Harrogate Borough Council officers acted lawfully when they chose to pick Green Hammerton over Flaxby for its local plan, London’s High Court was told today.

Paul Brown QC, representing the authority at the judicial review, outlined the council’s defence to claimants Flaxby Park Ltd on the second day of the hearing.

Flaxby claimed yesterday the council made insufficient comparisons between the two sites, that further assessments were not brought back before councillors and questioned the viability of the site.

But Mr Brown told the court there was no legal reason for officers to return a further assessment of the two sites to councillors.

He said officers had already been delegated powers, which covered assessments and modifications to the plan, and they were not “legally required” to check further with councillors after carrying out the work.

Read more:

• High Court hearing opens into Green Hammerton homes

• Flaxby vs Green Hammerton: the saga so far…

Mr Brown said:

“It is patently not a matter which members would have been competent to carry out themselves.

“In a world where officers had delegated authority to agree modifications, it would be perverse to check with members before deciding that no modification [to the local plan] was required.”

‘Entirely lawful’

Mr Brown said the council’s decision not to assess a “broad location” for Flaxby before the local plan was submitted for examination was “an entirely lawful one to take”.

The council ultimately carried out the further assessment after the planning inspector said the move would be “sensible” and not that it was legally required, Mr Brown added.

He said the assessment was then given to the inspector and the inspector’s final report, which included the additional work, was considered by councillors before the local plan was adopted.

The court also heard that there was “no unequal treatment” between Flaxby and Green Hammerton and that the two were considered by officers throughout the process.

Flaxby limitations

Mr Brown said the “like for like” comparison was completed and limitations of the Flaxby site had been made clear since July 2017.

Addressing the clam that the planning inspector’s conclusion on viability was “perverse”, Mr Brown said the judgement was a “matter for the inspector”.

The court also heard that the council looked at the viability of both sites and each developer was spoken to and “treated on a like for like basis”.

Christopher Katkowski QC, representing Flaxby Park Ltd, will respond to the council’s defence tomorrow.

The hearing is expected to conclude tomorrow.

A High Court hearing into Harrogate Borough Council’s decision to pick Green Hammerton over Flaxby for its local plan has begun today.

Mr Justice Holgate opened the judicial review case, which is being held remotely due to coronavirus.

Representing the developer, Christopher Katkowski QC set out his submission that sufficient comparisons were not made for both sites early on and that assessments did not show that the Green Hammerton site was viable.

He said that the Flaxby site was not given “equal treatment” to the council’s eventual preferred option of Green Hammerton.

Mr Katkowski said there was no “apples and apples” sustainability assessment of the sites as “broad locations” before the local plan was submitted for examination to the planning inspector.

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• Flaxby vs Green Hammerton: the saga so far…

He told the hearing that, despite the comparison being made later, the work was carried out under officer delegation and was not put before councillors to reconsider.

He said:

“Councillors should have been given the opportunity to consider this work at a stage when it could have made a difference.”

Mr Katkowski also told the court that assessments in front of the inspector showed the Green Hammerton location was “marginal” in terms of viability.

He added that Oakgate, one of the promoters of the site, had submitted a confidential assessment to the council but this was not put in front of the inspector.

Mr Katkowski said it was either “perverse” that the inspector concluded that the site was viable with the information available to him or “perverse not to call for sight of the assessments to reach a properly informed judgement”.

Paul Brown QC, representing Harrogate Borough Council, said officers had delegated powers “through the examination period” up until the inspector’s report was returned to the council.

Mr Brown said both the submission of the plan and the adoption were made by councillors, but delegated powers would need to be used for other decisions for practicality reasons.

He said:

“It does not follow that because the process is bookended by those two decisions that everything between those points must be.”

Mr Brown added that planning officers considered both sites following the second comparison and other reasonable alternatives.

He said his “overarching submission” was that there was nothing unlawful in the delegation of powers to officers.

Mr Brown will continue his submission tomorrow (October 28). The hearing continues.

A crunch judicial review looms for Harrogate Borough Council this week as Flaxby Park Ltd calls into questions the authority’s local plan.

This morning at the High Court in London, a review will be opened into the decision to choose Green Hammerton ahead of Flaxby for a 3,000 home settlement in the local plan.

