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07
Oct
Petition launched to stop more housing in Killinghall
A Killinghall resident has launched a petition to stop more houses being built in the village.
Plans for four major new developments totalling more than 400 homes have been released in the last four months.
No formal planning applications have yet been submitted but there are concerns about whether North Yorkshire Council will be able to refuse them because it doesn’t have a local plan outlining where homes will be built and the government has massively increased housing targets.
Killinghall Parish Council last night (October 6) heard brief details of Bellway’s plans for 110 to 120 homes in a field alongside the A61 Ripon Road, opposite Daleside Nurseries.
Former parish councillor Mike Watkinson, who attended the meeting, has launched a petition which says the village “is struggling to cope with the rapid pace of change”.
The petition says:
The roads in our community are bursting at the seams, unable to handle the volume of traffic that currently exists. This has not only led to an increase in pollution but has also made travelling a daily frustration for all residents.
Moreover, essential services are not keeping up with the increasing population. The local school is at capacity, making it difficult for new families to settle in comfortably. Adding to our woes, the only doctors' practice and pharmacy in the village have recently shut their doors. This forces residents to travel further for basic healthcare, contributing even more to the traffic woes we are already facing.
Now, there is a proposal to build even more homes on the land near to where we live. This development poses a further threat to our overstretched infrastructure, potentially worsening pollution, traffic, and the capacity of local resources.
The petition, which you can view here, urges the council to “protect our village from further unnecessary development and preserve it for future generations”.
Where could the homes be built?
Killinghall’s population could increase by about 1,000 if all four applications are approved.
The proposed developments are:
- 75 homes by Miller Homes on land at Picking Croft Lane, just off Otley Road
- 130 homes by Hallam Land off Otley Road
- 100 homes by Gladman Developments off Otley Road
- 110-120 homes by Bellway off Ripon Road
Councillor Michael Harrison, a Conservative who represents Killinghall, Hampsthwaite and Saltergate on North Yorkshire Council, previously told the Stray Ferret the government’s housing targets had opened the door to speculative developments in places like Killinghall.
North Yorkshire’s annual housing target has increased from 1,384 to over 4,200.
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