Residents in Pannal Ash have lodged a formal complaint to Harrogate Borough Council following its decision to approve a controversial plan for 200 homes on a former police training centre site.
The authority’s planning committee granted permission for the development last Tuesday after debating the application for almost three hours.
Homes England, which is the government housing agency, had permission to build 161 homes on the Yew Tree Lane site but wanted to increase this by 23% to 200 homes by building on a sports pitch.
Following the decision, Harlow and Pannal Ash Residents Association described the meeting as “shambolic” and “embarrassing”.
Now the group has lodged a formal complaint to the council over the conduct of the meeting.
In a statement, HAPARA said:
“The complaint refers to a chaotic and confusing session in which the committee first rejected the officer’s recommendation and, some three hours later, reversed their decision to approve the application.
“This followed a claim by the applicant that the committee had previously acted unlawfully, perceived threats from the applicant of costly appeals, constant reference to costs by officers, interruption by officers of members’ debates and inaccurate and misleading advice from the chair.
“Although much of the debate centred on the role of the emerging West of Harrogate Parameters Plan, no officer from that team was present to clarify the purpose and timetable for the plan and some misleading statements made at the meeting went uncorrected.”
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HAPARA added that it believed the committee was “unduly influenced by the threat of the costs” and had called on the council chief executive, Wallace Sampson, to comment on the “validity of the decision reached”.
Harrogate Borough Council has been approached for comment.
Last week, David Stephenson, senior planning manager at Homes England, warned councillors that while launching a costly appeal against the council was an “absolute last resort” for the body it was a route it was willing to take.
During the meeting, Liberal Democrat councillor Pat Marsh accused Homes England of “bullying” councillors into approving the plans.
