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27
Aug
Council confirms it has financial interest in Maltkiln
North Yorkshire Council stands to potentially gain financially from land earmarked for up to 4,000 homes near Harrogate.
The new settlement, called Maltkiln, took a step forward this month after 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.
Now, it has emerged that the council could benefit financially if some of the land used as part of the scheme is developed.
According to a council report due before a development plan committee next Thursday (September 4), the authority says it has an interest in land known as New Farm on York Road, Green Hammerton.
The site is included in the draft development plan document and the council is a “beneficiary of restrictive covenants” on the land, the authority has said.
However, Kate Exley, planning policy and place officer at the council, said in her report that the interest in the land was not a material consideration for adopting the DPD.
She said:
During preparation of the DPD, concerns have been raised by some members of the local community regarding the council’s land interests in Maltkiln.
It is important to note that who owns land is not a relevant consideration for development plans; as outlined in national planning policy plans should be judged on whether the development is appropriate and sustainable.
However, for transparency, it should be noted that the council does have an interest in land within the adoption draft DPD as the beneficiary of restrictive covenants on land known as New Farm, York Road, Green Hammerton which was sold in 2003. The covenants related to future uses of the land to the extent that if the land was developed for purposes other than agriculture and included more than a single dwelling the council could clawback a percentage uplift of the increased land value.
The move comes as councillors have warned that the Maltkiln scheme must not become “a housing estate in the countryside”.
Cllr Arnold Warneken, a Green Party councillor who represents Ouseburn on North Yorkshire Council, said the Maltkiln development needs to justify taking up land in the open countryside.
The development plan document, which sets out a 30-year vision for the settlement and a policy framework on how it will be developed, is separate to a formal planning application.
It includes site boundaries, local transport infrastructure and details of how homes will be built to combat the effects of climate change.
The settlement would be built by developers Caddick Group.
In his report, Clive Coyne said the development plan document “provides an appropriate basis for the planning of the area”.
If Maltkiln goes ahead as currently envisaged it will transform the area around Cattal, Whixley, Green Hammerton and Kirk Hammerton.
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