After months of bitter debate, a judge will decide whether the decision was lawful or not.

The developer maintains that the council’s decision was based on “flawed information of a scant, conflicting and contradictory nature”.

Read more:

• Flaxby development set for High Court battle

• Council leader pledges “genuine consultation” on Green Hammerton development

• Campaign group has ‘grave concerns’ about consultation on 3,000 homes

It also caused backlash in Green Hammerton with residents embarking on a long campaign against the proposal.

Green Hammerton campaigners deliver 600 objections to Harrogate Borough Council back in February 2018.

Further tensions were raised when Flaxby urged the council to delay a decision on its application for 2,750 homes at the site.

However, the council said the planning committee and the review were two separate procedural process and refused the application.

What is a judicial review?

Flaxby was granted the review earlier this month and will now embark upon a three-day hearing at the High Court.

The purpose of the hearing is to look at the process that the council took to arrive at the decision to pick Green Hammerton over Flaxby.

The review looks at whether or not the decision made was lawful and followed the right procedure.

It is not a re-run of the merits of the decision.

If it is found to be unlawful, it could mean the decision has to be made again.

This week, a judge at the High Court in London will decide whether Harrogate Borough Council’s decision to choose Green Hammerton and Cattal ahead of Flaxby for a major expansion of housing in the district was unlawful.

If the ruling goes against the council, it could mean the decision has to be made again.

It is a saga that has rumbled on for years with many twists and turns. Below is a timeline of events so far.

August 2003: North Yorkshire County Council sells 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 site, a “clawback” would apply. This would result in NYCC receiving 70% of the uplift in the land’s open market value.

2008: Farming family the Armstrongs sells Flaxby golf course to the Skelwith Group for £7m, which then publishes plans for a 300-bedroom five-star hotel on the site. The golf course and hotel would be called Flaxby Country Resort and is touted as the “jewel in Yorkshire’s tourism crown” and even a future host of the Ryder Cup.

March 2010: Harrogate Borough Council grants planning permission for the hotel but building work never begins. Despite this, 158 buy-to-let rooms in the hotel are sold to investors.

An artist’s impression of the doomed Flaxby hotel.

May 2014: The government rejects Harrogate Borough Council’s Local Plan for the district, after years of preparation. The council begins the process of identifying more sites for housing.

November 2014: Skelwith Group abandons plans to build a hotel and draws up new proposals to develop Flaxby into a new town of up to 2,500 homes.

March 2015: The golf course closes.

January 2016: Skelwith goes into liquidation. A report from administrators RSM Restructuring says the company owed almost £70m, including £51m to HMRC and £7m to former owners the Armstrong family.

April 2016: Flaxby Park Ltd, a company made up of businesswoman Ann Gloag and regeneration specialists Chris Musgrave and Trevor Cartner, purchases the 260-acre golf course site from administrators. Their new proposals include 2,750 homes and a rail link at Goldsborough.

Summer 2016: HBC launches a “call for sites” where landowners can put forward sites that could potentially fit a new settlement. Both Flaxby Park Ltd and CEG Group propose separate developments at Flaxby and Green Hammerton.

November 2016: HBC’s draft Local Plan identifies two locations for a new settlement: Flaxby and Green Hammerton/Cattal.

April 2017: CEG Group publishes a “vision document” for 3,000 homes at Green Hammerton.

A CGI image from the CEG proposal at Green Hammerton.

July, August, September 2017: A consultation is held where CEG’s Great Hammerton plans are presented as the preferred option over Flaxby Park.

November 2017: Flaxby Park Ltd submits a planning application for the 2,750-home development to HBC.

December 2017: At a full council meeting, councillors agree to submit the Local Plan to the Planning Inspectorate, including Green Hammerton as the area for the new settlement.

January and February 2018: HBC holds a public consultation on this decision. Campaigners in Green Hammerton deliver more than 600 objections against it.

Campaigners deliver Green Hammerton objections to HBC.

June 2018: CEG Group formally submits its plans to HBC for Green Hammerton.

August 2018: Harrogate Council submits its Local Plan for independent examination.

