An investigation by the Stray Ferret has found discrepancies in documents used by Harrogate Council to advise the planning committee between 2017 and 2019.
The council claimed that there was a shortage of land for new housing development and delayed submission of the local development plan.
During that time, councillors say they were “forced” to approve major developments to boost housing numbers.
Yet we have found evidence that could have given councillors greater powers to reject speculative planning applications earlier.
Government planning policy directs councils to ensure it has enough land on which new homes can be built –it must have a 5 Year Land Supply (5YLS).
This important statistic can decide the outcome of planning decisions.
Without one a legal situation is triggered which makes it’s easier for a developer to obtain planning permission.
Between January 2017 and September 2018, planning reports advised the planning committee that Harrogate didn’t have a 5-year land supply.
Our investigation uncovered evidence that Harrogate expected over 12 000 new homes to be delivered between 2019 and 2024. That equates to a land supply of more than 9 years.
It’s more than double the number of homes required by local housing targets approved by the Secretary of State for the same period.
We wanted to know how the district went from a housing shortage in August 2018 to a housing surplus in January 2019.
The council produced a series of reports containing expected housing delivery rates throughout 2017 – 2019.
The Housing Land Supply Update is a document that publishes the rolling assessment of the district’s 5YLS – it’s revised and published every three months.
Between 2017 and 2018, these documents showed a deficit 5 YLS position.
From June 2018, these reports showed a ‘marginal’ 5YLS of 5.2 – just above the threshold required.
We have studied other documents the council produces:
The Strategic Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment 2017 (SHELAA) gathered data about ALL land that the council considers suitable for development along with information as to when homes will be delivered on each site over 5, 10 and 15 year forecasts.
A Housing Background Paper sets out the council’s progress in achieving its policy objective of ‘accelerated’ housing growth with measured targets and delivery rates.
When we examined these documents, we found evidence of a much stronger position than the planning reports suggested.
December 2016:
Two years after it failed to adopt a Local Plan in 2014 The Planning Inspectorate rules that Harrogate still cannot evidence a 5YLS.
Harrogate was inundated with major development applications.
Even applications that had previously been refused were re-presented and approved.
For nearly two years, the planning committee made decisions based on the belief that they had to approve applications to boost housing numbers.
Yet documents reveal that in 2016 Harrogate identified new sites which the council believed would deliver over 1000 new homes within five years. Only a percentage though were included in the calculation of the 5YLS.
January 2018 Documents show that Harrogate was on track to deliver a whopping 9.7-year land supply by April 2019 – when the local development plan was due to be adopted.
But planning reports from the same month advised the councillors that the 5-year land supply had reached an all-time low of just 4.2 years.
Councillors continued to accept recommendations to approve applications to boost housing numbers.
June 2018 Housing Land Supply Update showed that that Harrogate had achieved a 5.02-year land supply.
However, the advice to councillors didn’t change.
Throughout July and August 2018, the planning reports were based on the earlier deficit position.
August 2018 The Housing Background Paper continued to state that the supply would increase to 9.7 years by April 2019.
The council submitted its local development plan for approval.
September 2018 The Planning Reports state that the council now has a ‘marginal’ 5-year land supply of 5.02 years.
Councillors are advised that approvals are still necessary to ensure that the fragile land supply is maintained.
January 2019 The Planning Inspectorate held hearings to determine if the council’s Local Development Plan was sound.
The Planning Inspectorate insisted that Harrogate cut its housing targets and drop 24 developments from the local development plan.
After the cuts, the planning inspectorate agreed that Harrogate retained a 6.87-year land supply.
The Planning Committee was now in a stronger position to take difficult decisions to refuse speculative and undesirable planning applications even against the advice of planning officers.
The Stray Ferret offered to discuss our findings with Rebecca Burnett, former Cabinet Member for planning and Richard Cooper, Leader of Harrogate Borough Council before we published. Neither agreed to be interviewed.
In a statement issued by the press office, the council said:
“Our approach to calculating housing land supply has been tested on a number of occasions at planning appeals and at the local plan examination. It was found to be in line with national policy and guidance.
