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20
May
Council agrees £5.6 million in developer contributions for major Harrogate housing site
Council officers have agreed £5.6 million in financial contributions with developers behind 224 homes on Whinney Lane in Harrogate.
Councillors on North Yorkshire Council’s strategic planning committee approved the scheme in August 2024 subject to section 106 contributions.
Developers are required to make section 106 payments to compensate for the impact of their schemes on local services, such as schools and healthcare.
The 12-hectare site is opposite the Squinting Cat pub on the edge of town and forms part of the allocation H51 in the Harrogate local plan.
The scheme put forward by housing developer Banks Group is the first of two applications for H51 which could eventually see more than 700 homes built on the former farming fields.
Now, council officials have agreed contributions of £5.6 million with the developer for the Whinney Lane site.
According to a legal agreement published on the authority’s planning portal, the payments would include:
- £183,885 in health contributions
- £91,956 in off-site open space contributions
- £498,580 in outdoor sport contributions, which includes adult football, youth football, cricket facilities and 3G artificial pitches.
- £1,246,784 primary education contributions
- £746,869.76 secondary school contributions
- £2,889,696 in contributions to highways projects related to the housing scheme, including upgrading traffic signals and improvements to nearby roads.
The scheme is also expected to see 35% of homes classed as affordable.
The figure had previously been 40%, but councillors voted to cut the affordable housing requirement in March after authority officials said it would help to deliver new housing schemes and meet newly imposed housing targets.
In August 2024, Justin Hancock, planner at Banks Group, said the company was “extremely proud” of the Whinney Lane scheme which he said will meet the needs of the community.
He said the developer worked alongside the council on the West of Harrogate Parameters Plan and the West Harrogate Infrastructure Delivery Document which has resulted in more money being pledged towards infrastructure.
Mr Hancock added:
We worked with local community groups for a number of years. We’ve listened and provided reassurance about how development will work.
Thousands of homes
It comes as up to 4,000 homes are being built or awaiting planning permission in the west of Harrogate, including schemes on Otley Road, Whinney Lane and Yew Tree Lane.
Much of the housing was earmarked for the area in the Harrogate District Local Plan, which assessed a need for 16,077 new homes in the district up to 2035.
However, the council is now under increased pressure to deliver more housing amid the Labour government’s housebuilding drive.
The reforms come at a time when the council is also drawing up a new Local Plan. Richard Flinton, chief executive of the council, claimed the hike in housing targets without a plan could leave the authority susceptible to "speculative" schemes.
As a result of the government’s changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, North Yorkshire’s housing need has increased to 4,077 a year — it had previously been 1,361.
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