Residents in Ripon have accused Homes England of a lack of transparency around its proposed 1,300 housing development at Ripon Barracks.
The land at Claro Barracks, Deverell Barracks and Laver Banks is being developed by the government’s housing agency, Homes England, and the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO). There are 1,300 homes mooted and it’s designated within Harrogate Borough Council’s Local Plan.
Homes England is set to publish its full masterplan for the site next week. On its website last year it said residents have a “once in a lifetime” chance to influence how the masterplan is formed.
However, Barbara Brodigan from the Ripon Spa Residents Action Group told the Stray Ferret that lockdown has meant local residents have failed to have their voices heard.
Ms Brodigan said:
“There’s been a lot of strong feeling about this. We’ve had a problem with lockdown that it prevented residents not being consulted properly and not being listened to. They are not being given any information.”
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Homes England held a consultation last year to get the public’s views on the development.
They had planned to engage with residents again in April, but Ms Brodigan said these meetings failed to materialise due to lockdown.
She said traffic in Ripon is already “horrendous” and the addition of an extra 1,300 homes will make congestion worse. Homes England have so far proposed several minor improvements to the local road infrastructure including the addition of two new mini-roundabouts.
Ripon City Council also commissioned its own traffic report into the development which is still yet to be published.
Ms Brodigan criticised Julian Smith MP, for not meeting with the group since January or updating residents about his discussions with Homes England.
Last week, Mr Smith published on Facebook a letter he sent to Homes England detailing concerns raised by residents around transport infrastructure.
He also called on Homes England to hold a “renewed round of engagement” in ways “as open as possible”.
Ms Brodigan added:
“Where is Julian Smith? These people are accountable to us but they are not sharing information with us.”
Julian Smith’s office told the Stray Ferret that he is yet to receive a reply from Homes England.
Homes England sent the following statement to the Stray Ferret:
“We are shortly going to write to local people to invite them to view an online exhibition we are holding to explain our proposed planning application, this follows on from the exhibition we held last year and the meetings we have had with a range of community groups.
“We understand that because of the restrictions in place due to COVID 19 we have not been able to hold the usual face-to face exhibition, but the online exhibition will be supported by an explanatory video, which will provide local people with significant information.
“The Exhibition will provide detail about our proposed transport improvements, which covers a range of measures, including improvements to junctions and other works.
“Our first principle is to create a development that sustainably helps reduce car journeys by providing local facilities. We understand that this is not practical for everyone so as a next step we will also enhance the pedestrian and cyclists’ routes within the development and to Ripon City centre. We understand that a development of this size will create extra car journeys and working with the local Highways Authorities our modelling has identified the need for a number of junction improvements which we will explain at the exhibition.”
