Land that North Yorkshire Council would be prepared to compulsory purchase in order to build thousands of homes could be worth £170m, according to a councillor.

Cllr Arnold Warneken. who represents the Green Party in Ouseburn, gave the figure at a meeting of Selby and Ainsty councillors when he said an unnamed developer had valued 128 hectares of land around Cattal station that is currently unavailable.

A new town, called Maltkiln, would be built towards York, near the villages of Cattal, Whixley, Green Hammerton and Kirk Hammerton.

But large swathes of the site are currently off the table and the council’s Conservative executive agreed this month to explore the option of using a compulsory purchase order (CPO) to gain control of it and allow developer Caddick Group to build the homes.

A decision on whether to use the CPO has not been made yet but if it does happen Caddick has said it would underwrite any costs.

Cllr Warneken told councillors that despite public statements from North Yorkshire Council saying the landowner had pulled out from the sale, this was not the case.

He said he had met the family who told him the reality was an option to buy the land had expired and a new agreement could not be reached with Caddick.

Cllr Warneken said:

At a meeting earlier this month, Cllr Derek Bastiman, who has the business portfolio on the executive, insisted the CPO “is not a threat to beat the landowners into agreeing to sell land”.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service this week, Cllr Warneken said the £170m figure could be an underestimate and the land may be worth even more.

He said a move to use the CPO could be “irresponsible” of the council due to well-publicised financial pressures on vital services such as adult social care.

Cllr Warneken added:

Read more:

• Concerns over ‘inadequate’ plans to demolish Spofforth buildings


• Harrogate Convention Centre designs to be finished this month