Property magnate unveils plans to transform spa town’s centre

The proposals by Harrogate property magnate Phillip Lunn, would see one of the town’s main arteries, the A61 along Parliament Street, pedestrianised and traffic diverted down Montpellier Hill.

The Yorkshire Post understands the town’s historic Montpellier Quarter would also be redeveloped with a family-friendly water trail installed, following the town’s famous wells.

There would also be greater emphasis on the traditional independent shops which helped make Harrogate such a popular visitor attraction but have struggled in the face of competition from large chain stores.

The area at the top of Parliament Street around the war memorial would be completely opened up under the new plans.

The size of the development could cause controversy, particularly as Montpellier Hill, down which the busy A61 will be diverted, was recently nominated one of the most romantic streets in Britain in the 2011 Google Street View Awards.

Harrogate Chamber of Trade and Commerce, which has been in discussions with Mr Lunn for a while over the scheme, has described it as “very impressive”, but warned that the proposed re-routing of the A61 needs to be further developed.

Chief executive Brian Dunsby says the chamber is now setting up a town centre development group in response to the latest plans.

“We have previously been taken into confidence by Phillip Lunn and we consider that their whole scheme is very impressive,” he said.

“It would certainly improve the town centre and the linkages between Oxford Street, Cambridge Street and the Montpellier Quarter.

“However we need an equally imaginative solution to re-route the A61 trunk road traffic through the town or even better around the town on the long-awaited Western Bypass and Northern Relief Road.

“There is no obvious simple solution so we must bring together the numerous interested parties to consider the options.”

Recent plans by North Yorkshire County Council to semi-pedestrianise part of the A61 on the other side of Harrogate and loop traffic around have met with a furious response and nearly 3,500 names were collected on a petition.

At a Harrogate Area Committee meeting yesterday it emerged out of 1,414 official responses to the county council’s plans 91 per cent disagreed, with 89 per cent of responses marked as “strongly disagree”.

But despite the expected controversy over the latest plans to re-route the A61, Harrogate’s political leaders have cautiously welcomed Mr Lunn’s scheme.

The Cabinet member for planning, transport and economic development at Harrogate Council, Richard Cooper, said: “There are some very interesting parts to this scheme.

“Some things are very attractive about this plan and some are less attractive.

“It is well thought out and deserves further examination not simply a knee-jerk reaction from people.

“The property group bringing this forward realises there will be a lot of work to do talking to the public, councillors and shop owners.

“This is a starting point and they want everybody on board with it.

“This is only the talking stage at the moment.”

Mr Lunn said: “Harrogate is a great place which is truly unique.

“The Parliament Street area has the potential to be sensitively integrated into the heart of the town to make Harrogate an even better place to live, work and visit.

“Our aim is to create a civic space for Harrogate, that is somewhere locals and visitors can come to commemorate the history of the town alongside celebrating its future.”