Housing company buys Green Hammerton land for £21.5m development

Housing company Avant Homes Yorkshire has bought land in Green Hammerton to build a £21.5 million, 80-home development.

The development, which will be called Ambretone Park, will be built on land off the A59 between Harrogate and York.

Avant Homes has bought the land from Leeds-based Loxley Homes, which originally submitted plans for the development.

Harrogate Borough Council approved the proposal in March 2021 despite fierce opposition, with 229 residents in the village objecting on the grounds that it was over-development.

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The scheme is set to include one, two and three-bedroom homes and 40% of the properties will be designated as affordable housing.

Chris Coley, Avant Homes Yorkshire managing director, said: 

“We are very pleased to complete this land purchase and move plans forward for our Ambretone Park development.

“Green Hammerton is ideally situated for buyers that are keen to be close to York, Harrogate and Knaresborough while also benefitting from its rural setting. We are now looking forward to commencing initial groundworks this summer.”

The Wakefield-based company said groundwork on the site was due to start next month.

The first residents are expected to move into the new homes in spring 2022 with the total development build taking approximately two-and-a -half years.

Green Hammerton has also been designated as the site of a new 3,000-home development by Harrogate Borough Council.

Man with MND sets 100-mile charity challenge through Yorkshire Dales

A Green Hammerton man with motor neurone disease is embarking on a 100-mile challenge in an off-road wheelchair around the Yorkshire Dales to raise money for charity.

Ian Flatt, who was diagnosed with the condition two years ago, intends to complete a series of walks with his family totalling 100 miles.

The walks will help to raise money for St Michael’s Hospice and MND Association, who have helped to support him and his family.

Ian, with his wife Rachael and two children Charlotte and Iseabail – and their spaniel Nealla – will retrace some of their favourite trips through Fountains Abbey, Bolton Abbey and Malham Tarn among others.

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Back in March 2019, Ian was diagnosed with motor neurone disease after being unwell and struggling to breathe. He had undergone tests for cancer and other illnesses, but was relieved once he received the news.

Ian said:

“It was a relief. I had been ill for a while. It was almost validation.”

At first the diagnosis took its toll on his wife and daughters, but Ian said the care and support from St Michael’s helped them through the tough times.

Despite being told not to plan beyond Christmas that year, he was determined not to let his condition stop him being in the great outdoors.

With the help of St Michael’s he got an off-road wheelchair, which would allow him to continue enjoying walks with his family.

Ian said the wheelchair, which his daughters have named the “Tangerine Dream Machine”, has helped him continue his “sense of adventure” and is like “a mini quad bike”.

He said:

“I have been determined not to let motor neurone disease stop me from doing the things I love to do.

“Walking is just something as a family that we have always done.”

Ian hopes to raise £10,000 for both charities through the walks, which he will start from May 26.

Each walk will be five or six miles at a time.

Ian explained:

“I want to get to the end of it and think that it was hard.”

But he added the ultimate goal is to recognise those at St Michaels and MND Association who have helped him and his family.

“We are just doing something that we enjoy.

“It is not just about the organisations, it’s about the individuals who have helped.”

You can find out more about Ian’s fundraising campaign, which has raised more than £3,500 already, and donate here.

Final approval for 80-home Green Hammerton scheme

Harrogate Borough Council has given final approval to an 80-home housing development in Green Hammerton.

Leeds-based developer Loxley Homes was granted outline planning permission to build the homes in January 2019.

Today the council’s planning committee considered a reserved matters application that dealt with the design and layout of the site.

Five councillors voted to approve the plans, three voted to refuse and three abstained.

The development, which will include 32 affordable houses, faced fierce opposition within the village, with 229 objections and none supporting.

Chris Chelton, co-chair of the Keep Green Hammerton Green action group, spoke to councillors and cited an objection from Historic England.

The public body said the views towards York’s skyline were some of Green Hammerton’s ‘most precious but fragile qualities’.

Mr Chelton added:

“Out of all the developments in Green Hammerton, this is the one that’s aroused the most local outrage, and with good reason. It will have a massive impact on its surroundings.

“You could refuse and say you are no longer prepared to sanction a development on a site as sensitive as this. Send the developers back to the drawing board to work harder.”

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Ann Myatt, Conservative councillor for Ouseburn, objected to the plans and also revealed that Conservative Selby & Ainsty MP Nigel Adams had intervened and written to committee members about the proposals.

Responding to comments that there are too many homes in the development, the agent Roger Rippon, speaking on behalf of Loxley Homes, said:

“I don’t believe this is over-development. All the government guidance says you should make the most use of a site. We’re not allowed to waste land by carrying out unreasonably low-density development.”

