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06
Aug
New school and 224 homes set for approval in Harrogate
Plans to build 224 homes and a new primary school in Harrogate look set to be approved next week.
North Yorkshire Council’s strategic planning committee, which determines major applications in the county, will decide whether to accept the scheme on Tuesday, August 13.
A report by council case officer Gerard Walsh to the 14 elected councillors who will vote on the project recommends they give the go-ahead.
The development would take place on 12.64 hectares of agricultural land off the recently constructed roundabout at Whinney Lane.
The site is one of many allocated for housing that together will effectively see the creation of a 4,000-home new town in west Harrogate.
Durham developer Banks Group submitted plans for 270 homes on the site in June 2020, but the number has been reduced to 224, of which 90 would be classed as affordable.
There would also be a new school with associated roads, parking, landscaping, drainage and open space.
The proposed site, known as H51, alongside other nearby development plots.
215 objections
The public consultation on the scheme received 215 objections and six representations in support.
Haverah Park with Beckwithshaw Parish Council said the reports and proposals accompanying the applications “have been prepared by developers in their own self-interest without any due diligence from North Yorkshire Council”.
The parish council added it found it “impossible” to accept the conclusion that pollution from the developments by Banks, Gladman and at Windmill Farm and Bluecoat Park collectively will have ‘negligible impact’ on air quality and said there had been no consideration of the impact on traffic in Beckwithshaw, Pannal, Burn Bridge and North Rigton.
Pannal and Burn Bridge Parish Council claimed North Yorkshire Council “has presented no critical analysis of these proposals and has not demonstrated that they have taken into account parishioners’ views or the views of their representatives in reaching this conclusion”.
It also raised concerns about access to GPs and dentists.
Councillor John Mann, a Conservative who represents Oatlands and Pannal Division on North Yorkshire Council, said in his submission to the consultation:
Many of the residents are concerned about the cumulative effect of the several large housing allocations on the ability of the west of Harrogate transport network to cope with the increase in vehicle usage which will be a consequence of the 4,000 houses that will ultimately be built in the west of Harrogate. Roads such as Lady Lane, Hill Top Lane, Hill Foot Lane, and Burn Bridge Road are simply not wide enough or meant to cope with such large future volumes of traffic, even if the junctions are mitigated and improved and traffic flow is eased.
One cannot get away from the main point, which is that the west of Harrogate urban expansion equates to the equivalent to a small town but the infrastructure for adequate roads and other facilities does not really exist.
Cllr Mann said the council needed to sign off its West of Harrogate Infrastructure Delivery Strategy, which outlines what infrastructure will accompany all the new homes, before planning permission is granted.
A council document showing the location.
'Valuable contribution to housing'
However, Mr Walsh’s report concluded that the development would not represent overdevelopment. He added:
The proposed development will make a valuable contribution to meeting housing need in the district, including the delivery of affordable housing and this should carry significant weight. There will also be a positive impact on the economy of the district during the construction phase.
Having regard to the overall planning balance, it is considered that the benefits of the proposal outweigh any identified harm. The proposed development is considered to be sustainable, and the recommendation is therefore that planning permission be granted subject to conditions listed below and completion of a section 106 agreement.
Developer payments
Developers pay section 106 agreements to mitigate for the impact of development.
The report recommends Banks Group contributes £2.89 million — the equivalent of £12,900 per home — for highway improvements, £1.25 million towards the cost of building the new primary school, £747,000 towards expanding existing secondary schools and £184,000 towards additional healthcare.
Other payments would include about £455,000 for football, rugby union, cricket, hockey and artificial 3G pitches at the Blue Coat Park site.
The site forms part of housing allocation H51 in the Harrogate District Local Plan 2014-35, which outlines where development can take place.
A council document showing nearby schemes.
It would link with sites H45 Blue Coat Park, H46 land at Otley Road, H36 former Police Training Centre on Yew Tree Lane, H70 land east of Whinney Lane, H49 Windmill Farm, Otley Road and H51 land off Lady Lane and Whinney Lane.
Following the original planning application in June 2020, the developer submitted an updated environmental statement in September 2023.
Further statutory and public consultation was carried out in September and October 2023 and a cumulative transport strategy that considers the traffic was submitted in April this year. This was followed in May by a cumulative air quality assessment, which considers the impacts on air quality cumulatively with the other sites in the west of Harrogate area.
The report concluded that the cumulative and individual impacts on air quality would be “negligible and not significant”.
More consultation was carried out in June and July this year.
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