149 homes near Harrogate High School refused
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Last updated Aug 4, 2020
Kingsley Road has a number of applications for housing developments

Councillors have refused 149 new homes on Kingsley Road near Harrogate High School because they said it would make already clogged roads in the area even worse.

Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee had previously blocked the development twice this year due to concerns over the number of homes, traffic congestion and the environment.

Since the plans were last put before HBC in June, developer Richborough Estates reduced the number of homes from 155 to 149 and included a new transport assessment saying residents could use a bus stop in Bilton 1km away.

The site is designated for development within HBC’s Local Plan and HBC’s solicitor has previously warned councillors that refusing the plans could leave them open to a legal challenge by the developer.

However, meeting this afternoon via Zoom, councillors voted by 10 to 1 to refuse the application.


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There are several developments in the Kingsley area of Harrogate — which could see over 650 homes eventually built.

John Hansard from the Kingsley Ward Action Group spoke to the committee and called the transport assessment produced by the developer “a work of fiction”.

He said:

“There are still serious issues and walking over 1km to public transport makes a mockery of HBC’s carbon reduction strategy.

“Once this natural oasis is lost it’s gone forever and this area of Harrogate will be so much poorer for it.”

Dean Knight, technical director from Richborough, said the developer “has listened” after previous planning committees, but he faced a grilling from Cllr Pat Marsh who asked whether a 1km walk to the nearest bus stop was practical for elderly people or families carrying shopping.

Cllr Marsh called the traffic implications for the development “wrong, very wrong”.

Mr Knight said bus operator Transdev told the developer it was not possible to add a bus stop nearer to the site but said the 1km distance was not an “insurmountable” distance for people to walk.