River Island to close in Harrogate as landlord plans apartments

A town centre shop in Harrogate is set to close in just over three weeks’ time.

River Island is holding a closing down sale as it prepares to close its doors on Cambridge Street for the last time on February 4.

A spokesperson for River Island said:

“The closure is due to change of use of the building by the landlord.”

Plans were approved in summer 2020 to refurbish the ground floor of the building and convert the first floor, as well as adding a roof extension, to create 14 apartments. Work would need to begin on the building by June this year to comply with the terms of the planning permission.

The building is owned by a Santander pension fund.

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Last summer, Cosy Club opened in the same stretch of units, becoming the first bar along the street. Sainsbury’s Local and Skipton Building Society also opened branches earlier in the year.

Further east on the same street, plans were approved last February to convert the upper floors of some retail units into flats.

Today, York-based property company Grantside announced it had acquired the 10,000 sq ft building and was intending to use the flats as holiday lets.

Steve Davis, chief executive of Grantside, said:

“This is a great opportunity and a brilliant location – in the heart of Harrogate town centre.

“Our vision for the building is to bring it back into full use through the conversion of the upper floors into apartments, which will be used as holiday accommodation and help the town’s economy.”

Harrogate’s Old Bell gets holiday accommodation approval

Plans have been approved to convert the upper floors of a traditional Harrogate pub into holiday accommodation.

It will see the second, third and fourth floors above the Old Bell on Royal Parade changed to letting rooms.

The pub is owned by Market Town Taverns, part of Heron and Brearley (H&B) based on the Isle of Man.

The proposal, submitted by Darren Clibbens of H&B, will see the basement, ground and first floors of the building unchanged.

Harrogate Borough Council has given the go-ahead for the plan.

The upper levels of the building are currently vacant office space, according to the application, with one studio apartment on the top floor.

The council’s estates team, and parks and gardens team, have both responded to the application and have not raised any objection.

However, they have asked for consideration to be given to the storage of resulting trade waste on the site, and highlighted the fact that the area in front of the building, including the pavement, forms part of the Stray.

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Flurry of Yorkshire Dales barn conversions raises call to close planning loophole

Developers are exploiting a planning loophole that allows them to convert traditional stone barns in the Yorkshire Dales, a meeting has heard.

Members of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s audit committee called for the loophole to be closed to ease the national park’s housing crisis.

A policy was introduced six years ago to conserve the area’s historic agricultural buildings. It allows owners to choose whether the barns become homes for locals or holiday lets.

But although the dual policy has brought some barns back into use, the overwhelming majority of permitted conversions have been holiday lets, which could be sold for about £500,000, the meeting heard.

Of the 198 planning consents granted, only 28 per cent have had local occupancy or rural worker restrictions placed on them.

Previous policies had required local occupancy of most barn conversions, the only exception being where it was linked to farm diversification, in which case holiday letting was also permitted.

The meeting heard many locals were being priced out of buying barns, as even derelict ones with planning permission to be converted were now being marketed at between £150,000 and £200,000.

Officers added at £1,500 per square metre, the costs of converting barns were usually higher than new-builds.

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They said barn conversions should be of wider socio-economic benefit to the national park, where there are several ongoing initiatives aiming at attracting younger residents.

Too many holiday lets

The meeting comes ahead of the creation of a new Local Plan for development.

David Ireton, the North Yorkshire County councillor for Upper Craven said he had been a supporter of the dual policy, but had changed his mind.

He said the authority was set to examine whether a principle place of residence requirement should be brought in on the barns, “which would then allow new blood to come into the Dales with children”.

Mr Ireton said:

“It’s disappointing that so many of these have gone for holiday lets. We’re trying to encourage people to come and live in the Dales, which has got to be good for keeping schools and businesses open.”

Swaledale councillor Richard Good said giving approval to a barn conversion that enabled a Swaledale farming family to remain in the Dales had done much good for the authority’s image.

He added:

“Every time there is one that’s to be a holiday cottage there’s load of muttering, but what can we do about it? Not a great deal.”

The authority’s longest-serving member Robert Heseltine said the barns remained an opportunity to “give that indigenous population a chance to have a permanent home”:

“This is something this authority has to address. There’s been an explosion of tourist accommodation, particularly at the lower end with yurts such like, but tourism isn’t the be-all-and-end-all of the economy in any rural area. The need to bring young blood into communities is something that should never be ignored.”

Masham needs more homes not holiday lets, says parish council

A planning application has caused debate in Masham after councillors said they would only support it if the building was used as housing rather than holiday lets.

At a Masham Parish Council meeting this month, councillors decided to neither support or object to a proposal to convert a building on Market Place into two dwellings.

The plans would see the former Forrest House Veterinary Ltd practice turned into two semi-detached houses. One would be one-bedroom and the other two-bedrooms.

The building is thought to have been empty for 12 months after the business moved during lockdown.

Masham councillors said they were passionate about fulfilling the demand for smaller properties from local residents.

Cllr Ian Johnson said:

“We’ve just got too many. It wasn’t a problem five years ago but it is now. It’s upsetting when you see people struggling to get a home in Masham because there aren’t any of the right ones available.”

Councillors believe the current 90 holiday lets in Masham were enough.

The parish council will now advise Harrogate Borough Council of its decision.

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