Harrogate Borough Council will press ahead with a consultation on 3,000 new homes in Green Hammerton.
Last night the council’s cabinet approved the move, which will see the consultation take place over a six-week period this Autumn.
The council will now publish documents for the consultation, which includes a preferred option of land south of Cattal train station.
Richard Cooper, leader of the borough council, told the cabinet meeting it was “critically important” that the council get the consultation right.
He said:
“I am really keen that the planning team put their money where their mouth is and where our mouth is as councillors and really have a strong consultation process because at the end of it, even if we do not agree, there can be no doubt at all that the consultation process was inclusive, valuable and that all sides felt that it was an honest and genuine consultation.
“I’m relying on the planning team to take that forward and I am sure that is what is going to happen.”
Meanwhile, Cllr Rebecca Burnett, cabinet member for planning, said the options set out in the documents were “not fixed” and that putting forward a preferred option would help to “stimulate response”.
It comes as a campaign group in Green Hammerton raised “grave concerns” over the process.
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Chris Eaton, from Keep Green Hammerton Green, disputed the council’s claim it had engaged with stakeholders in drawing up its plans.
In a letter to Cllr Burnett, seen by the Stray Ferret, Mr Eaton said he was writing “to express our disappointment and grave concern about the process of creating the new settlement development plan document”.
He said the council’s preferred option had been chosen without input from local residents.
His letter said:
“For your officers to say in cabinet papers that there has been some engagement is highly misleading.
“We believe that you have a moral obligation, if not a legal one, to fulfil your promise and to urgently facilitate meaningful engagement with those communities most affected by the new settlement.”
Responding to campaigners’ concerns at the cabinet meeting, Natasha Durham, planning manager for policy at the authority, said the options are not “set in stone” and that the consultation was the “first step of wider discussions” on the development.
The site was chosen after planning consultants Gillespies produced a report for the council setting out three possible sites.
HBC’s decision to choose Green Hammerton over Flaxby for a new settlement will be examined at a judicial review, which will take place on October 27, 28, and 29 at the High Court in London.
If found to be unlawful, the decision on where to place the new settlement may have to made again.
HBC’s planning committee is expected to reject the 2,750-home Flaxby development on October 13.
The date has been pushed back a week after a “technical error” meant the developer Flaxby Park Ltd was not informed.
Residents can find out more on the settlement and fill out the consultation here from October 19.
