Harrogate Borough Council approves £650k refurbishment of ‘eyesore’ Ripon flats

Plans to refurbish the council homes at Allhallowgate date all the way back to 2015 but have, until now, been scuppered over fears of sinkholes in the area.

In 2015, planning permission was granted to demolish a block of flats at 4-14a Allhallowgate and replace them with nine new townhouses. The plan also included the major refurbishment of an existing block of flats.

The flats were demolished but the rest of the scheme was halted in 2019 after an engineering firm found ground instability “could be foreseen” on or near the site.

They warned that measures to reduce the risk of the townhouses collapsing were not cost-effective.

Ripon sits above a layer of gypsum, which is a water-soluble rock that leads to the formation of large underground caves that can collapse. There have been a number of ‘sinkholes’ appear in the city.

The council pledged to continue with the refurbishment of the existing flats that weren’t demolished, however, plans were paused again during the Covid-19 pandemic as they were used as temporary accommodation for the homeless.

In May, the council was quoted £1.1m for the project by a contractor — almost double its budget of £650k. It has since removed plans to build an extension to the building to reduce costs.

HBC’s cabinet met last night to approve spending the money on the refurbishment.

Conservative cabinet member for housing and safer communities, Mike Chambers, who is also councillor for Ripon Spa, said he was happy the project was finally moving forward.

He said:

“This is a project that for a number of years has hit the buffers for various reasons. It is now appropriate we start moving it forward again. It is somewhat of an eyesore so I’m delighted we’re moving forward.

“It will improve the streetscene and a number of residents are concerned about the state of the block following the demolition. It’s high time we moved on.”

Subject to planning permission, Harrogate Borough Council hopes to complete the refurbishment of the flats by May 2023.