Another Harrogate retail unit could be converted to flats

A Harrogate retailer has submitted plans to convert its top floor into flats.

Documents filed with North Yorkshire Council reveal Shuropody on Oxford Street would convert its top floor into two flats, while retaining the first two floors for retail.

The application was submitted by Edward Ake, of Harrogate firm Sandtoft Properties.

The trend towards town centre living has increased in Harrogate in recent years, with numerous planning applications to convert retail space.

The Stray Ferret wrote about some of the units affected here.

Shuropody is a foot care chain. The top two floors of the Harrogate business are currently occupied by its in-store podiatrist, which advises on footcare issues.

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The public consultation on the plans is open until December 29. The council will then decide whether to accept the application.

Residents can have their say online, or by writing to North Yorkshire Council, PO Box 787, Harrogate HG1 9RW, quoting the reference number ZC23/04286/FUL.

Shuropody has been approached for comment.

Harrogate walkers highlight shared cycling routes and footpath concerns

A Harrogate walking group has called for public footpaths to be protected from new housing developments.

It is among a new set of proposals issued by the Harrogate Group of the Ramblers’ Association to promote walking in Harrogate and Knaresborough.

The group has suggested that developers should be required to include wide and well-lit public footpaths in all new housing areas and, if possible, link paths with nearby rights of way to provide direct and easy access into the countryside.

It also highlighted how one footpath in Killinghall, which has just reopened after four years of ‘temporary closure’, was an example of “a source of particular concern”. Temporary closure of public rights of way through building sites of new development should be restricted to a minimum amount of time necessary, the group urges.

The proposals, which have been sent to newly elected local councillors at North Yorkshire County Council, also say plans to convert footpaths and footways to shared use with cyclists should be considered on a case by case basis in order “to achieve an outcome that is not detrimental to the interests of walkers and pedestrians”.

This follows concerns about the impact of the new Otley Road cycle path in Harrogate, which includes shared access between walkers and cyclists.

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The letter to councillors says:

“At a time when both walking and cycling are being promoted both locally and nationally as desirable activities, it is particularly important that the needs and interests of the extensive walking and pedestrian community are taken into serious consideration and not just taken for granted.

“Walking is a particularly desirable activity to protect and promote, both for its benefits to the health and wellbeing of people of a very wide range of ages, including the elderly, and for its contribution to the reduction of air pollution by replacing the use of the car for many local journeys. “

New group to protect western Harrogate from urban expansion

With unprecedented levels of housing planned for the western fringes of Harrogate, a new campaign group has called for developments to have a greater focus on sustainability and infrastructure.

The Western Arc Coordination Group brings together organisations including Harlow and Pannal Ash Residents Association, Duchy Residents’ Association, Hampsthwaite Action Group, Zero Carbon Harrogate, Harrogate District Cycle Action and Pannal & Burn Bridge Parish Council.

As many as 4,000 houses could be built in the area by 2035. Harrogate Borough Council’s Local Plan includes 800 homes at Windmill Farm on Otley Road and 200 homes at the former police training centre on Yew Tree Lane.

Several other sites have either been recently completed or are under construction, such as Persimmon’s 600-home King Edwin Park development on Pennypot Lane and Stonebridge Homes 130-home scheme on Whinney Lane.

With construction set to continue in the area for at least the next 15 years, the group has produced a document warning of “serious disruption” to people living in what is one of Harrogate’s most popular areas.

Read the document in full here.

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‘Severe’ congestion

Queueing traffic in Burn Bridge this year.

The new group predicts the majority of developments in the western arc of Harrogate will be car-dependent, which will require a “major upgrade” of roads.

It says since North Yorkshire County Council scrapped plans for a controversial “relief road” last year, there has been little progress in tackling congestion.

It warns “accepted congestion problems” have been left unaddressed and says nearby villages such as North Rigton, Burn Bridge and Pannal will bear the brunt of increased traffic in and out of Harrogate. The document says:

“All the communities we represent already experience severe congestion and the environmental and road safety problems from existing volumes of traffic.”

Tackling climate change

A key focus of the group will be putting pressure on developers and the council to ensure homes are future-proofed to mitigate the effects of climate change.

However, it says current housing developments in Harrogate fall short of the mark when it comes to the environment. It says planners, developers and house builders have a “huge responsibility” to do their bit and recognise that the decisions they take will have ramifications for climate change.

It calls on house builders to ditch their dependence on old fashioned building techniques and move towards renewable energy and off-site construction methods, which it argues will slash carbon emissions during the production process and after residents move in.

The document says:

“We would like to see that any developments in this area are exemplars of the way in which new housing addresses the net zero challenge of the next decades.”

What do local councils say?

A spokesman for Harrogate Borough Council told the Stray Ferret that the Local Plan provided a “clear and robust” framework for developments, including the requirement for a “parameters plan” that will organise infrastructure.

He added:

“North Yorkshire County Council are carrying out a series of sustainable transport improvements following investment from central government, ourselves and developer contributions.

“These improvements, that will include smart traffic lights, improvements to the junction of Harlow Moor Road and Otley Road, a new off-road cycle route on Otley Road and new or improved pedestrian crossings, will help to improve safety and alleviate the current level of congestion and accommodate the future growth.”

Members of WACG spoke at North Yorkshire County Council’s area constituency committee this morning.

NYCC’s executive member for highways, Cllr Don Mackenzie, said the authority hopes to work together with the group going forward.

He said:

“I did comment on the contents of their Campaign for Sustainability of Development publication, asking for more clarity on the group’s precise aims, since it seemed to be calling for new highways infrastructure and downplaying the effectiveness of sustainable travel measures at the same time as advocating low carbon dependency infrastructure.

“I assured the delegates that NYCC wishes to continue the dialogue with their group and to work with them to introduce effective measures in the west of Harrogate to address the challenges of congestion which the high level of residential development in that area will bring.”

 

Burton Leonard housing development ‘could put farm out of business’

A grain farmer in Burton Leonard says the construction of 30 homes next door could put his family’s fourth-generation farm out of business.

Knaresborough-based Wharfedale Homes has submitted plans to build 30 homes on the site of the former Alfred Hymas haulage yard.

The plans are due to go before Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee today.

When the planning committee previously considered the proposal in January, councillors asked for a noise report to be conducted after the adjacent Hammond grain farm raised concerns.

Wharfedale Homes subsequently undertook tests in July and August, which found that noise was at acceptable levels for development.

However, Sue Hammond, from JV Hammond & Sons, told the Stray Ferret the noise from machines was so loud it was similar to a helicopter running continuously, often until the early hours of the morning. She added that the noise tests were undertaken when the farm was quiet because it was a poor harvest.

Ms Hammond is concerned that if the development goes ahead, residents will make noise complaints against the farm and it will eventually get shut down.

She said:

“It will impact on our way of life and there won’t be a farming future for us if this development goes through.”

She said people buying the homes would have to endure loud machinery when the farmers process the grain.

“People that buy £500,000 houses who are having a barbecue and Pimm’s on the lawn don’t want to listen to us working away until 11pm at night.”

A spokesperson for Wharfedale Homes said:

“Wharfedale Homes have undertaken all the required assessments to ensure the proposed development would be built in compliance with all relevant local and national environmental regulations, as required under the statutory planning process.”

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According to Mrs Hammond, prior to Hymas selling the site for housing there was a good relationship between the two families, who would even go on holiday together.

She said if the development goes ahead it will be “devastating” for the prospects of her children, including her son Jake who this week started studying for an agriculture qualification at Askham Bryan College in York.

The Hymas family declined to comment.