North Yorkshire Council Archives - Page 139 of 171

Plans rejected for 20 homes and 12 glamping pods in Nidderdale

Planners have rejected a bid to build 20 homes and 12 glamping pods at the former Nidd Valley Saw Mills.

Wakefield-based Milner Homes submitted plans to redevelop the former mill alongside the River Nidd at Dacre Banks.

The mill was sold to the developer in 2020 after its former owner retired.

Milner Homes, planned to convert the mill into five homes, and build a further 15 two to four-bedrooms homes, as well as a dozen glamping pods.

It said the proposal, submitted last year, would “create a distinctive residential development which is sympathetically designed to respect the surrounding built and natural environment” and “promote sustainable tourism”.

But North Yorkshire Council refused the application this week.

The housing and glamping pod scheme as outlined for the Nidd Valley Saw Mills site.

Trevor Watson, assistant director of planning, listed nine reasons for refusal.

He said “no exceptional circumstances” for the scheme, which is outside the Harrogate district Local Plan 2014-35 for development, had been demonstrated.

Other reasons included “a significant, adverse landscape and visual effect upon the landscape and scenic beauty of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty”, “insufficient evidence that the continued use of the site for employment purposes is not feasible or viable” and flood concerns.

Mr Watson added:

“The proposed layout creates a scheme that is of poor quality, does not create a safe and accessible environment or reflect the principles of good, sustainable layout design.”

Hartwith cum Winsley Parish Council objected because the application was outside the local plan boundary and also because of highways and noise concerns.

Council ‘not considering’ sale of Harrogate Convention Centre

North Yorkshire Council has said it has no plans to sell Harrogate Convention Centre nor has not it received any offers of private investment for the ageing facility.

It comes as a decision day on a proposed £49m redevelopment moves nearer.

The new council inherited a plan to upgrade the facility from the now-abolished Harrogate Borough Council so it can better compete with rival convention centres in the north.

The convention centre opened in 1982 and its conferences and other events have provided a boost to the town’s bars, restaurants and hotels. However, it has struggled to make a profit.

It still remains unclear how North Yorkshire Council, which is looking to slash £70 million from its budget over the next three years, will pay for the redevelopment.

Harrogate Convention Centre.

A decision is planned later this summer. If approved, construction work could begin early next year.

North Yorkshire Council’s Conservative deputy leader, Cllr Gareth Dadd, said:

“Design work is progressing for the Harrogate Convention Centre redevelopment project and we are working towards a decision relating to the construction work early in 2024. We will continue to explore any external funding opportunities that arise in the future and in the interim.

“We have not received any offers of private investment nor have we been considering a sale.”

Economic impact of Harrogate Convention Centre

A council report published this year described the convention centre as the largest driver of economic impact in the district with many venues depending on the business through its conferences and exhibitions.

Using Visit Britain methodology, the report predicted the convention centre will boost the local economy by £31 million during 2022/23.

If the redevelopment goes ahead, it’s hoped the upgrade will increase the centre’s visitor numbers from 147,000 in 2020 to 192,000 in 2040, with profits of £29 million over a 40-year period.

In February, Harrogate Borough Council failed in its £20m Levelling Up Fund bid for the redevelopment but at the time, convention centre boss Paula Lorimer suggested the council would bid again for funding in its third round.

Ms Lorimer warned that Harrogate would “wither on the vine” if its convention centre ever closed.

Civic society plea to protect key Knaresborough heritage building

Knaresborough Civic Society has called on North Yorkshire Council to protect Knaresborough House from vandalism.

The High Street building is one of the Knaresborough’s grandest properties and was built in 1768 for the town’s former vicar.

It’s now owned by the new council after previously being in the hands of Harrogate Borough Council until it was abolished on March 31.

The Northallerton-based authority is currently advertising office space to rent inside Knaresborough House.

But according to the civic society, which has a motto of ‘protect, preserve and conserve’, the building is in a poor state of repair following a spate of vandalism.

Andrew Grinter, secretary at the civic society, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the group has written to the new council to ask when boarded-up windows will be replaced.

He said:

“It appears that Knaresborough House has been facing vandalism issues for a while and we would like to know what, if any, plans are in place to restore the boarded windows and address the continuous problem of vandalism?

“[We’d like to know] what steps have the local council, the police and others taken to address the worsening situation and protect individuals using the building or its grounds particularly for civic duties?

“And have there been any efforts to engage with the community, particularly youth groups, to address the root causes of anti-social behaviour?”

Long-term concerns

North Yorkshire Council is facing much-publicised cost pressures that are set to continue over the next few years.

