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07
Oct
Developer appeals Flaxby eco-homes refusal
A developer has appealed a council decision to refuse plans for four environmentally friendly homes in Flaxby.
Ben Holmes, of Holmes Planning, submitted the proposals for a site on York Road which would have seen custom self-build houses built.
The homes would be designed according to Passivhaus principles, which is an innovative design code that prioritises insulation so that a home doesn’t need any heating or cooling at all resulting in minimal energy bills.
According to documents submitted to the council, the developer said utility bills would have been reduced to “as close to zero as possible”.
The proposal followed two larger applications that were refused by the defunct Harrogate Borough Council in 2021 and 2022, with those decisions upheld on appeal.
Developer Ben Holmes, of Holmes Planning Ltd.
Councillors on North Yorkshire Council rejected the latest proposal in December 2023 due to harm to the countryside and the loss of agricultural land.
Now, Mr Holmes has taken the decision to the government’s Planning Inspectorate, which deals with planning disputes.
The developer has argued that the council has a lack of custom self-build homes, which it has a statutory duty to supply a sufficient amount of to meet demand.
Mr Holmes said in a statement to the inspector:
The council have not got a plan to remedy their custom self-build deficit, so they are failing in their statutory duty with no way of rectifying it.
In response, the council acknowledged that it has a deficit for custom self-build homes. However, in a statement it added that the lack of provision was not a reason to build such properties on this site.
It said:
The shortfall in custom and self-build permissions in the area, and the weight afforded to the benefits of providing custom and self-build plots, do not provide reason or justification to build such housing anywhere without consideration of the impacts that such housing would have, including on sites such as this, where residential development would cause significant harm in other regards.
A government planning inspector will make a decision on the appeal at a later date.
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