A decades-long wait to build flats on a former petrol station at Skellbank in Ripon could finally end soon.
The site has been derelict for more than 20 years and has been described as an “eyesore” by local residents.
In 2003, Harrogate Borough Council approved a plan to demolish it in order to build eight flats but it never came to fruition with the permission now lapsed.
A similar plan was submitted in 2016 but was then withdrawn three years later.
However, Ripon City Council leader Andrew Williams revealed at a recent meeting that he’s had confirmation from the site’s owner that it will submit a new planning application for eight flats in the next few weeks.
The former petrol station is in a residential area on the edge of the city centre and is on the route from Ripon towards popular tourist landmark Fountains Abbey.
Cllr Williams said:
“I’m hopeful that an application will be lodged in next few weeks that will hopefully, after decades of this land being derelict and an eyesore, mean it’s brought back into constructive use.
“Members of this council have repeatedly expressed concerns about this site and I’ve used what influence I have to get it this far. I’ve also had indication that the owner would consider screening the site in the interim.
“Residents in that area have for years had to look out onto that piece of land. I hope in the next 12 months that piece of land will be transformed into something much more appropriate.”
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New call for action on Ripon eyesore site
Ripon councillors are calling for further action to smarten up a derelict site on one of the city’s key tourist routes.
The former Express petrol station and convenience store on Skellbank, has been empty for years.
It is located in a largely residential area of the city, on the route to Fountains Abbey and diagonally across the road from Hugh Ripley Hall, named in honour of Ripon’s first mayor.
In early 2021 Harrogate Borough Council planning enforcement officers instructed the owner to tidy the site, cut back vegetation and leave it in an acceptable manner prior to any further development.
The site as it looks today
However, as it remains in a derelict and overgrown state, city councillors at Monday night’s full meeting agreed to call for further enforcement action to be taken by HBC.
Councillor Stuart Flatley’s request for HBC to serve a Section 125 notice on the site owner was unanimously supported, after he said:
“This area is on the route to the Fountains Abbey World Heritage Site and has been in this unacceptable condition for many years and we can’t let this continue.”
City council leader Andrew Williams who seconded the proposal, said:
“As well as supporting this, I would like to go a step further and look at a compulsory purchase order for the site, so that it can be cleared and used for much-needed additional car parking spaces that can serve visitors to the city, hospital and Hugh Ripley Hall.”
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Section 215 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 provides a local planning authority with the power to take steps requiring land be cleaned up when its condition adversely affects the amenity of the area.
If it appears that the amenity of part of their area is being adversely affected by the condition of neighbouring land and buildings, they may serve a notice on the owner requiring that the situation be remedied.