It is estimated the council will cut £70m over the next three years just to balance its books.

One of the new unitary council’s early cost-cutting programmes will be to sell off some of the former district, borough and county council properties, which comes to more than 3,500 properties excluding schools.

Although there is no indication at this stage that Knaresborough House will sold, Mr Grinter raised concerns that the cost-savings could lead to further decline at the property.

He added:

“As far as cost saving budgets are concerned, we want to know what criteria are being used to determine which properties are deemed surplus to requirements?

“One obvious concern is that under-investment, including in Knaresborough House, aligns with the council’s overall cost-saving strategy and this will impact on decisions concerning the upkeep and repair of one of Knaresborough’s key heritage assets.”

North Yorkshire Council has been approached for comment.

Harrogate bar to permanently keep covered outdoor area

District Bar in Harrogate is to keep its covered outdoor seating area constructed during covid.

The bar opened on Cold Bath Road in September 2019, just a few months before the town’s hospitality industry was turned on its head by covid.

Like many other bars and restaurants during the pandemic, District Bar was granted approval by the council to erect a semi-permanent metal structure on its patio to allow customers to sit outside.

Not only did the covered area allow customers to sit away from each other during covid restrictions, it also became a dry and warm space during the winter months and helped to block out noise from the bar onto the street.

Last week North Yorkshire Council approved a planning application to see the structure remain on the site for good.

The council has stipulated the area must close by 9pm when customers have to move inside.

How it previously looked

Planning documents submitted by the owner of District Bar said:

“Following a well received launch we were then, like the rest of the world, thrust into the unknown with covid and the challenges it brought.

“Like many other small local businesses, we struggled to exist and get through it. But we consider ourselves part of the local fabric and community, and to that end received tremendous support from local public.

“In 2020, since we couldn’t operate inside due to covid restrictions, we applied and received permission for a ‘semi-permanent’ structure to be erected on our patio connected to the bar.

“What we have found since its erection, is we disrupt our local community even less than we did before since noise is no longer an issue (prior we had people outside talking till 9pm) and as well as that an area where people still sceptical of covid and contagion can distance them selves from our main inside bar area.

“It has created a warm and cosy area for people to still keep safe distances.”

Scrapping YorBus will leave thousands without a bus service, councillor warns

Scrapping an on-demand bus service will leave thousands of passengers a month without a service, a councillor has warned.

North Yorkshire Council is examining cost-effective ways of boosting transport services after the authority admitted its flagship Yorbus demand-responsive transport pilot had failed.

It has emerged the Yorbus service for the Bedale, Ripon and Masham area cost more than £15 per passenger to run.

Ahead of launching the two-year pilot, which ends later this month, the council had been warned by public transport providers, including Moorbus, that demand-responsive transport would prove far too costly.

However, councillors disagree over whether there is any appetite for public transport in rural areas and if more frequent services would entice people to leave their cars.

The authority’s opposition leader, Cllr Bryn Griffiths said the ending of the trial later this month would mean “about 1,000 passengers a month without a bus service”.

A meeting of the council’s Richmond constituency committee heard him call for answers as to why the council had failed to win bids for huge amounts of government funding for public transport schemes such as Yorbus.

During a debate over Yorbus, Cllr John Weighell, who led North Yorkshire County Council for nearly 14 years, said Yorbus had not met the needs of residents with mobility issues in rural areas as the stops were too far apart.

He said even before the Yorbus pilot was launched it had never appeared viable as the authority had previously worked on the principle of supporting services that needed a subsidy of £6 or less per passenger journey.

Cllr Weighell questioned whether demand-responsive transport services would work better if they were limited to short journeys, close to larger market towns.

He said the authority should instead invest more money into developing and supporting voluntary-run community transport.

Cllr Griffiths replied:

“The problem is they rely on volunteers and we are struggling for volunteers at the moment. Stokesley has two community care buses and they are crying out for volunteers.”

Northallerton councillor Caroline Dickinson, a member of two North Yorkshire bus user groups, said there was “a big concern about the buses and getting people to appointments”.

She said:

“There’s all the talk about getting people out of their cars onto buses, but in the Dales we don’t have buses.”

The authority’s leadership said they had believed it could have been the “silver bullet” for North Yorkshire’s sparse public transport provision, particularly in rural areas.

Responding to criticism over the authority paying more than £200,000 to continue the pilot for a second year, the council’s leader Cllr Carl Les said it had been necessary to thoroughly test ways to attract more customers, such as bookings arrangements.

He said:

“It is right to stop now we have proved the costs are prohibitive.”

The authority is now considering increasing its work with volunteer-run community transport providers to reduce the cost of vehicles.