“During the period where we did not have an adopted local plan, the housing supply position was kept under constant review and councillors were routinely briefed.
“It is absolutely ridiculous to suggest that councillors were misled in relation to the housing land supply. We have seen no credible evidence whatsoever to back-up this claim.”
We have been told by councillors of all parties how concerned they are at the council’s performance record on planning.
We also put a series of questions to Andrew Jones MP regarding planning within the district.
We have not yet received an acknowledgement to our email.
Suspected drug dealer caught on A1 near Boroughbridge
A suspected drug dealer has been arrested near Boroughbridge after the police helicopter helped to track him down.
Officers were on patrol on the A1 southbound on Tuesday when a black BMW drove past.
The vehicle had markers attached to it that linked it to an incident in Humberside.
Officers caught up with the vehicle but when it pulled up on the hard shoulder the driver jumped out and fled across nearby fields.
The National Police Air Service (NPAS) used a helicopter to track down the man who was found hiding next to a river.
The 27-year-old Sheffield man was arrested and a large amount of cannabis was seized from the car along with the vehicle.
He remains in custody at this time and the investigation continues.
A police spokeswoman said:
StrayArt with Johnny Messum: Photography“We hope our response reassures you we will do everything we can to take drugs off our streets and tackle criminality in North Yorkshire.”
StrayArt is a monthly column written by Johnny Messum, Director and Founder of art gallery and centre, Messum’s Wiltshire, London and Harrogate. Johnny’s passion is for contemporary art and sculpture.
Each month he will look at art, exhibitions and events across Yorkshire and sometimes further afield with the aim of guiding and inspiring us.
Considering photography requires a shift in the understanding of what we would ordinarily consider as images. We often think of photography as the pursuit of truth and realism and forget that the process of making photography involves much more creativity than meets the eye.
In fact, as we now know all too well, photographic images do not always speak the truth – certainly that is the case in some of the famous doctored images that have been used to present ‘reality’ in the news agenda.
However, luckily, we are not dealing with those issues today. We are dealing with the question of creativity and originality in the photographic image, and for that we need to start with the maker. That is the artist who is behind the lens.
Often with photography, because we are so caught up in the image, we forget that the person behind the camera is not only capturing the frame in terms of what can be seen, but also creating the composition. Perhaps we should start to think about the different techniques by splitting them first into digital and analogue. Digital has given us one of the greatest creative expansions of photography, so much so that the unique originality of images taken with Polaroid and other analogue techniques was considered dead. In fact, that has proved not to be the case at all. They have resurged and now there is a vibrant and exciting artisan scene using Polaroid and even tintype, which is the earliest form of photography
Gin Bottles, photographed by Tiff Hunter
Tif Hunter is perhaps one of the most extraordinary photographers working today. He not only carved out a career in analogue perfectionism in the advertising photography world of the 1980s and 1990s, but also perfected the historical technique of tintypes, and more recently mastered the art of digital technology to create still lives of exceptional beauty. Their beauty speaks to us most strongly when we think about how his photographic images are so inspiring in their details and composition. It is the sense of time captured which really turns them into an art form that deserve an appreciation of their own.
Once Covid restrictions are lifted, and you find yourselves in Bradford you could step into the National Science and Media Museum (formerly the National Museum of Photography) which is dedicated to the understanding of how photographic images are made.
Tiff Hunter’s tintypes will be on show at Messums Yorkshire in 4-6 James Street, Harrogate from 20 March to 1 May 2021. Paintings of Yorkshire – many of Harrogate – painted outside in January 2021 by Peter Brown, President of the New English Art Club opens on 20 March. www.messumsyorkshire.com. While current restrictions are in place, the next exhibition, In Arcadia by Henry Lamb R.A., will be available online from 4 February to 13 March.
Flood warning in Boroughbridge area after relentless heavy rain
The Environment Agency has issued a flood warning for a caravan park in Boroughbridge this evening. The agency says it is watching levels of the River Ure carefully and warned the Roecliffe Caravan Park area is most at risk.
