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19
Jun
Developer appeals 25-home refusal on Harrogate's Kingsley Farm
A developer has appealed a council decision to refuse 25 homes in the Kingsley area of Harrogate.
Quarters Kingsley Ltd received outline planning permission to build up to 30 homes on the site of the former chicken farm at Kingsley Farm in January 2023.
The company, based in Felliscliffe, then submitted a reserved matters planning application for 25 homes to North Yorkshire Council.
However, the council rejected the plan in November 2024 on the grounds that it had not provided “sufficient information" on access and that the layout, scale and design were not considered to “reflect the principles of good design”.
The authority added that there was also insufficient affordable housing proposed, insufficient information on drainage and no completed section 106 agreement for on-site and off-site public open space.
The location of the Kingsley Farm site.
Now, Quarters Kingsley has taken the decision to the government’s Planning Inspectorate, which deals with planning disputes.
A statement of case, produced by property consultants Carter Jonas on behalf of the developer, said the scheme “meets the requirements of a sustainable development”.
It added that the Harrogate District Local Plan was no longer up to date and the council had new housing targets to reach under the government's housebuilding agenda.
The statement says:
The council’s latest figures identify the five-year housing supply need increasing from 2,626 to 5,440, as a consequence of the new standard method, and a deliverable supply of only 3,111.
This marks a significant uplift in housing need for the Harrogate district and the council will need to increase housing delivery considerably to meet this target, with its five-year housing land supply now standing at just 2.9 years.
A government planning inspector will make a decision on the plan at a later date.
The site is one of the last remaining undeveloped areas in the Kingsley area, where residents have long raised concerns over the amount of housebuilding.
Some 600 new homes have been approved in recent years, including a 162-home scheme on Kingsley Drive which was fiercely contested by residents.
People have raised concerns about congestion and traffic flow, as well as additional pressures on local schools and healthcare services.
The scale of housebuilding has also led to residents to call for a halt to any new developments.
The Stray Ferret has reported on the scale of new housing developments across the Harrogate district extensively.
We have looked at what Labour’s ambitious housing targets could mean for our local area, and whether North Yorkshire is ready for what will be a mammoth increase to its housing target.
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