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.”
Read More:
- Bid to turn former Post Office in Harrogate town centre into 25 flats and offices
- Tier 2 restrictions still give hope to Harrogate hoteliers
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.”
Bid to turn former Harrogate post office into 25 flats and offices
Harrogate’s former post office could be radically transformed into a four-story building containing 25 flats plus offices.
Property development company One Acre Group has submitted plans on behalf of Post Office Ltd to Harrogate Borough Council to convert and extend the disused building on Cambridge Street.
If approved, the three-storey sandstone terraced building would be converted into a four-storey mixed use facility consisting of 25 one and two-bedroom flats and office space.
The post office controversially relocated to WH Smith last year amid claims by Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones the service was being “downgraded”.
Read more:
A heritage report commissioned by One Acre Group describes the ex-post office, which was designed by architect Sir Henry Tanner and built at the turn of the last century, as an ‘unimposing building of little distinction’.
The report adds the building contributes ‘very little’ to the character and appearance of the Harrogate conservation area in which it is located, and would in fact provide ‘minor beneficial effects on the character and appearance’.
The report adds:
“The proposed development will secure high density residential development within a highly accessible location through the conversion and extension of an existing vacant building in easy access to a wide range of shops, services, job opportunities and public transport infrastructure.”
The application also seeks to demolish the building’s rear extension, car parking, refuse area and cycle parking.
One Acre Group, which is based in Harrogate, commissioned planning consultants ELG Planning, which has offices in Harrogate and Darlington, to draw up heritage and planning reports on the proposal for the council, which must now decide whether to approve the scheme.
If it does, work could start in the summer.