On its website the agency said drivers should avoid low lying roads close to river:
The flood warning for the River Ure at Roecliffe Caravan Park has been issued. River levels are rising as a result of recent heavy rainfall. Consequently, flooding of property, roads, and farmland is expected imminently, on Saturday 6/2/21. Areas most at risk are Roecliffe Caravan Park. The current river level at Boroughbridge is 13.59m and rising, and the level at Westwick Weir is 1.53m and rising. Further rain and snow is forecast over the next few days which will keep river levels high. We are closely monitoring the situation. Please put your flood plan into action, and plan driving routes to avoid low lying roads near rivers,
The flood warnings come after relentless rain. A Met Office yellow weather warning for snow and ice continues to be in place for the Harrogate district tonight and tomorrow.
Temperatures are set to fall over the next 24 hours with heavy snow in parts of the UK as the country experiences some of the coldest weather since the “Beast from the East” in 2018. The weather front which has been name Storm Darcy has been dubbed “The Beast from the East 2”.
It may be that the district avoids the worst of the beast which is forecast to be more severe in the south and east of England.
Temperatures though are not expected to rise above zero degrees celsius in the district for much of tomorrow with snow showers expected.
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Continuing snow showers over the next 48 hours and freezing temperatures may mean traffic disruption on Monday morning.
For full information on school closures and traffic disruption make sure you follow the Stray Ferret – we’ll have regular updates from early Monday morning if the storm affects us.
Two further covid deaths at Harrogate District HospitalNHS figures released today show two more patients who tested positive for covid have died at Harrogate District Hospital. Both deaths were reported yesterday. It brings the total number of covid deaths in the district hospital since the pandemic began to 127.
Meanwhile, the daily number of people testing positive for covid in the Harrogate district has risen by 41. So far 6,652 people in the region have tested positive for the virus.
Earlier this week Harrogate Hospital said it was dealing with a record number of covid patients. It has suspended some non-emergency surgeries in an effort to free up bed space and staff to deal with patients.
Latest data from Public Health England shows the Harrogate district has a 7-day case rate (dated up to 28th January) of 173.5 per 100,000.
A further 32 people in the Harrogate district test positive for covidA further 32 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the Harrogate district, according to today’s Public Health England figures.
It takes the number of cases since the start of the pandemic up to 6,353. .
There were no recorded deaths of patients who tested positive for coronavirus at Harrogate District Hospital.- the total number since March 2020 stands at 122.
Meanwhile, the seven-day covid rate in the district (latest data up to January 21st) has fallen to 261.8 cases per 100,000 people.
That’s higher than the county-wide rate which is 235.4 and lower than the national average which is 400.6.
Property Gold: Are leasehold properties just modern day slavery?
Property Gold is a monthly column written by independent bespoke property consultant, Alex Goldstein. With over 17 years’ experience, Alex helps his clients to buy and sell residential property in some of the most desirable locations in Yorkshire and beyond.
This week Alex looks at why leasehold property purchases are so controversial.
Leasehold reforms seem to be here, with the Government now intervening and yet again the PLC developers are in the news for all the wrong reasons.
In September, the four largest house builders were investigated after ‘troubling evidence’ was uncovered about how leasehold properties were being sold.
The CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) found that some leasehold buyers were being hit with ground rents that doubled every decade, pressurised selling tactics and informing buyers they could buy the freehold for a small sum, only to find out latterly this cost had increased significantly. This left many people in a position of never being able to sell – a modern day slave to leasehold ownership, you might say.
Whilst the Government took action last year against the developers, the ban was not retrospective. This left many stuck in unsellable homes with crippling ground rents. Too little, too late for them unfortunately.
How then has this all come about?
Be under no illusions, the PLC developers are all about money and profit margins. Ethics and morals aside, selling a leasehold house gave a PLC developer more angles to make money.
They could sell the freehold to an investor, who in turn could ratchet up ground rents and the developer doesn’t get their hands dirty. This would provide (up until now) a useful additional income stream and was all legal.
How, then, have people managed to buy such properties and be unaware of the pitfalls? Could it be that some PLC developers had a monetary referral system with a panel of ‘recommended’ conveyancing solicitors, who then overlooked updating buyers on the finer detail?
