Approval for exhibition site plan

The entire project is expected to take about six years to complete

The first phase of a £45m plan to redevelop the Harrogate International Centre (HIC) has been approved.

The proposed project will eventually provide more exhibition space and includes major cosmetic improvements.

HIC has won permission to build an exhibition hall with parking facilities on the car park behind the centre.

Harrogate Borough Council's planning committee approved the plans unanimously. Building work is expected to take two years.

The second phase of the plan would see a new service road built between the Royal Hall and the new building.

The three-storey exhibition hall will provide 1,600 sq m (17,200 sq ft) of exhibition space on the first floor, with a car park at basement level and a lorry holding park at ground floor level.

A report to the committee said there were concerns over the loss of trees on the site.

But it the council said it recognised "the importance of the exhibition and conference trade to the economy of the town and region".

Ultimately, HIC wants to replace five exhibition halls which were built in the 1950s.

The centre already boosts the local economy by about £150m and attracts more than 350,000 business visitors to the region each year.