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28
Jul
Kingsley Farm homes design 'unacceptable', says council
A plan to build 25-homes on Kingsley Farm in Harrogate would be “unacceptable” due to its design, North Yorkshire Council has said.
The council is expected to defend a decision to refuse the proposal from Quarters Kingsley Ltd at an appeal hearing later this year.
The developer received outline planning permission to build up to 30 homes on the site of the former chicken farm at Kingsley Farm in January 2023.
The company, based in Felliscliffe, then submitted a reserved matters planning application for 25 homes to North Yorkshire Council.
However, the council rejected the plan in November 2024 on the grounds that it had not provided “sufficient information" on access and that the layout, scale and design were not considered to “reflect the principles of good design”.
In June, Quarters Kingsley appealed the decision to the government’s Planning Inspectorate, which deals with planning disputes.
The location of the Kingsley Farm site.
A statement of case, produced by property consultants Carter Jonas on behalf of the developer, said the scheme “meets the requirements of a sustainable development”.
It added that the Harrogate District Local Plan was no longer up to date and the council had new housing targets to reach under the government's housebuilding agenda.
However, in its own statement, the council said the “layout, mix, scale and design” of housing is “unacceptable”.
It added:
The appellant has failed to demonstrate that the proposal will create a well-designed, carefully mitigated scheme. Well-designed places use the right mix of dwelling types, forms and scale of buildings and public spaces for the context and the LPA maintains that the proposed development is unacceptable for the reasons set out.
The council added that the scheme includes an "excessive amount" of larger properties and "insufficient" smaller homes.
The move comes as an appeal hearing into the proposal is set to be held in Harrogate on October 22.
According to appeal documents, the hearing will be overseen by a government planning inspector and is scheduled to sit for one day.
A venue for the hearing is yet to be confirmed.
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