Free tours of Harrogate district landmarks during Heritage Open Days

The Harrogate district’s historical buildings, churches and graveyards will open to the public for free again in September as part of a national scheme to encourage people to explore history on their doorstep.

Heritage Open Days, which is billed as England’s largest festival of history and culture, will run from September 10 to 19.

Harrogate Civic Society and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which maintains Stonefall cemetery, are among those leading the initiative locally.

The civic society has arranged for numerous churches and other landmarks to open for free guided tours. The Gothic revival chapel at Rudding Park, built in 1874, will be included for the first time.

Another new feature this year will be walking tours around places such as Valley Drive and the civic centre. The civic society has organised these in case covid restrictions are in place.

Free guided tours of the Commonwealth War Graves at Stonefall cemetery will also be available.

The civic society will release the full Heritage Open Days programme in the weeks ahead.

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Error spotted on Harrogate brown plaque two years after unveiling

It seems we are a pretty unobservant bunch in Harrogate – except for resident Alex Pemberton.

A brown plaque installed on Regent Parade two years ago has a glaring error on it yet until this week no one had spotted it.

The plaque on Library House was placed on the property by Harrogate Civic Society due to its historically important connection to author Ely Hargrove.

Hargrove was an 18th century author and publisher who wrote Harrogate’s first guide book. He moved his shop to Library House before turning it into the town’s first subscription library.

Unveiled in December 2018, the inscription on the plaque reads that Hargrove “moved his shop from Church Square to this newly built Regent Regent Parade location“.

A Stray Ferret reader, Alex Pemberton, got in touch after spotting the error yesterday. He said:

“I was walking past and saw the plaque and just thought I’d give it a read. I had to read it a few times to check I wasn’t mis-reading it and even got my wife to check it too. I think it should be left as is and the Society should save the money. It adds to the interest of it.”

Plaques are expensive, each normally costs between £500 and £800 to manufacture and install.

At its unveiling, the current owner of the house and founder of Springfield Healthcare stood alongside the Mayor of the time, cllr Bernard Bateman, as he cut the red ribbon.

Harrogate Civic Society’s co-chair Stuart Holland said:

“We hadn’t realised there was a mistake. We’re very grateful for Alex for getting in touch and making us aware. We appreciate him being so observant. The Civic Society will speak to the manufacturer and see if there is a way of correcting the mistake.”

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The Library House is said to have been very popular with tourists in the 19th century and managed to find its way into Sir Walter Scott’s 1823 novel St Ronan’s Wall.

In 1819 the building was bought by William Langdale who continued the subscription business, issuing from September 1820 a ‘Weekly List’ of visitors’ names and their hotels.

This inspired a rival Pickersgill Palliser in 1834 who added a Stage Coach timetable, later expanding in 1836 to the ‘Harrogate Advertiser’.

The library closed in 1857 and was then converted into residential use.

Harrogate Civic Society calls for Station Gateway to remain two lanes

Harrogate Civic Society said today that plans to reduce traffic to one lane on the town’s Station Parade could be detrimental without a clear traffic plan for the rest of town.

The society, which campaigns to protect the town’s character, issued its comments as part of the consultation into the proposed £7.9 million Station Gateway proposals.

Concerns over traffic, which the highways boss at North Yorkshire County Council seems to share, is one of the key aspects of the consultation, which closes on Wednesday.

The society’s planning and development sub-group says it has a ‘strong preference’ for the two-lane option on the £7.9 million Station Gateway Project.

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The society also called for a study on the impact of making West Park and Parliament Street two-way, something it said would mitigate for the problems created by changes on Station Parade.

Its response said:

“There is a problem with making comments on these specific options when there is no indication of these being part of a longer-term, integrated traffic policy for the wider area.

“As with previous proposals there is the very real possibility that, without a clear traffic policy for the whole of the town, these changes will in the future be seen as having been unnecessary or detrimental.

“The society would like to see a study of the impact of re-opening West Park and Parliament Street to two-way traffic. This could relieve many of the problems that have been identified as the reasons for these present proposals.”

The society also said the re-location of taxis away from Station Parade would be ‘seriously detrimental’. Taxis, it says, ideally should be accommodated in the station forecourt. The response says:

“Taxis need to be immediately available for those arriving at the station and bus station; they cannot sensibly be re-located to James Street.”

Civic Society opposes bid to convert Harrogate’s former post office

Harrogate Civic Society is to oppose plans to convert the town’s former post office into offices and 25 flats.

Post Office Ltd wants to add a fourth floor on to the three-storey sandstone terraced building, which closed last year after more than 100 years as a post office.

