsthwaite Players put on four drama performances a year and the hall also hosts weekly community payback sessions.

But the growth of the village has left the ageing building in need of improvement.

Hampsthwaite Players performs at the venue four times a year.

Geoff Howard, chair of Hampsthwaite Memorial Hall and a parish councillor, said the project was expected to cost about £230,000.

About £130,000 has been secured from housebuilders as part of section 106 agreements agreed with North Yorkshire Council to mitigate the impact of development. It is hoped grant applications will secure most of the remaining £100,000 required.

Mr Howard said:

“The key issue is we have nowhere for any practical arts and crafts activities. We need a more practical environment.”

Mr Howard said, like many villages, Hampsthwaite needed a better community facility because the population was growing and public transport was worsening, making it harder for many people to get in and out of Harrogate. He said:

“There is nowhere many people can go and we want them to be able to come here. Many folk live on their own and don’t go out.

“With so little public transport, there is a greater need for things to do in villages. This will provide somewhere where more activities can take place and people can meet socially.”

Read more:

• Hampsthwaite Village Room’s £100,000 renovation nears completion
• Harrogate RAF veteran receives 850 cards for 100th birthday
• Harrogate business owner Rachel Woolford wins The Apprentice

Steve Wood, a local architect, donated time to help design drawings for the planning application.

A design and access statement, submitted in support of the application, said Hampsthwaite Players were “hampered by cramped wing spaces, poor backstage facilities and limited scenery, costume and props storage”.

It added the extension would enable activities including a repair cafe, a men’s shed and practical learning classes.

The hall, on Hollins Lane, is in Hampsthwaite Conservation Area. Three trees will be felled.

The council case officer’s report said:

“The proposed extensions would wrap around the south end of the existing building and are considered to be a suitably subservient design.”

Councillors have granted planning permission for a new MOT and servicing building at a garage near Hampsthwaite.

North Yorkshire Council’s Skipton and Ripon planning committee met on Tuesday in Ripon to consider an application from Simon Graeme Auto Services Centre, which has operated at Graystone Plain Lane off the A59 for 30 years.

The current garage is located within the Nidderdale National Landscape (formerly called the AONB), which has strict planning laws.

The proposed new building, which would house two MOT bays and five servicing bays, sits on land just outside the National Landscape.

Plans were brought before councillors at the previous meeting in November but a decision was deferred following a request for more information about around planting, drainage and renewable energy.

At the previous meeting, Mr Graeme told councillors that the new building would future-proof his family business and allow it to service and repair electric vehicles.

Since November, an updated landscape plan and strategy has been submitted to the council, as has a drainage report and proposals to add solar panels to the site.

It was enough to satisfy councillors who unanimously approved the plans with Ripon Minster and Moorside Cllr Andrew Williams describing the changes as a “victory for common sense”.

He said:

“What we’ve now arrived at is a sensible position which everyone can hopefully subscribe to.

“It’s important the countryside isn’t a museum, it’s a place where people can live and work.”

Read more:

• Hampsthwaite garage expansion plans finally set for go-ahead
• Councillors defer decision on Hampsthwaite garage expansion

Simon Graeme Auto Services Centre‘s plans to build a new MOT and service building in Hampsthwaite finally look set to be approved.

The garage, which has been situated alongside the A59 for three decades, has been keen to expand for some time. But it has faced a lengthy battle for planning permission.

North Yorkshire Council’s Skipton and Ripon planning committee will decide on its latest plans on Tuesday next week, and a council case officer has recommended the seven-person committee approves the bid.

The proposed new building, which would include two MOT bays and five servicing bays, would be situated on the edge of Nidderdale National Landscape, which was previously known as Nidderdale AONB, where there are strict planning planning rules. It is also outside the council’s development area.

In January, the council said the scheme would “create a significant level of landscape harm to both the open countryside and the views into and out of the Nidderdale AONB” and turned down the application.

A visual of the planned new garage.

The company, based on Grayston Plain Lane, submitted revised plans, which the council again recommended for refusal in October. But the planning committee decided instead to defer it so the company could revise the landscaping and provide additional information about drainage and design.

Cllr Andrew Williams, a member of the Conservative and Independents group who represents Ripon Minster and Moorside told October’s meeting the Nidderdale AONB should be a place for people to live and work and “not a museum for townies to visit on a weekend”.

Now council documents published ahead of next week’s planning committee meeting say the new MOT and service building should go ahead. The existing overflow car park would be removed as part of the scheme.

They say:

“It is considered that the proposal would have an economic benefit to the area and that following the revisions to the landscaping proposal and the provision of additional information in relation to sustainability of design and waste that the proposal would meet the requirements of local plan policy EC2 in relation to the expansion of an existing business in the countryside.”

The documents add the current scheme also differs from the previous proposal because the previous bid was to move the entire operation, which will now be split between two sites.

The 0.5-hectare site would create five new posts to take the number of staff to 16, according to planning documents.

Fifty-five people have supported the scheme; two have objected.

Read more:

• Councillors defer decision on Hampsthwaite garage expansion
• Hampsthwaite garage resubmits plan for new MOT building