Councillors today backed plans to build 76 homes in a village between Knaresborough and Boroughbridge.

The application, which was initially tabled to North Yorkshire Council in January 2023, was put before the Harrogate and Knaresborough area constituency planning committee this afternoon.

Applicant Thomas Alexander Homes proposes to build a mixture of terraced, semi-detached and detached houses on Minskip Road in Staveley.

The site would include one, two, three, four and five-bedroom homes – 30 of which would be classed as affordable housing. There would also be three "accessible bungalows".

However, the final decision is still yet to be made.

Councillors voted in favour of the recommendation, which suggested the application be delegated to the assistant director of planning, who will decide on the outcome in consultation with committee chair, councillor John Mann (Conservative), and vice-chair, councillor Chris Aldred (Liberal Democrat).

They will negotiate and finalise the conditions of the section 106 agreement, in which the developers agree to pay costs to mitigate for the impact of development. This will include contributions towards affordable housing, travel plans, education provision, the village hall and more.

Of the five councillors present, three voted in favour of the recommendation, one voted against and one abstained.

If approved, the applicant said the development will provide “energy efficient buildings” and would promote use of “sustainable transport” through nearby bus services to Harrogate, Knaresborough, Ripon and Boroughbridge.

The plans also suggest it would offer “positive economic growth” for Staveley and the surrounding areas through “construction and occupation”.

But the application has not come without scrutiny and has received 184 objections since submission.

Councillors also today raised concern about the potential presence of gypsum at the site, which can dissolve at the surface and underground, ultimately leading to sinkholes.

However, a ground investigation report by Edlington Consulting Group Ltd submitted on behalf of the applicant concludes there is “no direct evidence of bedrock dissolution and its related displacement of the superficial coarse-grained soils beneath the northern-most anomaly”.

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