The society, which is a charity that aims to keep Harrogate beautiful, said in a statement it welcomed the principle of redeveloping the site into a mixed-use facility but added:

“We are, however, concerned about the impact of an additional floor to this building in the conservation area, as the proposal does not address the whole of the building as originally designed.

“The appearance of the new floor results in a design solution which is not fully considered or refined and therefore does not enhance the existing roofscape in its present form.”

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Property development company One Acre Group has submitted plans on behalf of Post Office Ltd to Harrogate Borough Council to convert the building. If approved, work could start in the summer.

The post office controversially relocated to WH Smith last year amid claims by Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones the service was being “downgraded”.

The society said the application would encourage retail and make the area more vibrant. It added:

“We support the principle of re-use of vacant upper floors in the town centre for residential purposes.

“We believe this concept should be encouraged and developed in all areas of the town centre so that buildings and streets as a whole appear to have life at all times.”

But the organisation said it was “concerned about the relationship of the proposed extension to the existing buildings along Cambridge Terrace”, adding:

“The society is of the opinion that the developer’s proposal as it stands should be resisted.”

 

 

Bilton housing scheme criticised for lack of affordable homes

Harrogate Civic Society has said it is “very disappointed” a 19-home council development in the Bilton area of the town doesn’t include any affordable homes.

North Yorkshire County Council was granted permission last week to demolish its Woodfield House care home on Woodfield Square and build the new homes through its property company, Brierley Homes.

Henry Pankhurst, ex-chairman and current planning spokesman for the society, told the Stray Ferret he was not happy that all the new homes will be sold at market value with no provision for affordable properties, particularly as they are being built by a local authority.

He said:

“It’s very disappointing. I would have hoped North Yorkshire County Council would have recognised that Harrogate Borough Council has a difficulty in providing affordable housing. It’s an ideal location to have more affordable housing.”

The government defines affordable as homes sold at 80% of the market rate or homes for social rent.

Harrogate Borough Council policy requires 30% affordable on all brownfield developments.

However, for this scheme North Yorkshire County Council applied for a Vacant Building Credit — a government mechanism to encourage vacant properties back into use, which can be used to remove the provision for affordable housing.

Instead, it will make a financial contribution of £72,528 to Harrogate Borough Council, which granted planning permission.

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Mr Pankurst called the Vacant Building Credit a “dreaded thing” and said North Yorkshire County Council should have done more to provide affordable housing, particularly as Harrogate Borough Council had identified a need to build 208 affordable homes in the district every year.

Prior to the decision to grant planning permission, a report from Harrogate Borough Council case officer Kate Broadbank also expressed “disappointed” in the lack of affordable housing in the scheme.

‘Excellent opportunity’

Brierley Homes was established in 2017 by North Yorkshire County Council. All profits are used to support frontline council services in the county.

A spokesperson for Brierley Homes said:

“Brierley Homes welcomes the planning approval to redevelop the former care home at Woodfield Square, Harrogate into 19 quality new homes.

“The regeneration and redevelopment of brownfield land is recognised by government as an important aspect of our national ambition to deliver much needed homes.

“The scheme will deliver a mixture of 2, 3 and 4 bedroom homes, with over 50% of the homes being 2 beds. This will offer first time buyers an excellent opportunity for modern and contemporary living within walking distance of the town centre of Harrogate.”

Harrogate loses ‘feel good factor’ due to new housing

Harrogate has lost its “feel-good factor” due to poorly designed housing being built in the town, according to a key member of Harrogate’s Civic Society.

Speaking to The Stray Ferret, Stuart Holland, joint chairman of the group, warned that the housing is putting the town’s “unique ambience” under strain.

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However, he said it can still be protected through good design.

He said:

“We’ve got to encourage better design but we won’t change it overnight.”

Several major housing schemes have been built across the district in recent years, with more in the pipeline as part of Harrogate Borough Council’s Local Plan.

Yet the design of many of the new homes are a familiar source of complaint for people living here.

Formed 40 years ago, the civic society published a new strategy earlier this month that hopes to influence better housing design.

Mr Holland hopes the strategy can help the group reinvent itself so it’s more relevant to a new generation of people who care about the town.

But what would the Victorian architects who designed heritage buildings like the Pump Rooms, Royal Hall and have to say about the new housing schemes?

According to Mr Holland, they would “be horrified”.

He added:

“They’d say they’re so small, they lack detail. But we’re spoilt in Harrogate with the architecture we’ve got. We can’t expect to be building the homes of the late 1880s.”