New car park ‘puts beauty spot at risk’

A 150-space temporary car park and a 500-space permanent car park will be built at the Royal Horticultural Society site after councillors approved the plans this week.

Criticising the move, County Coun Jim Clark said the pine woods were now at major risk of being engulfed by surrounding developments.

He said: “I’m very disappointed because it encroached onto a designated Special Landscape Area. It compromises the setting of the pine woods as there is a possibility that a large number of houses will be built on the field to the south of the woods. This is out for consultation at the moment as part of the Local Development Framework.

“If these houses go ahead and the car park goes ahead, it means the pine woods will be surrounded by houses and car parking.”

The RHS – which created a new 200-space car park at Harlow Carr in December 2002 and currently uses the nearby Cardale Park business estate as an overspill facility – has insisted that the expansion is necessary to accommodate a huge surge in visitor numbers from 70,000 in 2001 to a predicted 300,000 by 2014.

However, groups including the Harrogate Civic Society believe the success of the gardens is now coming at the expense of the surrounding countryside.

Coun Clark, who also believes the scheme will create traffic problems in the area, said: “We do support the work the RHS does, it’s just a pity we can’t get a better solution to the parking.”

A temporary car park of 150 spaces to the south, will be used for up to five years, while the introduction of the larger facility will be phased over 10 years.

The chairman of Harrogate Council’s planning committee cast the deciding vote over the plans after votes were split down the middle.