JAGUAR Land Rover could see its North Yorkshire off-road experience business in Skipton expanded to its previous home at the Coniston Estate in Coniston Cold.

The North Yorkshire franchise of the off-road driving school and entertainment business moved from Coniston Cold in 2015 to the former Yellison goat farm at Broughton at a cost of £1m.

A 4x4 driving experience continued at the Coniston Hotel and Estate, but not as an official Jaguar Land Rover business.

Now, the Coniston Estate has applied to Craven District Council to expand the business to Coniston to allow Land Rover to continue to provide a 'much needed service' which in addition to being used by every day drivers, is also used for training by emergency services and utilities.

In a submission to the council, architects Bowman Riley describes The Coniston Estate as an ideal partner to continue to 'develop their (Land Rover) business with and provide the highest quality facilities to be associated with the Land Rover brand'.

It states: "It is logically the best site available for the expansion as historically The Coniston Estate has been home to the Land Rover Experience North Yorkshire and this proposal is to re-purpose an empty building and under-used part of the site."

The design and access statement describes how the former Falconry Centre at the estate, which closed several years ago, would become the base for the proposal which if successful would 'provide much needed expansion and enable the business to grow in line with Jaguar Land Rover's requirements for the brand and expectations of a Land Rover experience.'

Such sites, of which there are nine across the UK, include driver experiences for customers, but 'crucially provides much off road training for all blue light services, utilities providers and other courses for safe usage of equipment.'

Demand in the county is high and if permission is not given, Craven could lose out financially, says the report.

The barn, formerly the home of the falconry centre, will be kept largely the same but with a new entrance and a 'curtain wall' in replace of unused barn doors to allow viewing of the site by customers.

There will also be the addition of a workshop and storage made to look like agricultural buildings, and car parking.

If approved, the scheme, which has received no objections from Coniston Cold Parish Council, will create 14 full time jobs and 20 part time, with it anticipated the number could increase by 50 per cent.