Cllr Les said the Little White Bus service, which has provided scheduled travel in Wensleydale and Swaledale since 2011, could be a better model to help improve transport access in rural areas.

Despite being in a remote area, the service run by paid and volunteer minibus drivers carries in excess of 60,000 passengers a year across 500,000 miles and provides school transport.

He said the authority was already promoting a car share scheme in Harrogate and would consider supporting such schemes for villages where people could search for any journeys they wanted to share, either as a driver or a passenger.

Local democracy in North Yorkshire ‘destroyed’ by devolution, says peer

Devolution in North Yorkshire has made local government an “incoherent mess” and “destroyed” democracy, a Liberal Democrat peer has claimed.

Harrogate Borough Council was one of seven district authorities, along with North Yorkshire County Council, abolished on March 31 to pave the way for the new North Yorkshire Council.

The single-tier system has vastly reduced the number of councillors in North Yorkshire from almost 400 to 90.

A combined authority for York and North Yorkshire is due to be created next year, led by an elected mayor, as part of the UK government’s devolution agenda.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire said in a speech in the House of Lords on Thursday the structure of local government across England was now “an incoherent mess” and accused the government of “imposing mayors on places that did not want them”.

He added:

“I find what has happened recently in North Yorkshire the most appalling, and when I heard someone assure me that no councillor in North Yorkshire would need more than two hours to drive from the ward they represent to council meetings, it showed me just how far we have gone.

“Decent places such as Harrogate, Scarborough, Richmond and Craven, which had working district authorities and which represented real places, have been dismantled and they are now trying to set up very large town councils for them.

“We have the prospect of a mayor, somehow, for North Yorkshire and, incidentally, one for East Yorkshire. That is the effective destruction of local government and I really do not understand the rationale for it.”

He contrasted the situation with Fenland District Council, where councillors represented far fewer people, and therefore had more time to deal with their issues.

Lord Saltaire said:

“After the next election, a reform of the way in which the governance of England is conducted at all levels is a vital part of what any new government must be. If we want to regain trust in politics and re-engage some of our citizens more, that is part of how we do it.

“Let us all recognise that we face a situation of deep popular disengagement and disillusionment with the democratic politics we have in this country.”

Old system ‘confusing and expensive’

Carl Les

Carl Les, the Conservative leader of North Yorkshire Council, described the old two-tier system as “confusing, inefficient and expensive”. He added:

“Over half of the country is governed by unitary local government now. Where Lord Saltaire lives has been unitary for years.

“Yes, we no longer have 390 local councillors. Some might say that’s a good thing.”

Cllr Les said the council’s plans for “double devolution”, whereby powers would be handed down to local level, would ensure it was “not only the largest geographic council in the country but also the most local as well”.

Watch: Lime tree on Stray in Harrogate being felled

Four trees on the Stray in Harrogate are to be felled by North Yorkshire Council.

The trees, close to Beech Grove, are deemed to be in poor condition and pose a safety risk due to their proximity to the road.

Resident Chris Graville sent us this video of one of the trees being cut down.

Barrie Mason, assistant director for highways at the council, said:

“This lime tree is one of four along Beech Grove on the Stray which are in poor condition and are to be removed as they are deemed high risk due to their position next to the road.

“This work is in line with the national tree and woodland policy which ensures two trees are planted to replace every one cut down.

“This means we are sustaining and increasing the number of trees across the county.”

North Yorkshire Council took over responsibility for managing the Stray on April 1, when Harrogate Borough Council was abolished.

Hampsthwaite garage resubmits plan for new MOT building

A longstanding garage in Hampsthwaite has resubmitted plans for a new MOT building.

Simon Graeme Auto Services Centre, which is based on Grayston Plain Lane, applied to relocate to the opposite side of the road last year.

The garage, situated just off the A59 near Hampsthwaite, has been established for over 25 years.

The move would have seen a new purpose-built facility created and the current MOT centre and car park demolished.

The new garage would also have included units for MOT servicing, training space and a reception and office. Fifteen car parking spaces would be provided, including six electric vehicle charging points.

However, Harrogate Borough Council rejected the proposal on the grounds that the development site was in open countryside and considered to be “unsustainably located”.

Now, the garage has resubmitted the plans to North Yorkshire Council which include a reduced MOT building size with the removal of the office and reception.

It adds the new building would be used in association with the current base on the other side of the road, which would be retained.

Documents submitted to the council said:

“The proposed building will be used in association with the existing business which will be retained – as such main reception area will be as existing with service / MOT bay and the new building will enable the business to meet its growing demand and also provide safe space to service electric vehicles and larger leisure / agricultural vehicles.”

