An ambition to transform part of the historic Governors House on the former Northallerton Prison site into a gym has been approved after councillors agreed it was an acceptable solution to help maintain the listed Georgian structure.
A meeting of Hambleton District Council’s planning committee heard officers state the public benefit of bringing the building into a useful function for its future would offset harm to its heritage.
They said the inclusion of glass screens would have some impact on the building’s heritage, as would CCTV cameras mounted outside, but highlighted the alterations were removable or discrete.
The scheme is part of the authority’s Treadmills development, which is extending the town centre’s retail and leisure area and includes a supermarket and a cinema.
Members said it had proved difficult to be creative with the Governors House and that they hoped the fitness suite would have a positive impact on the health of residents.
Councillor John Noone said: “The outside of the building has been transformed, it looks superb to me. It was looking like a very run-down, tired building and it’s a showpiece for the site.
“We have got to have a use for it. It can’t stay as a historic shell and if this is what it has to be all well and good.”
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