Harrogate Borough Council is preparing a public consultation on the location of 3,000 new homes to be built near the villages of Green Hammerton and Cattal.
Planning consultant Gillespies has produced a report for the council setting out three possible sites for the development, including a preferred option on land south of Cattal train station.
Along with the housing, the plans include two new primary schools, employment space and retail units.
HBC’s cabinet will meet on Wednesday to discuss the report and potentially approve a consultation that would begin later this year.
In February, developers Oakgate Group submitted plans to HBC for Maltkin Village, a scheme near to Cattal.
The three new settlement options to be discussed by the cabinet on Wednesday are below. The orange colour indicates where the new housing would be built, green indicates green spaces and purple indicates employment space. Blue shows where the “local centre” of the development would be.
Meanwhile, plans submitted in 2017 for 2,750 new homes at Flaxby which were due to be discussed by planners on Tuesday will now be heard at a later date. The developer, Flaxby Park Ltd, had not been informed of the committee date due to a “technical error”.
A council spokesperson said “as a gesture of goodwill” the authority would offer the developer more time to prepare. A new date is yet to be set.
Option One
This option focuses on the area north of the railway line between Cattal and Hammerton train stations and incorporates the village edges of Green Hammerton and Kirk Hammerton.
Option One – ‘Central Focus’
Option Two
This option focuses on the area north of the railway line around Cattal station, with the majority of the development located south of the A59.
Option Two – ‘North of Cattal Station Focus’
Option Three
This option focuses on the area around Cattal station expanding towards the south and southwest of the railway line. This is the current preferred option, according to the report to be discussed by the cabinet on Wednesday.
Option Three – ‘Cattal Station Focus’
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‘Clawback’
A report written in 2017 by Gary Fielding, corporate director for strategic resources at North Yorkshire County Council, revealed that the county council would make money on some land at Green Hammerton if it were developed.
The report states that in 2003, NYCC sold land at Green Hammerton to farmer Derek Pickles. When the council sold the land, there was a covenant attached that said if planning permission were granted within 30 years for any other use of the property, a “clawback” would apply. This would result in NYCC receiving 70% of the uplift in the land’s open market value.
The land owned by Derek Pickles is highlighted in purple.
According to the report published by Gillespies, the land owned by Mr Pickles, which is close to the village of Green Hammerton, would primarily fall into options one and two and not the preferred option around Cattal train station.
Harrogate Borough Council adopted its Local Plan in March 2020 and chose Green Hammerton as the broad location for a new settlement in the district.
However, the choice has been contested by Flaxby Park Ltd, which wants to create a new village on a former golf course to the east of Knaresborough.
As reported in the Stray Ferret yesterday, Harrogate Borough Council will head to the High Court in London later this month for a judicial review that will decide whether or not the decision to choose Green Hammerton over Flaxby for a new settlement was unlawful.
If found to be unlawful, the decision on where to place the new settlement may have to made again.
Knaresborough employment site ‘that could support 2,000 jobs’ soldA 38-acre employment site near Knaresborough that could support 2,000 jobs has been sold for an undisclosed fee.
Ilkey property developer Opus North and London-based fund manager Bridges Fund Management have bought the site from a private individual.
They say the development could make a “significant contribution” to the local economy.
The site, located south-west of junction 47 of the A1(M) near to Flaxby Park is allocated as an employment site in Harrogate Borough Council’s Local Plan, which sets out the area’s policy and planning framework until 2035.
The site benefits from existing planning permission for over half a million square feet of development for employment uses.
The two companies will now develop a masterplan for the site, alongside stakeholders including Harrogate Borough Council, which “maximises its job-creating potential”.
An Opus North spokesperson told the Stray Ferret a decision on what type of employment the site could support will be made at a future date.
An outline planning application will be submitted to HBC later this year.
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Ryan Unsworth, development director of Opus North, said:
Council accused of ‘steamrollering’ through Green Hammerton plans“This is a site with clear potential to make a significant contribution to the local economy through job creation and also through the delivery of high-quality office and logistics accommodation to meet existing and future market demand.
“With our joint venture partner, we are in a position to bring this development to life and are looking forward to continuing our discussions with both the council and local stakeholders to create an exemplar development to address the local and regional shortages of employment space.”
Harrogate Borough Council has been accused of “steamrollering” through plans to build a 3,000 home settlement at Green Hammerton.
After a bitter battle over where to build the new homes, HBC formally adopted its local plan in March and took the decision to build at Green Hammerton and Cattal, eight miles to the west of York.
HBC announced last week it is preparing a New Settlement Development Plan Document (DPD) ahead of a public consultation later this summer. The DPD will establish the boundary of the settlement, have details on the types of houses available and outline where new roads could be built.
Chris Eaton from the Keep Green Hammerton Green group told the Stray Ferret that the local community in Green Hammerton has not played a role in the formation of the DPD, which he said goes against promises made by the full council when the Local Plan was adopted.
He said residents were “hugely disappointed” to read the DPD update.
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He said:
“Harrogate Borough Council continue to pay lip service to their obligations and steamroller their policies through without meaningful consultation or involvement of the local communities.
“This means residents having a genuine role in deciding where the boundaries of the new settlement should lie within the so-called Green Hammerton/Cattal broad location. Consultation on a proposal already made by council planners without that stakeholder input would not be the stakeholder engagement promised.
“Whilst we realise the present pandemic has placed constraints on dialogue with council officers, the proper placement of the new settlement is too important a decision to be made with undue and unnecessary haste. We would urge planning officers to ensure that what is termed a consultation strategy does indeed mean residents having a say in the DPD right from the outset.”
A council spokesman told the Stray Ferret that HBC has been designing a “consultation strategy” with local parish councils and residents’ groups.
He said:
“We’re working up a consultation strategy with parish councils and interested residents’ groups ahead of a consultation in the autumn.
“We have received helpful suggestions from local groups and we will be back in touch shortly confirming our approach to ensure as many people are aware and involved as possible.”
The new settlement was originally planned for Flaxby on the outskirts of Knaresborough. In May, Flaxby Park Ltd, the developer behind the Flaxby site, launched a judicial review into HBC’s decision.
Speaking to the Stray Ferret last week, former Harrogate & Knaresborough MP Phil Willis questioned the decision to build at Green Hammerton.