Subscribe to trusted local news
In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
- Subscription costs less than £1 a week with an annual plan.
Already a subscriber? Log in here.
01
Mar 2023
Councillor calls for housebuilding in Harrogate to be paused
A councillor has called for a pause in housebuilding in Harrogate while work on a new local plan for the whole of North Yorkshire is drawn up.
In December, members of North Yorkshire County Council’s executive approved the creation of a new local plan, which must be finalised within five years of North Yorkshire Council being formed on April 1.
It will identify land that can be developed and will replace the seven local plans that are currently used by the soon-to-be-abolished district and borough councils.
This includes Harrogate Borough Council’s Harrogate district Local Plan 2014-35, which was adopted in 2020 and says over 13,000 homes can be built between 2014-2035. The council has said the document will guide planning decisions until the new local plan is created.
Harrogate’s local plan has led to large new housing developments being built in almost every corner of the district. Last month, approval was given to 162 more homes on Kingsley Drive in Harrogate and 1,300 homes at Clotherholme in Ripon.
But councillors have heard repeated concerns about whether the district’s roads, schools and GP practices can cope with the increase in housing.
Read more:
- New Harrogate district housing plan should not be ‘tickbox exercise’, says councillor
- Knaresborough housing site should be reviewed under local plan, says councillor
The thorny issue came up at a full meeting of North Yorkshire County Council on Friday.
Statistics released in the government’s last Housing Delivery Test revealed 1,641 homes — 266% above target — were built in the district between 2018 and 2021.
This led Liberal Democrat councillor for the High Harrogate and Kingsley division, Chris Aldred, to ask North Yorkshire County Council's Conservative executive member for planning for growth, Simon Myers, if the new council would consider pausing new applications in areas where these government targets are being met.
He said:
The new council will create six new planning committees to oversee decisions across parliamentary constituency areas, such as Harrogate and Knaresborough and Skipton and Ripon.
They will be set up with councillors from across the political spectrum voting on whether significant planning applications go ahead.
'Misleading' figure
After the meeting, Cllr Myers told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the 200% figure was misleading. He said:
0