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05

Aug 2021

Last Updated: 05/08/2021
Environment
Environment

Bilton garages could be demolished for social housing

by Thomas Barrett

| 05 Aug, 2021
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Harrogate Borough Council plans to demolish seven of the 24 garages in Bilton to make way for new homes for rough sleepers. It also wants plans to build social housing on grassland on the corner of Poplar Crescent and Poplar Grove.

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The garages site in Bilton earmarked for temporary accommodation.

Harrogate Borough Council is proposing to demolish seven garages in Bilton to make way for social housing.

The garages are on Woodfield Close, close to the iron bridge in the Harrogate suburb.

A report presented this week to the council's cabinet member for housing, the Conservative councillor Mike Chambers says two one-bedroom homes could be built on the site, and more homes might be possible subject to planning permission.

The report says there are 24 garages but only 12 are occupied. Of these, four are used by local residents. It proposes demolishing seven to allow for the development.

The council also plans to build a two-bed property for social rented housing on grassland it maintains on the corner of Poplar Crescent and Poplar Grove.

According to the report, the grassland "is not used for any particular purpose and has no amenity value".

If the council goes ahead with the plan, it would apply for funding from the government's £433 million Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme, which aims to get up to 6,000 rough sleepers into longer term accommodation.




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The council owns and rents out garages across the district and has increasingly looked at the pockets of land as a way to build social housing.

There are currently over 1,700 people on the council's social housing waiting list.

Last month, the council approved a plan from its own housing team to build three council houses at the sites of two disused garage blocks in Ripon.