Harrogate College have applied for planning permission for a new and replacement building adjacent to the existing building in Hornbeam Park.
- The development will give a new purpose-built, environmental building for £20million
- Courses will continue, and expand in vocational education, but not A-Levels
- The college will displace all on-site parking for 20-months, and have not mitigated the impact of that
- The rail halt carpark is already at capacity, and parking in Hornbeam Park is tenanted
- Longer-term parking spaces to drop from 242 to 88
The college say they will build on our existing training for local key sectors and T Levels offering while also allowing the introduction of new courses in areas like sustainability and modern construction techniques.
Harrogate College, part of the Luminate Education Group, secured £16 million from the Department for Education’s Further Education Capital Transformation Fund to replace its main campus building.
The project will total £20m project (the £16m will be combined with an existing, £4m budget) will result in a sustainable new purpose-built facility for technical and vocational education. It will be built on the existing site including the car park and the on the field to, to the rear of the college.
To see the planning application: https://uniformonline.harrogate.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=RZ6KJBHYGMT00&activeTab=summary
The status of the planning application is that it is not currently approved by the Harrogate Planning Committee, meaning that it can not go ahead.
Harrogate College has said that their car park, has space for 70 staff and students and is planned to close from Monday 22 April to allow the campus rebuild to proceed. It is then planned to re-open in July 2015.
Danny Wild, Principal of Harrogate College said:
The temporary closure of our car park is a necessary part of this project. During this time, we are advising our staff and students to either make alternative travel arrangements to college where possible or to park responsibly in the local area.
In the 2021/2022 academic year, the existing College had 730 students and 88 staff.
When it is fully built, the development will have a maximum teaching capacity of 818 students and 85 staff, along with a total of 88 parking spaces. That is a reduction from the current 242 spaces. Although there has been some assessment of requirements, they were undertaken close to covid lockdowns, so would likely have low confidence factor.
The college say they were approached about potentially using a nearby field for temporary parking, and that was an idea that was explored,
but proved impractical for a number of reasons, principally because of the he flow of the traffic but also because the to the impact on traffic.
North Yorkshire Council advised that making the field into a car park would require altering all of Hornbeam Park Avenue to ensure safe access. (We have not verified that statement with North Yorkshire Council)
The potential for complete chaos in the station car park and surrounding residential streets is very real, not to mention highway safety.
