The planning committee has agreed to allow the demolition of the rear building, which houses the existing swimming pool, and the conversion of the front – the original Ripon Spa buildings, opened in 1904 – to maisonettes. But because it is a Grade II listed building the council will have to refer the matter to the Secretary of State, who will decide whether to allow the approval or hold a public inquiry.

Ripon Spa Partnership, the group that brought together a wide range of organisations in the city to fight the plans for the site in Park Street, has vowed to continue its opposition. Ripon Civic Society says interior details of the spa building would be lost and public access into the ornately-tiled pump room entrance would end. The council wants to use the redevelopment proceeds to fund a new swimming pool next to its leisure centre off Dallamires Lane.

Civic Society chairman and Partnership member David Winpenny said the council "has taken little notice of the real anger in Ripon about its plans for removing from the citizens a facility that was provided just over a century ago for our use.

"They do not appear to have followed Government guidance... and we have grave doubts about the effectiveness of English Heritage... We shall take the fight to protect the building and its public use to the Secretaries of State. The battle is not yet over."