 

Anger in Green Hammerton at 80-home development

Despite the spectre of a 3000-home “new settlement” eventually being built around Green Hammerton, a smaller application for 80 homes has arguably attracted just as much anger in the village.

Leeds-based developer Loxley Homes was granted outline planning permission to build the homes in January 2019 and the council’s planning committee is expected to consider a reserved matters application, that deals with the design and layout of the site, next month.

The homes would be built on Green Hills, an agricultural field that rises above the village and out towards York, where you can even see York Minster on a sunny day.

The original application received over 250 objections, more than the number of homes in Green Hammerton itself.

The plans also received an objection from Historic England who said the views towards York’s skyline are some of Green Hammerton’s “most precious but fragile qualities.”

Chris Chelton, founder of the Keep Green Hammerton Green campaign group said the homes will leave a “horrendous legacy” for villagers.

He said:

“The site stands out like a sore thumb and will project out on village on the hill to York. It’s an absolute travesty.”

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After Harrogate Borough Council chose the area around Green Hammerton for a major expansion of housing in the district, ahead of Flaxby, the village has become synonymous with development.

The new homes could eventually see the village grow from 675 people to over 10,000.

Mr Chelton said it rankles that the Loxley scheme was granted outline permission during the years when Harrogate had no Local Plan, which he said “condemned” Green Hammerton to its current fate.

During that time, councillors say they were “forced” to approve major developments to boost housing numbers.

In November last year, villagers in Green Hammerton were encouraged after a HBC planning committee refused a reserved matters application in another historic village — Spofforth.

Like the Loxley proposal, the developer had outline planning permission but councillors agreed that the proposals in Spofforth would turn the historic village into a “carbuncle of urban sprawl”.

Loxley Homes was approached several times for comment but has not responded.

Green Hammerton gets final approval for 3,000-home settlement

The long-running saga over where to build a 3,000-home settlement in the Harrogate district appears to be over, with Green Hammerton selected ahead of Flaxby.

Harrogate Borough Council last night voted to adopt its Local Plan, the planning blueprint for the district, which includes Green Hammerton as the site of the new settlement.

It was the second time the council voted on the matter, after a High Court judge last month ordered it to do so again.

Just like last time, the full council voted in favour of Green Hammerton, this time by a near-unanimous decision.

This appears to have ended any hopes of building at Flaxby, near the A1.

Nick Brown, Conservative councillor for Bishop Monkton and Newby, was the only person to vote against the recommendation.

Cllr Brown said he felt Flaxby was a more sustainable option and he would therefore vote against the Local Plan. He said:

“Flaxby is the best site still, and I feel saddened for the thousands of residents in Green Hammerton who will be so badly and necessarily affected by the new town site.”

Norman Waller, Conservative councillor for Marston Moor, abstained.

High Court battle

Mr Justice Holgate ordered the re-vote after a three-day judicial review between the council and Flaxby Park Ltd, which planned to build on the former Flaxby golf course.

The judge ruled in the council’s favour by saying the decision to select Green Hammerton did not have to be made again.

But he said the council had to vote again to adopt its Local Plan after considering a report known as a strategic environmental assessment, which was not put before the full council when the plan was first adopted in March 2020.

The judge said this “legal flaw” invalidated the adoption of the Local Plan.

Before the vote, cabinet member for planning councillor Tim Myatt conceded that Flaxby Park Ltd “landed a punch” on the issue of the strategic environmental assessment, but he added it was a “procedural error” that could be rectified.

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He said he hoped councillors “share my regret” that they were being asked to vote on the Local Plan again, after less than a year.

He added:

“The reason we are here is simple. A site developer was unsuccessful with a proposal for a new settlement in the district.

“When the planning inspector didn’t provide the result they wanted, they went to a judicial review to try and quash the new settlement policies within the plan. If that had happened our Local Plan would have fallen in total.

“The Local Plan process was a long and complicated one. Many controversial decisions about where homes would be built had to be made. There were few easy decisions.

“Across the district, we’ve seen the impact of not having a plan can have, but that does not mean getting an agreement on a plan is or was easy.”

Now councillors are satisfied the report would not have affected their decision to choose Green Hammerton over Flaxby, it should finally put to bed the question of where the new settlement will be built.

A public consultation on options for the Green Hammerton / Cattal settlement will run until January 22.

 

Flaxby and Green Hammerton saga could be concluded next week

A report evaluating the environmental implications of building 3,000 homes in either Green Hammerton or Flaxby will be considered by councillors next week.

It follows a High Court ruling last week in the long-running saga about Harrogate Borough Council’s decision to choose Green Hammerton over Flaxby as the site for a major new settlement in the district.

Mr Justice Holgate ruled in the council’s favour by saying the decision did not have to be made again.

