Top Harrogate property owner explains why he backed judicial review over £20m plans for Harrogate College redevelopment

Speaking on behalf of Hornbeam Park, which neighbours the college and is an important local economic contributor, Chris Bentley described the project as "ill-conceived" and a “disaster for parking”.

In addition, the expansion plans had been "rushed through" by planners at North Yorkshire Council.

Mr Bentley said: “While we always welcome much-needed investment in local education facilities, this ill-conceived proposal is not a good deal for Harrogate.

“The neighbouring community will be severely inconvenienced by parking and congestion issues during the nearly two years of construction period, when no parking will be provided by the College for its staff or contractors, despite them having access to neighbouring Department for Education land.”

One of Harrogate's biggest commercial property owners, Mr Bentley's case is that, despite Harrogate College requiring about 200 parking spaces, only a fraction of that would be available during construction; resulting in a scramble for college staff, students and contractors to use surrounding residential streets, Hornbeam Park, Hornbeam Park Station and Pannal train station parking facilities instead.

He, and other businesses at Hornbeam Park, also argue that the long-term parking plan would only see 88 vehicle spaces and 50 cycle spaces, which locals say is wholly inadequate for the number of expected users.

They want North Yorkshire Council to reconsider the application to correct the "deficiencies in the original decision-making process”, so that a better proposal for the people of Harrogate is put forward in the future.

This, they add, would involve Harrogate College making more car park spaces available to avoid disrupting nearby streets.

Moreover, instead of demolishing already-refurbished buildings, they believe Harrogate College’s main campus should be sold on the open market and not “waste more taxpayer’s money”.

Chris Bentley said: “While we understand Harrogate College’s pleasure in securing this funding, their plans, which have been waved through by North Yorkshire Council, do not show the level of consideration that is needed for this complicated site.

“We have made the difficult decision to launch a judicial review as we feel there are deficiencies in the proposals and the Council’s decision making, and we hope through this process we can ensure that a better proposal comes forward in the future.”

Last week, Harrogate College warned that a judicial review risked delaying its £20m plans to replace its main building on Hornbeam Park and improve its training facilities for students.

The college believes the new campus would be perfectly placed to support the region’s skills needs for the future, boosting the town’s businesses and economy while providing targeted training in key areas such as green technology.

Delay, in turn, could jeopardise essential funding from the Government and undermine the entire project to the detriment of the district’s educational sector.

In 2023 Chris Bentley joined forces with another prominent Harrogate businessman and philanthropist Dr Terry Bramall CBE to threaten a judicial review against the £12m Harrogate Station Gateway scheme proposed by North Yorkshire Council with funding from the Government’s Transforming Cities Fund (TCF).

The 'green' scheme to give more space to cyclists and pedestrians in the Station Parade area of Harrogate town centre was watered down by the council a few months later.