Bilton electric charging points halted due to cost and vandalism concerns

Councillors have scrapped plans to install electrical vehicle charging points in Bilton due to concerns about vandalism and cost.

In October last year, Harrogate Borough Council approved its own planning application to demolish 10 garages at Woodfield Close to make way for two homes providing temporary accommodation for homeless people.

The scheme included five off-street public parking spaces with EV charging infrastructure.

But the council’s planning committee yesterday voted to amend its application by removing electric charging points from the plan and replacing them with solar panels on the roofs of the new houses.

Officials at the authority raised concern that the infrastructure would have a “lack of anticipated use” and, as a result, would be at a “higher chance of vandalism”.

Tom O’Donovan, economy and transport officer at the council, said in planning documents to councillors:

“All of our information shows that the area is the least likely to buy an EV any time soon and even if they did there are houses with off-street parking so they wouldn’t use the charging points; though there are some without. 

“It would be very unlikely for a visitor to Harrogate to go seeking them out as we’re currently installing charging points in all of our car parks.

“My concern is that they won’t be used and there is a higher chance of vandalism potentially increasing costs for a facility we never actually planned to provide.”

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Mr O’Donovan said the points would cost £3,080 over five years to run and maintain and the installation costs “will depend on the costs from Northern Powergrid”.

Arthama Lakhanpall, planning officer at the council, said the justification given by the council officer demonstrated that the infrastructure would be “more of a liability than an asset to the council” and solar panels would be “more suitable in terms of delivery and energy monitoring”.

Questions over green credentials

However, some councillors on the planning committee yesterday questioned the move.

Cllr Victoria Oldham, a Conservative who represents Washburn, asked whether it would make sense to keep the charging points for staff helping homeless people at the accommodation.

She said:

“If there are likely to be any staff in the vicinity assisting the rough sleepers there, surely they ought to have the potential of having electric charging points for their vehicles?”

Cllr Robert Windass, a Conservative who represents Boroughbridge, said electric vehicle charging points had been fitted in Back Lane car park in Boroughbridge and had never been vandalised.

He said:

“It’s right at the side of the toilet block. The toilet block gets vandalised on a fairly regular basis.

“The electric vehicle charging points have never been touched. So, they are just assuming that there will be vandalism.”

Pat Marsh, a Liberal Democrat who represents Harrogate Hookstone, said removing the charging points raised questions about the council’s commitment to tackling the climate crisis.

Councillors approved the application by nine votes to two, with one abstention.

Homeless accommodation plan approved for Bilton garages

Homeless people are set to benefit from new purpose-built housing in Bilton after plans were given the go-ahead by councillors.

Harrogate Borough Council has approved its own plans to demolish 10 garages on Woodfield Close to make way for two homes providing temporary accommodation.

Maggie Gibson, housing needs manager at the authority, told a planning committee meeting yesterday that the single-bed properties will be for people who are unable to use shared accommodation because of their complex needs. She added:

“This is accommodation where they will reside in for an extended period of time, but it means they can move on and enable other people to also use the pathway.

“It could be up to two or three years that they stay there because people’s circumstances change.”

Using garage sites to bring forward new homes has been a tactic used by the council to tackle Harrogate’s housing problems, with plans for affordable homes recently approved in Pannal and Ripon.

The Woodfield Close site is located near the footbridge which connects to the Nidderdale Greenway, and some garages will be retained.

The area will also be resurfaced to provide five public parking spaces, with potential for electric vehicle charging points.

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No solar panels

There are, however, no plans for solar panels on the two properties after council officers said they ran into complications with tariffs and shared roof spaces.

Councillor Pat Marsh, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrat group, expressed disappointment over this and that the homes are to be heated by gas boilers and not more environmentally-friendly methods such as air source heat pumps. She said:

“I will support this because of the need for this type of accommodation, but I’m really upset that this local authority hasn’t thought of another way of using anything but gas.

“We know that in a few years gas boilers are being phased out by the government.

“This council has got to start to grasp that there is a climate emergency.”

Bilton garages set to be demolished for housing

Harrogate Borough Council‘s plan to demolish 10 garages at Woodfield Close in Bilton and build two social homes has been recommended for approval.

The council owns and rents out garages across the district and has increasingly looked at the pockets of land as a way to build social housing.

Harrogate is one of the most unaffordable places to live in England, with average house prices around 11 times the median annual income of people who work in the district.

There are currently 1,867 households on the social housing waiting list.

In planning documents, the council said the development would help to provide “much needed affordable homes”.

The council earmarked the site for housing in August 2021. In total, it has 26 garages.

In November last year, the council was awarded £50,000 of government cash to bring forward housing on the garage site at Woodfield as well as at Park Row in Knaresborough.

The council’s planning committee will meet on Tuesday to decide whether or not to approve the Woodfield proposal.

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The report to councillors says:

“The provision of two affordable dwellings is a modest addition to the district’s housing land supply.

“The design of the dwellings would respect local distinctiveness and there would be no significant harm to local residential amenity, or highway safety.

“The housing development would provide off-street parking and be a more efficient use of the site.

“The proposal would comply with the provisions of the development plan and national planning policies and guidance, and should be supported.”

Plan submitted to demolish Bilton garages for social housing

Harrogate Borough Council has lodged plans to demolish 10 garages in Bilton to build two new houses.

The garages are on Woodfield Close, near the iron bridge in the Harrogate suburb.

As part of the proposal, two one-bedroom homes would be built on the site.

A council report  in August said there were 24 garages on the site but only 12 were occupied. Of these, four were used by local residents.

The report proposed demolishing seven garages to allow for the new development but the number has now increased to 10.

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The council owns and rents out garages across the district and has increasingly looked at the pockets of land as a way to build social housing.

In planning documents, the council said the development would help to provide “much needed affordable homes”.

The move comes as the council approved plans to earmark the site for housing back in August 2021.

The authority also plans to build a two-bed property for social rented housing on grassland it maintains on the corner of Poplar Crescent and Poplar Grove

Harrogate Borough Council will make a decision on the Woodfield Close plan at a later date.