The company added the new building was required in order for the business to adapt to changes in the industry.

It said:

“The proposed development seeks to create and deliver a simple, functional building to enable the business to grow and adapt to the changing needs of the business arising from growth of EV / hybrid vehicles and demand for servicing of larger leisure and agricultural vehicles.”

North Yorkshire Council will make a decision on the plan at a later date.

Road closure continues after gas pipe problem found in Knaresborough

A diversion in Knaresborough is set to remain in place until Monday after a problem was discovered with a sewage pipe.

Yorkshire Water closed Halfpenny Lane to deal with a pipe under the surface, and had planned to reopen it yesterday.

However, the work has taken longer than expected and the diversion via Boroughbridge Road and Chain Lane remains in place. A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said:

“Unfortunately, the works on Halfpenny Lane have been delayed after we found other utilities networks in the excavation, which prevented us from completing the work safely.

“Northern Gas Networks and Northern Powergrid have been to the site to assist with their networks and carry out work to enable our teams to complete our repairs safely. We have worked closely with local council highways teams to keep disruption to a minimum and are working hard to finish the work and reopen the road as soon as possible.”

A spokesperson said the excavations revealed a gas pipe had been placed through the top of the sewage pipe.

Until the gas pipe can be moved, the hole will be filled in. Once the gas repairs have been carried out at a date to be confirmed, Yorkshire Water will return to complete the work to the sewage pipe, which is still operational.

Meanwhile, temporary traffic lights on Boroughbridge Road have been adding to traffic problems in the area.

They are linked to a new housing development and have been in place since mid-March.

While they are due to end tomorrow, a further day of works for fibre broadband is expected to hit the road near Greengate Lane on Sunday, along with two days of resurfacing work from Tuesday morning. Both will involve temporary traffic lights.

The traffic problems caused by extensive roadworks in the area have led some residents to question why so many restrictions were allowed to be put in place at the same time.

North Yorkshire Council’s corporate director for environment, Karl Battersby, said:

“The roadworks on the A6055 have been in place for a number of weeks and are developer works as part of a new housing development and are due to be completed on Friday (June 16).

“The nearby Yorkshire Water works are emergency repairs due to a collapsed sewerage pipe that needed to be fixed immediately.

“We could not have foreseen that there would emergency works ongoing when the permit was issued for the resurfacing works on the A6055.

“We appreciate that roadworks near each other create additional delays for road users, but once the developer works are completed, it will ease the situation until Yorkshire Water can complete its emergency repairs.”

Ripon City Council objects to plans for 80-bed care home

Concerns about the impact on neighbouring residential properties have prompted Ripon councillors to object to plans for a care home development on Stonebridgegate.

As a statutory consultee, the objection will be considered when the application is determined by North Yorkshire Council planners.

The proposed development by Muller Property Group at the T&R Williamson Business Park (pictured), would involve the demolition of existing industrial units and construction of a care home of up to 80 bedrooms, with associated parking and landscaping.

The outline planning application for the 0.61 hectare site, was considered by members at Monday’s full Ripon City Council meeting, where Cllr Julie Ann Martin-Long led the objections.

She said:

“The proposed building will be up to three storeys in height and will dominate neighbouring residential properties, which is unacceptable.

“It will also generate additional traffic close to a busy junction, with Aldi, the police and fire station and Marks & Spencer all nearby.”

The nearby Aldi in Ripon

Councillor Eamon Parkin, said:

“I’m concerned about the impact that a building of this height would have on its neighbours and for that reason I think we should object to it.”

A design, character and access statement prepared by ADG Architects in support of the application on the North Yorkshire Council planning portal, stated:

“The building is expected to be 2.5 to 3 storeys in height to reflect the surrounding context. The lower ridge height and gable roof would be placed to the north of the site which has neighbouring residential properties.”

The statement added:

“There is a dense tree line to the north, east and west boundaries of the site, these provide a natural screen to the neighbouring properties to increase privacy.

“The trees along the boundary lines also create a buffer to reduce noise from Stonebridgegate and the surrounding highways network.”

In her comments on the proposed development, which can also be found on the planning portal, Anne Sims, North Yorkshire Council’s principal conservation officer said:

“The new building, although set back from the road side, sits much higher than the neighbouring two storey terraces along Stonebridgegate
(within the Conservation Area).

“To improve the design, there should be two storey elements, especially closer to the road and close to the existing two storey terraces and adjacent to the conservation area.”

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Economic impact of Harrogate Convention Centre

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Old system ‘confusing and expensive’

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