Harrogate Borough Council will hire consultants to produce a "comprehensive climate strategy' for plans to build 3,000 homes in the broad location of Green Hammerton and Cattal.

The council is currently preparing a development plan document (DPD) for the new settlement. This is a document that will guide how it will look and when it will be built. A public consultation on the DPD ended in January.

This week the council agreed to spend £60,000 on consultants to help them produce the document. HBC said it requires "specialist expertise and capacity not currently available within the council."

It will firstly commission consultants to look at how the new settlement will be an "exemplar" of sustainable design.

This includes how it will utilise renewable energy, encourage active travel and how homes will be heated.

Although it warns that measures to maximise the energy efficiency of homes will have to be balanced with the "commercial realities" of housebuilding.

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Read more:

• Green Hammerton gets final approval for 3,000-home settlement


• Flaxby fails to stop Green Hammerton development at High Court

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Consultants will also produce a plan to estimate what financial contributions are expected from developers for infrastructure, and to advise them on future planning application revisions.

A report on the DPD is scheduled to go before HBC's Conservative cabinet member for planning, Cllr Tim Myatt, on December 14. It will set out the updated timetable for the New Settlement work.

A long-running battle over whether the new settlement will be built in Flaxby or Green Hammerton was finally settled at the High Court in late 2020.