It’s easy money with limited input required – keep ground rents high for additional income (which also commonly had annual percentage hikes) and charge leaseholders to alter their homes. Combine these with poor building management and these properties become even harder to sell – hence the birth of the ‘fleecehold’ movement.
Now that the Government claim they want to resolve matters, will leaseholders have the opportunity to retrospectively claim their costs back for lease extensions or purchasing the freeholds? Equally, could this now open the floodgates for legal cases against the PLC developers?
What is clear, is that the PLC developers created various angles to squeeze more money out of a deal, meaning higher share prices, happier stockholders and bigger executive salaries.
Whilst the Government have promised that leasehold reforms are coming, there’s no reason to celebrate just yet. All eyes are on the detail, which will do little for those owners who have been already hoodwinked and are now enslaved to their properties. Thank your lucky stars you have read this and won’t fall for the same tricks!
Duke and Duchess learn how Harrogate based helpline supports frontline medical staffThe Duke and Duchess of Cambridge spoke with frontline workers and members of the Harrogate based Just ‘B’ team about the mental health impact of the coronavirus crisis on medical staff.
Just ‘B’ is part of charity North Yorkshire Hospice Care and provides emotional wellbeing and bereavement support, both locally and nationally, through a support line.
Frontline health staff often cite exhaustion and the relentless nature of the crisis as their reasons for calling the helpline.
Tony Collins, a volunteer for the Hospice UK Just ‘B’ helpline and Chief Executive of North Yorkshire Hospice Care and St Michael’s Hospice in Harrogate, urged frontline workers to access the helpline.
When speaking to the Duke and Duchess, Tony said:
“I think there’s something about reticence to call at the moment, and also around calling when they feel they have space to start processing and reflecting on the experiences they’ve been through.
“The phrases and the words we hear time and time again are ‘exhaustion,’ ‘relentless,’ ‘there’s so much death, when is it going to finish.
“We know that anxiety is high among frontline workers as they continue to work through the Covid-19 pandemic. This is why the helpline is so important in providing a safe space for frontline workers to reflect and process what they have been through, talking to someone else without the fear that they’ll be burdening loved ones.
“People often think: ‘I’ve got my friends, family and colleagues, you’ve just got to knuckle down and get on with it’. Frontline staff are used to putting others first, forgetting that they also need to look after themselves.
During the call, NHS staff and emergency responders spoke about their personal experiences with mental health, and how services such as Just ‘B’ have allowed them to cope better and begin to come to terms with their grief.
The Just ‘B’ emotional wellbeing, bereavement and trauma helpline can be accessed daily between 8am and 8pm at 0300 303 4434.
Two further covid deaths at Harrogate District HospitalTwo more patients who tested positive for coronavirus have died at Harrogate District Hospital.
According to NHS England figures, the deaths were reported on January 15 and 16. It takes the number of people who have died of the virus at the hospital since March 2019 up to 121.
Meanwhile, a further 64 people tested positive for covid in the Harrogate district.
The 7 day average of cases per 100,000 in the district now stands at 307 (latest data January 14).
The district has reported a total of 5,939 covid cases since the start of the pandemic last year.
Yorkshire Showground prepares for vaccination programmeSignage has been put up at the Yorkshire Show Ground for a covid-19 vaccination programme that starts this week.
The government has asked the 17 GP practices in Harrogate and the surrounding district, including Ripon, Knaresborough, Boroughbridge, Pateley Bridge and Masham to oversee the vaccination rollout. The NHS though has been unwilling to release more detail.
Figures published by Public Health England today show there were 13 new positive cases for covid in the district in the past 24 hours. The district has a 7 day average of 92 cases per 100,000.
There have been no further covid deaths of patients who tested positive for covid at Harrogate District Hospital.
North Yorkshire remains in tier 2 covid restrictions.
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Yesterday new tougher restrictions were imposed over the Xmas period.
Up to three households can meet indoors but only on Christmas Day, rather than during December 23-27 as previously announced.
A new tier 4 with stricter restrictions has been created for people living in London and areas of the south-east.
Have the changes meant scrapping your Xmas plans? Email us contact@thestrayferret.co.uk