But he said the full council did have to consider the report, known as a strategic environmental assessment, before it could proceed.

The council has wasted no time preparing the document: its cabinet will meet on Wednesday to decide whether to adopt the report as part of its Local Plan. The full council will then vote on it later that day.

If councillors are satisfied the report would not have affected their decision to choose Green Hammerton over Flaxby, it would correct the “legal error” that Mr Justice Holgate identified in the judicial review and finally put to bed the question of where the new settlement will be built.

Legal costs

The judge did, however, order Harrogate Borough Council to pay 15% of the legal costs of Flaxby Park Ltd, which brought the case against the council, as well as its own.

A spokesperson from Flaxby Park Ltd told the Stray Ferret it expected the council would have to pay it a “significant five-figure sum”.

The Stray Ferret has asked the council how much it estimated its legal costs to be. The council replied it did not yet have a final figure.

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Public consultation

Meanwhile, a public consultation on the Green Hammerton/Cattal settlement proposals is running until January 22.

Following the judicial review judgement last week, campaign group Keep Green Hammerton Green released a statement urging the council to pause the consultation due to impending local government reorganisation and government planning reforms.

A council spokesman said:

“There are no plans to stop the current consultation on the development plan document.

“We urge residents and community groups to continue to share their views on what specific requirements are needed to deliver these much needed new homes for existing and future residents of the district.”

Could Flaxby now become a 400-lodge eco-resort?

The owners of the former Flaxby golf course could attempt to create a 400-lodge eco-resort on the site after their hopes of building 3,000 homes there were dashed last week.

A High Court judge ruled last week that Harrogate Borough Council’s decision to choose Green Hammerton over Flaxby as the site of a new 3,000-home settlement does not have to be made again.

This decision could prompt Flaxby Park to instigate alternative plans to transform the site into a tourism resort.

A report published by planning consultants Lichfields on behalf of Flaxby Park this year outlines a vision to transform the golf course, which closed in 2015, into a “sustainable eco-resort”.

The report claims the resort could generate £35m a year of visitor spending and employ 600 full-time staff.

As well as the 400 eco-lodges, the proposals include an indoor sports area, paddle boarding and boating, a swimming pool, a spa, shops and restaurants.

An aerial view of the Flaxby site.

According to the report, the “driving principle” of the resort is to allow families to “reconnect with nature, providing an ecologically rich environment” using renewable energy.

It says:

“The development of this unique, environmentally conscious eco-lodge holiday complex would generate significant benefits for the local economy and that of the wider region.”

Plans for the eco-resort have not yet been submitted to the council, but they would be a major addition to district tourism if they came to fruition.

A spokesperson from Flaxby Park confirmed to the Stray Ferret the eco-resort was a potential option for the golf course.

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Flaxby Park Ltd has owned the site since April 2016. Previous owner the Skelworth Group had planning permission to build a 300-bedroom, five-star hotel but the company went out of business before the plans materialised.

In separate plans, Harrogate company Forward Investment already has outline planning permission for an eco-friendly business park immediately south of the golf course at the junction of the A59 and A1M.

 

 

Flaxby fails to stop Green Hammerton development at High Court

A High Court judge has ruled that Harrogate Borough Council’s decision to choose Green Hammerton over Flaxby for up to 3,000 homes in the district does not have to be made again.

The developer, Flaxby Park Ltd, argued at a Judicial Review last month that the council’s decision to choose Green Hammerton for 3,000 homes was based on a flawed process.

Representing Flaxby, Christopher Katkowski QC raised three objections about the way the council came to make their decision.

He said:

  1. Environmental and sustainability assessments were not brought back before councillors to help them make a decision.
  2. The council failed to include an additional 630 hectares of land in the assessment of Flaxby as a broad location.
  3. The Green Hammerton proposals were not financially viable.

In a judgement published today, Mr Justice Holgate ruled in favour of HBC on the second and third points. However, he said that an environmental and sustainability report regarding the proposals would have to go back before the full council.

He said because this report wasn’t produced at the time, it “rendered unlawful” the new settlement policies at the adoption stage of the Local Plan. It means the council will have to vote again to rectify the “legal error” to address the issue of the sustainability report.

The judgement could potentially put to bed what has been one of the most bitter planning disputes to hit Harrogate in decades.

In his conclusion, Mr Justice Holgate said:

“In my judgment there was no error in the local plan process up to and including the conclusion of the examination process.”

Harrogate Borough Council welcomed the judgement and said an updated sustainability report will be brought to full council “as soon as possible”.

A council spokesman said:

“The judge is clear there were no flaws in the development of the local plan, the process was fair and equal, and that sufficient evidence had been put forward in relation to the new settlement.

