THE MASTERPLAN that will drive a major redevelopment of the centre of North Yorkshire’s county town has been drawn up following months of consultation.

The Central Northallerton Masterplan sets out a vision for the redevelopment of sites left vacant by the closure of Northallerton Prison and the Rural Payments Agency (RPA), to the east of Northallerton town centre.

Their closures resulted in the loss of about 600 jobs.

In addition to developing the vacated sites, the plan also looks at developing the adjacent council car park on Crosby Road. Redevelopment could also potentially bring in land on which Northallerton’s operational fire station sits.

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service is carrying out its own review of its estate and resources. Although there are no plans yet to move the fire station, the fire authority is said to have been closely involved in the plan.

Hambleton District Council Leader Councillor Mark Robson said: “It is a major masterplan for that area which potentially could include the fire station.

“That’s a separate discussion that’s going on with the fire authority because even though it’s part of the allocated site for development within the Local Development Framework, it doesn’t necessarily mean the fire station will move.”

Overall the development sites amounts to a large chunk of Northallerton’s centre and has been hailed a “significant opportunity”.

The masterplan report states: “The town centre, given the historic context, does not easily lend itself to large development sites, therefore the upcoming availability of these sites as a whole presents a significant opportunity for the town.”

The plan will go before Hambleton District Council’s planning committee on Thursday to be adopted as informal planning guidance for future proposals. It is the results of months of consultation with the local community, businesses, public bodies and other organisations.

The Government has imposed a deadline for selling the prison by the end of March 2015 and instructed its agents to market the site. The draft masterplan will be used as part of the information pack for developers.

Since the closure of the prison, Grade II listed status has been granted to four of the older prison buildings, potentially making the site less viable for development. As a result, a more detailed study has been carried out into how the buildings could be reused.

Four key options have been suggested in the masterplan.

Three involve turning Northallerton Prison into a hotel with family pub and restaurant and creating a residential development on either the Crosby Road car park or fire service site and three also involve building another food store.

Option one involves turning the prison site into a leisure complex on the prison site, such as a cinema and restaurant.

The report states the emerging preferred option is option four, which involves creating a hotel and family pub and restaurant on the prison site, along with a food store and residential developments elsewhere.