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07
Sept
Council reveals details of financial interest in Maltkiln land
North Yorkshire Council stands to gain a 70% uplift in the value of land earmarked for 4,000 new homes near Harrogate.
The new settlement, called Maltkiln, took a step forward this month after a government planning inspector approved a key document for the scheme.
The Maltkiln development plan document (DPD) aims to guide how a new town and two primary schools would be built between Harrogate and York. The document was approved by an inspector on August 12.
As previously reported, the council confirmed that it had interest in land used as part of the scheme.
The authority has an interest in land known as New Farm on York Road, Green Hammerton. The site is included in the development plan document and the council is a “beneficiary of restrictive covenants” on the land, the authority has said.
The 142-acre plot of land — a section of which is now included in the DPD — was sold to Derek Pickles in 2003.
The land at New Farm, York Road, (in red marked "A") as included in a council report in 2017.
The covenant included a “clawback a percentage uplift of the increased land value” if it was developed for purposes other than agriculture and “included more than a single dwelling”.
The Stray Ferret asked North Yorkshire Council what percentage of the clawback it was entitled to and how long the covenant was in place for.
A spokesperson confirmed that the terms of the covenant could see the council clawback 70% of the uplift in land value, which is in place until 2033.
They added:
If the clawback is triggered then the council will consider the best interests of the taxpayer.
According to minutes from an executive meeting held in November 2017, that council had hoped to raise "in excess of £21 million" from a sale of the land.
However, an authority spokesperson told the Stray Ferret that there was currently no estimate for how much the land is worth.
The New Farm land (top right) as included in the DPD for Maltkiln. Picture: North Yorkshire Council.
The move comes as councillors have warned that the Maltkiln scheme must not become “a housing estate in the countryside”.
Cllr Arnold Warneken, a Green Party councillor who represents Ouseburn on North Yorkshire Council, said the Maltkiln development needs to justify taking up land in the open countryside.
The development plan document, which sets out a 30-year vision for the settlement and a policy framework on how it will be developed, is separate to a formal planning application.
It includes site boundaries, local transport infrastructure and details of how homes will be built to combat the effects of climate change.
The settlement would be built by developers Caddick Group.
In his report, Clive Coyne said the development plan document “provides an appropriate basis for the planning of the area”.
If Maltkiln goes ahead as currently envisaged it will transform the area around Cattal, Whixley, Green Hammerton and Kirk Hammerton.
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