“He has ruled that the plan does not need to be quashed in part, or full, saying that would be ‘wholly unjustifiable’.

“The court’s view is there was a single procedural issue because specific attention was not drawn to an updated sustainability appraisal when adoption of the local plan was discussed by councillors, even though the document was in the public domain at the time.

“The judge stated that although Flaxby Park Limited has been successful, in-part, to Ground 1 they had mounted a ‘time-consuming and costly attack on the local plan process’ and had ‘failed in achieving what was plainly the main object or thrust of the challenge.”

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Flaxby Park Ltd released a statement to the Stray Ferret this afternoon also claiming victory.

Chris Musgrave, chief executive at Flaxby Park Ltd, said:

“Flaxby Park Limited (FPL) are delighted that we have been successful in winning our Judicial Review challenge.

“HBC did not take into account vital information such as the sustainability appraisal and the detail of the consultation process. As a result, the councillors did not have all of the relevant information which would allow them to form a sound judgement on the merits of the community settlement issue.

“Council officers have a duty to provide council members with the fullest information and this has not been the case. As a result, the decision making of elected officials in the context of Flaxby Park has been flawed.

“The judgement by Mr Justice Holgate has confirmed that HBC acted unlawfully by adopting the Local Plan and we note that an order has been made by the Judge for HBC to pay their own legal costs as well as a proportion of the costs incurred by FPL. This speaks volumes as to the validity of our successful legal challenge.”
Consultation on new 3,000-home settlement for Harrogate district extended

A consultation on a new 3,000-home settlement in the Harrogate district has been extended amid concerns some residents weren’t aware of it.

Harrogate Borough Council’s consultation, which opened on October 19, asks for views on three possible sites for the development in the Green Hammerton and Cattal area, close to York.

The preferred option is on land south of Cattal train station.

A report says the scheme would offer a 21st century village lifestyle with convenient links to Harrogate, York and Leeds.

But so far the consultation has generated nine responses, which are overwhelmingly opposed to the development.

One describes it as “a desecration of a beautiful unspoilt area” and “environmental vandalism”. Several say the Flaxby site, which the council discarded, would be better.

The consultation was due to close on December 11 but will now run until January 22.

Chris Eaton, from the Keep Green Hammerton Green action group, told the Stray Ferret local groups had asked the council to extend the deadline because some residents had still not received a leaflet informing them the consultation was taking place.

Cllr Richard Cooper, leader of the council, pledged last month it would be a “genuine consultation”, adding it was “critically important” for the council to get it right.

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Cllr Tim Myatt, the council’s new cabinet member for planning, said the extra time would ensure all residents and community groups had their say.

He said:

“We are listening to the community and following feedback have decided to extend the consultation so that everyone has had enough time to fully review the plans.

“We want this new settlement to be something which will serve the needs of new and existing residents. By extending the consultation and gathering further feedback we can ensure that residents and community groups have had time to provide a full response.”

Harrogate councillors were ‘legally obliged’ to reconsider Flaxby site, High Court told

Harrogate Borough Council did not fulfil its legal obligation to fully consider Flaxby as a reasonable alternative to Green Hammerton as the site of a major new settlement, the High Court was told today.

Christopher Katkowski QC, representing Flaxby Park Ltd, made the claim on the third and final day of a judicial review between the developer and the council.

A judgement will be handed down at a later date.

Flaxby claims the council’s decision to choose Green Hammerton for 3,000 homes was based on a flawed process.

Mr Katkowski said the developer’s claim was “straightforward and simple” — that councillors “at some point” should have considered the Flaxby site after council officers assessed it a second time.

Instead the matter was dealt with by council officers.

Mr Katkowski told the court:

“Members were legally obliged to consider Flaxby as a broad location and reasonable alternative to Green Hammerton as a broad location. 

“They never did at the bookends or at any point in between.”

Mr Katkowski said the developer accepted that councillors “could not do the work” of the assessment, but added that what mattered was “what you do with the work when it is done”.

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The court also heard that the planning inspector’s report, which councillors considered before they adopted the district’s local plan, was “not a substitute” for the second assessment.

Mr Katkowski said councillors should have had the second assessment in front of them and that the report was not a substitute “as a matter of law”.

The council claims it acted lawfully in the decision-making process.

The council’s defence made submissions yesterday that there was no legal reason for officers to return the second assessment of the two sites to councillors.

Paul Brown QC, representing the council, told the court that officers had delegated powers, which covered work such as assessments and modifications to the plan.

He said they were not “legally required” to check further with councillors after carrying out the work.

Mr Justice Holgate closed the judicial review hearing, which was held remotely due to coronavirus, this afternoon and will now consider his verdict.