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14
Feb 2023
Decision today on Harrogate Tesco and two major housing schemes
Councillors will decide today whether to allow a new Tesco supermarket and two major housing schemes be built on the outskirts of Harrogate.
Tesco has applied to build a supermarket, petrol station and 209 car parking spaces on the site of the former gasworks off Skipton Road.
Persimmon Homes has submitted plans to erect 162 homes off Kingsley Drive and another developer, Jomast, wants to build 53 homes off Knox Lane in Bilton.
Harrogate Borough Council officers have recommended all three scheme be approved. But the Conservative-controlled planning committee will vote whether to approve or reject each recommendation. They could also defer a decision to request further information.
The meeting, which begins at 2pm, can be watched live on the council's YouTube page here. People can also watch the meeting at the council offices at Knapping Mount.
The Stray Ferret will also cover the meeting.
Concerns about committee chair
Kingsley Ward Action Group, which campaigns to protect green spaces in the Kingsley area, where several hundred homes are in the process of being built, has written to members of the planning committee expressing concerns about the role of Cllr Rebecca Burnett, who chairs the planning committee.
The action group claims Cllr Burnett, a Conservative who represents Harrogate St Georges, has a "disclosable interest" in Kingsley planning matters, according to the council's own planning code of good practice, which states members living "close to an application site" should — subject to an exception — declare it and leave the room while the application is discussed. The code says:
Cllr Burnett's address listed on the council website is within about half a mile of the proposed Persimmon site.
The action group is desperate to prevent further development in Kingsley. The Stray Ferret has contacted the council and Cllr Burnett repeatedly to get a response to its claims but has not received a reply on the issue.
As chair, Cllr Bennett had the casting vote in favour of the 30-home Kingsley Farm scheme when the planning committee met last month and was tied 6-6 on whether to approve the scheme.
Read more:
- New Tesco supermarket would threaten future of Jennyfields Co-op, warns report
- Kingsley anger reaches 'boiling point' as another 162 homes set for approval
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