Retrospective plans refused after Harrogate firm builds larger warehouse than agreed

Abacus Ltd was formed in 1989 and is a manufacturer and distributor of bathroom products to companies including Villeroy & Boch and Wickes.

It employs 85 people and is based at Jubilee Court on the outskirts of the village of Copgrove alongside ten other businesses.

In 2019, Abacus won permission from Harrogate Borough Council to build an extension that would see a steel warehouse erected to support the growing business.

However, the company ended up building a bigger structure than what was approved after securing two large commercial deals.

Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee met this afternoon to consider a retrospective application for the larger extension as well as for a pallet store that had to be relocated elsewhere on the premises.

The application was recommended for approval by officers.

Speaking to councillors, Ian Patterson from Abacus conceded the company should have submitted new plans before starting construction but said the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic made this difficult.

He said: “We accept as bathroom manufacturers we are definitely not planning experts.

"We acknowledge that a material change should have been sought prior to works commencing, but timings due to the lockdown and the pressures of business didn’t enable this.”

High Court Quashing

The application to retrospectively build the larger extension was originally approved by Harrogate Borough Council in October 2021 before being overturned in the High Court in February 2022 after Copgrove resident Justin Appleyard requested a Judicial Review of the decision.

The High Court overturned the decision because it found Harrogate Borough Council did not take into account the relocation of the pallet store in its approval.

A different retrospective permission had previously been sought for the pallet store, however, it was refused in January 2021 by Harrogate Borough Council because it said it was not adequately screened by trees.

Visual Impact

Abacus’s plans received 51 objections with no submissions of support.

Nick Stringer from Staveley & Copgrove Parish Council told councillors that the company had, on more than one occasion, sought planning permission retrospectively after building work had already been done.

He added: “The site is in open countryside close to a beautiful medieval church and overlooks Staveley Nature Reserve which has an abundance of floral and fauna. I suggest the impact on the countryside is severe and unacceptable.”

‘Pimple on a pig’s backside’

Councillors were unconvinced by the application, in part, due to the relocation of the pallet store and its visual impact.

Conservative member for Masham and Kirkby Malzeard, Nigel Simms, described it as standing out like a “pimple on a pig’s backside.”

He added: “I have no objection to the storage building being built, what I’m objecting to is the pallet store being stuck out in the middle of nowhere.

"The screening is not sufficient.”

The committee voted to refuse the application by nine votes to three.

Abacus Ltd can appeal the decision.