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    12

    Dec 2023

    Last Updated: 12/12/2023
    Politics
    Politics

    Council cancels another Harrogate and Knaresborough planning committee

    by Thomas Barrett Local Democracy Reporter

    | 12 Dec, 2023
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    north-yorkshire-council-harrogate
    North Yorkshire Council's offices in Harrogate

    North Yorkshire Council has cancelled another Harrogate and Knaresborough planning committee due to a lack of planning applications to consider.

    The meeting was set to take place next Tuesday at the Civic Centre in Harrogate.

    It means since the new council was formed in April, just four out of nine planned meetings have taken place with none happening since the last meeting on September 26.

    The ability to approve or reject planning applications is a key responsibility of elected councillors, with cross-party planning committees based around parliamentary constituencies scheduled to meet each month.

    But there have been concerns across the county that power has been concentrated centrally with unelected officers making the decisions instead.

    Last month, the Harrogate & Knaresborough committee chair Pat Marsh told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the council was making a “nonsense” out of the current planning system.

    In a statement published this week, the council’s assistant director of planning services, Trevor Watson, said one reason for the paucity of meetings was that planning applications in the former Harrogate district area are now been heard by councillors in the Skipton & Ripon and Selby & Ainsty constituency areas instead.

    This includes plans for an eco home development in Flaxby tomorrow, which is a resubmitted version of a scheme previously refused by Harrogate Borough Council.

    Mr Watson said: 

    “We are committed to open and transparent governance and always endeavour to hold planning meetings where possible.
    “Unfortunately, due to a lack of agenda items, the Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency planning committee meeting scheduled for December 19 had to be cancelled.
    “However, as the former administrative boundary of Harrogate Borough Council is split over three area constituency planning committees, a number of applications were considered at the Skipton and Ripon planning committee last week.
    “A further two items are scheduled to be considered by the Selby and Ainsty committee on Wednesday.”


    The next Harrogate & Knaresborough planning committee is set to take place on January 30.




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