Thank you for your interest in this story

To continue reading this article, subscribe to the Stray Ferret for as little as £1 a week

Already a subscriber? Log in here.

Nov 2021

Last Updated: 29/11/2021

Environment

'No justification' to delay building 200 homes in Pannal Ash

by Calvin Robinson

| 29 Nov, 2021

Harrogate council officers say there is no justification for delaying approval of plans to build 200 homes on the site of the former police training centre in Pannal Ash. Councillors will be recommended to approve the scheme next week.

The entrance to the former police training centre site on Yew Tree Lane.

Harrogate Borough Council officers have said a decision to delay a controversial proposal to build 200 homes on a former police training centre site in Pannal Ash was “not justified”.

The council's planning committee deferred a decision in June on whether to approve the development on the Yew Tree Lane site, pending publication of the West of Harrogate Parameters Plan.

The parameters plan will assess transport and infrastructure needs associated with wider plans to build up to 4,000 homes on the western side of Harrogate.

As reported by the Stray Ferret, the decision to defer was met with frustration by Homes England which told the council in an email it was “extremely disappointing”.

Now council officials have told councillors that the decision had “no policy basis” and urged them to approve the scheme next week.

In a report due before the council’s planning committee next week, they say the parameters plan will not “replace or alter any of the policy requirements set out within the Harrogate District Local Plan 2014-35”.

It adds that the Local Plan, which describes where development is permitted to take place in the district, is the "starting point" for determining any application submitted to the council.

The report says:

“As noted above there is no policy basis for deferring the determination of this application until the West of Harrogate Parameters Plan is concluded.

“There is no reason to delay the determination of this application pending completion of the West of Harrogate Parameters Plan.”

Controversial plans for 200 homes in Pannal Ash halted indefinitely

Homes England ‘frustrated’ by delays to 200-home scheme at Police Training Centre

Football club’s fury at plans to axe Harrogate sports pitch for housing

The report goes on to say that the development would make "a valuable contribution to meeting the district’s housing need”.

It recommends councillors approve the proposal at the planning committee meeting on December 7.

Homes England, the government housing agency, has permission to build 161 homes on the site on Yew Tree Lane but wants to increase this by 23% to 200 homes by building on a sports pitch.

The proposal has proved controversial with Harlow and Pannal Ash Residents Association, which said its faith in the planing system was being “severely tested” by the development.

A spokesperson for HAPARA said:

"HAPARA and the Western Arc Coordination Group will discuss our response very shortly, but the last time this went before committee we argued very strongly that any decision on this site before the parameters plan is agreed will jeopardise the objective of a joined-up approach to the developments and infrastructure on the west side of Harrogate and be contrary to the statements and assurances the community have been given by Harrogate Borough Council.

"Members agreed with this view. The new officer’s report is based on a very narrow interpretation of the requirements of the Local Plan which was predicated on the earlier permission for 161 dwellings. The current application is materially different in scale and content."

Homes England has already appointed property company, Countryside Properties, to build the scheme as part of a £63 million contract.

The contract was awarded in March this year and runs until December 2026.

Thank you for your interest in this story

'No justification' to delay building 200 homes in Pannal Ash

Read more: