Plans to develop a new Regional Agricultural Centre at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate have been given the go-ahead. The application by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society for the £4.5m centre has been unanimously approved by Harrogate Borough Council and work is expected to begin in mid 2008.

Nigel Pulling, the Society's Chief Executive said: "We are delighted at the news which means we can now progress this important project. This is an extremely exciting time for us as the new building will provide a much needed focus for agriculture in the region and be a flagship for the industry."

The 1,716m Centre will be situated on the south side of the 250 acre showground and will consist of a farm shop with an 80-seater café and office space.

The Society is a charity and is best known as the organiser of the Great Yorkshire Show and this month's Countryside Live. It is anticipated that the build will take about 12 months to be completed in phases, but, because of the position of the site, neither of the shows, nor the many events which take place on the showground year round will be affected.

"We will now work on finalising the details of the building with our architects and then move on to a tendering process," added Mr Pulling.

The Society's office staff will re-locate to the new building along with other not-for-profit rural organisations. The shop will promote locally sourced food as a priority, providing an extra outlet for local farmers and producers as well as additional choice of good quality local fare for shoppers.

The café design will enable cookery demonstrations and food launches to be staged, further highlighting the important role played in food production by farmers - a key objective of the Society.