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15
Oct
Developer acquires Knox Lane site for planned 60 homes
A developer has acquired a site in Harrogate to build a £16 million housing scheme.
Avant Homes has exchanged contracts on 5.61 acres of land at Knox Lane, which it has earmarked for 60 homes.
The developer said, subject to planning, the scheme would see practically designed, energy-efficient two, three and four-bedroom homes. It would also see a mixture of semi-detached and detached properties.
Richard Hosie, North Yorkshire’s regional managing director at Avant Homes, said:
Exchanging contracts on this site in Harrogate is an exciting step towards growing our development portfolio across North Yorkshire.
Our ambition is to build quality new homes that are practically designed and energy efficient and this site offers a great opportunity to do so in a popular location where people want to live.
We look forward to working with North Yorkshire Council and submitting our plans to deliver a new and thriving community for Harrogate.
The site is located south of Knox Lane and north of Knox Chase. A site, known as H69, was earmarked for housing in the Harrogate District Local Plan 20214-2035 in a similar area.
The housebuilder said it anticipated submitting plans to North Yorkshire Council for the development in November.
The H69 site on Knox Lane as included in the Harrogate District Local Plan.
The move comes after residents led a lengthy campaign against plans for 53 homes on Knox Lane, which culminated in a planning inquiry last year.
Councillors on the Harrogate and Knaresborough planning committee rejected Teesside developer Jomast's proposals for the housing scheme in the Knox area of Bilton in September 2023.
Jomast then took the decision to the government’s Planning Inspectorate..
At a public inquiry into the refusal at Harrogate’s Civic Centre in July 2024, council officials decided not to contest the appeal after receiving legal advice.
Instead, residents from Knox Conservation Community Group defended the decision.
In August last year, Mark Sturgess, a government planning inspector, approved the housing scheme and awarded full costs against the council.
The move left taxpayers footing £180,000 in developer costs, which the authority agreed to pay.
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