Subscribe to trusted local news
In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
- Subscription costs less than £1 a week with an annual plan.
Already a subscriber? Log in here.
25
Oct
‘This will not stop us’: Council presses ahead with Maltkiln document despite land withdrawal
A landowner has reiterated that his land is unavailable for a plan to build up to 4,000 new homes near Harrogate, despite the council pressing ahead with a key planning document.
The new settlement, called Maltkiln, took a step forward in August when 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.
However, the project has been beset by problems including the fact that one landowner, Benjamin Dent, withdrew his land from the scheme in January 2023.
In a letter to North Yorkshire Council, Stuart Vendy, director of Veritas Planning Ltd on behalf of Mr Dent, said that the land — which makes up 42% of the scheme — remained unavailable.
Mr Vendy added that a compulsory purchase of his client’s land had not yet been demonstrated that it could be successful.
The plan for Maltkiln.
In December 2023, the council resolved to explore the possibility of using compulsory purchase orders for the land as a “last resort” to ensure that Maltkiln is developed as intended.
However, Mr Vendy said that if such an order was unsuccessful it would undermine the sustainability of Maltkiln — which he said had not been addressed by council officers.
He said:
The council has not yet demonstrated that it can successfully promote a CPO which will meet the various legal and policy tests necessary to secure confirmation of a CPO by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities & Local Government.
If the CPO is unsuccessful, a substantial portion of the envisaged settlement will ultimately be undeliverable in its entirety, and the overall sustainability of the settlement will likely be fatally undermined. This error has not been identified, addressed or corrected within the officer’s report.
But the council said it was its view that there was a “reasonable prospect” that such an order would succeed.
In a report, Kate Exley, planning policy and place officer at the council, addressed Mr Vendy’s concerns. She said:
It is the council’s view that there is a reasonable prospect that a CPO would succeed. That argument has been considered by the Inspector, who agreed. There is, therefore, no reason in principle why it should not be possible for the entire settlement to be brought forward, as proposed by the plan.
The move comes as Clive Coyne, a government planning inspector, ruled that the Maltkiln development plan document “provides an appropriate basis for the planning of the area” in August.
The ruling included the allocation of Mr Dent’s land on the basis that the council believed it could still bring the land forward.
Mr Coyne said in his report that he considered the land a “valid part” of the overall allocation for the scheme as it was possible that it could become available in the future.
‘It will not stop us going ahead’
At an executive meeting on Tuesday, Cllr Mark Crane, executive councillor for open to business, confirmed that the council had received a further letter reiterating Mr Dent’s position.
However Cllr Crane said the authority would progress with the DPD regardless.
He said:
We have received a letter this morning about Maltkiln outlining one of the landowner’s refusal to put the land in the site, which is disappointing but will not stop us going ahead.
The Maltkiln development plan document will be considered at a North Yorkshire Council full council meeting at a later date.
0