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Aug
Leeds council objects to 210-home plan on North Yorkshire border
Leeds City Council has objected to a plan for 210 new homes on its border with North Yorkshire.
The 13-hectare site lies within the former Harrogate district – so legally in North Yorkshire – but in practice would form an extension of Wetherby, which is in West Yorkshire and served by the city council.
The land, to the north of the A661 road between Harrogate and Wetherby, abuts the edge of the Spofforth Park residential development by Bellway at Ingbarrow Gate.
A total of 351 objections have been lodged against the proposal, which was submitted to North Yorkshire Council by Hallam Land Management last month.
Leeds City Council has become the latest to raise concern over the plan.
In a letter to North Yorkshire Council, the city council said the site would primarily affect Wetherby’s housing need rather than North Yorkshire’s.
The letter said:
Although the land in question sits outside Leeds Local Planning Authority area, it is very closely sited to one of the districts major settlements (Wetherby) and as such Leeds City Council wishes to raise significant concerns in relation to this site being considered in isolation and not within the wider context of current and future planned development within the area, and the impact on local infrastructure.
The letter added that the scheme “would primarily contribute to meeting the housing needs” of Wetherby despite being in the Harrogate district.
The council said that the town had already seen housing expansion with developments at Spofforth Hill and Sandbeck Lane.
It added that it was aware that North Yorkshire currently had no five-year land supply and it was “unclear” how this would be dealt with.
North Yorkshire Council is currently drawing up a Local Plan, which will designate where new houses can be built in the county and give it reasons to refuse applications which fall outside the plan.
However, local politicians, including Harrogate mayor Cllr Chris Aldred, have said speculative developers could start taking advantage of the lack of land supply in the county.
The city council letter said:
It is important that the broader context of this application is fully understood before any decision is made. North Yorkshire does not have enough housing land so the ability of other settlements across the council area to take development needs to be determined before any expansion of Wetherby. This could draw on the Local Plan work already in preparation and the potential sites submitted.
In terms of the impact on Wetherby and beyond, this development will increase the use of, and pressure on, existing infrastructure. If the application is to be approved, the Council will seek financial contributions via a S106 agreement to mitigate the impacts of development on the highway network within Wetherby and respond to the demand for school places within the town. The council needs to be party to any S106 agreement to ensure that impacts are mitigated and betterment is secured for Wetherby.
Residents and Wetherby Civic Society have also objected to the plan.
But in a planning statement supporting the application, development consultancy Lichfields, acting on behalf of the applicants, points out that there is a presumption in favour of sustainable development set out in the National Planning Policy Framework.
It says that, since the Harrogate District Local Plan published by Harrogate Borough Council has not been updated since that council’s abolition in 2023, it is out of date and permission should be granted in the absence of other overriding considerations. It concludes:
...the adverse impacts of the granting of planning permission do not significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits. The proposals therefore accord with NPPF paragraph 11(d) and planning permission should be granted.
North Yorkshire Council will make a decision on the plan at a later date.
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