Harrogate council to pay drive-thru developer £25,000 in appeal costs

The money will be paid to EG Group which is behind the Leon drive-thru currently being built on Wetherby Road.

Its plans to open a Starbucks at the site had been rejected three times since 2012, but the most recent refusal from the council's planning committee was overturned by a government inspector which said the council demonstrated "unreasonable behaviour”.

It was agreed that the council would cover all of EG Group's legal costs after the appeal last June, however, the £25,000 figure has only just been revealed.

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The council itself chose not to contest the appeal as officers had recommended the plans for approval.

No council legal teams were willing to take on the legal challenge in a move which was criticised as a “betrayal" and left residents and councillors to fight the appeal themselves.

A council spokesperson said in a statement today that officer recommendations are "always taken with a balanced approach" and that the council did not contest the appeal because it was unable to "substantiate the committee’s grounds for refusal".

The spokesperson said: "The planning committee was therefore found to have acted unreasonably in taking this decision and the council is required to pay costs to the sum of £25,000.”

During the appeal last year, residents living near the Wetherby Road site complained the drive-thru would "completely destroy" their enjoyment of their homes.

They also said traffic in the area was already at "breaking point" without the development.

However, a government inspector concluded the drive-thru would not cause "significant harm" to the living conditions of residents, as well as highway safety or air quality.

The decision went against that of another inspector who said previous plans for the site would cause “unacceptable” harm to those living nearby.

After starting construction last year, EG Group later confirmed the site originally proposed for a Starbucks would open as a Leon drive-thru this May, creating up to 15 new jobs.

It will be the second Leon drive-thru in the country after the first opened in Leeds last November.

By Jacob Webster, Local Democracy Reporter