February 2019: Oakgate Group, part of Wetherby-based property developers Caddick, submits plans for a rival proposal called “Maltkiln Village” at Cattal.

The “Maltkiln Village” proposal around Cattal railway station.

March 2020:  HBC adopts its new Local Plan with Green Hammerton/Cattal identified as the location for a new settlement.

October 7, 2020: HBC agrees to press ahead with a consultation on 3,000 new homes at Green Hammerton/Cattal. Its “preferred option” is land around Cattal rail station.

October 13, 2020: HBC’s planning committee rejects the 2,750-home Flaxby development. The other two applications – by CEG and Oakgate Group – are yet to be decided by the committee.

October 27, 28 and 29, 2020: The High Court judicial review will take place on the Flaxby decision.

The Stray Ferret will be covering the Judicial Review this week at the High Court. Check our website for the latest updates, or subscribe to our newsletter to get a daily round-up direct to your inbox.

A public consultation into controversial plans to 3,000 homes at Green Hammerton and Cattal has gone live.

Harrogate Borough Council is inviting people to have their say on the new settlement, which would change the rural villages forever.

The concept framework for the development says it would offer a “21st century village lifestyle” with convenient links to Harrogate, York and Leeds.

It says:

“Green Hammerton / Cattal is a new distinctive garden village making the most of a vibrant rail hub and village centre, and set in a tranquil landscape of farmland and woodland, wetland and gardens.”

Planning consultants Gillespies 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.

Besides 3,000 houses, the plans include two new primary schools, employment space and retail units.

This month, Chris Eaton, from the campaign group Keep Green Hammerton Green, said it had “grave concerns” about the consultation because the council had not engaged with stakeholders in drawing up its plans.

He claimed the council chose its preferred option without meaningful input from residents.

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

The consultation runs until December 11.

Read more:

• Council leader pledges “genuine consultation” on Green Hammerton development

• Judicial review looms after 2,750-home Flaxby development refused

• Council prepares for 3,000-home Green Hammerton consultation

The three proposed options for the new settlement are below:

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 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 Three

This is the preferred option and focuses on the area around Cattal station, expanding towards the south and southwest of the railway line.

Councillors took an hour this afternoon to refuse an application for up to 2,750 homes on the former Flaxby golf course, near Knaresborough.

Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee rejected the plans because they contravene its Local Plan, which chose Green Hammerton and Cattal as the location for a new settlement instead of Flaxby.

The Flaxby proposals also include a retirement village and two primary schools, as well as retail and office space.

The developer, Flaxby Park Ltd, is challenging HBC’s decision at a judicial review, which will take place at the High Court in London this month.

Cllr Robert Windass questioned why the planning committee had been asked to decide on Flaxby now, just weeks before the judicial review. He said the council should postpone any decision until after the judicial review takes place.

But his request was rebuffed by HBC’s chief planner, John Worthington, who said the planning committee and the judicial review were “two very separate processes”.

Cllr Christine Willoughby, who spoke representing Knaresborough Town Council, said the development would have a negative impact on the market town.

She said:

“The town council objects to this application as there would be a serious detrimental impact to health services, educational and recreational services of Knaresborough. Any economic benefit [to Knaresborough] would be small.”

Alex Smith, a member of the public, urged councillors to defer the Flaxby decision until the Green Hammerton development plan document was more fully developed.

He said the Flaxby development was “more sustainable” than Green Hammerton, which he said would require significant infrastructure investment. He said:

“We have a disused golf course and an existing dual carriageway here, now and ready to go. Why discard that site now?”

Eight councillors voted to refuse the plans. Two abstained.

Read more:

• Flaxby development set for High Court battle

• Council leader pledges “genuine consultation” on Green Hammerton development

• Campaign group has ‘grave concerns’ about consultation on 3,000 homes

The judicial review will take place on October 27, 28, and 29 at the High Court in London.

Flaxby Park Ltd has claimed the council’s decision to choose Green Hammerton was based on “flawed information of a scant, conflicting and contradictory nature”.

A judge will decide whether the decision was lawful and followed the correct procedure.

If found to be unlawful, the decision on where to place the new settlement may have to be made again.

Meanwhile, HBC is pressing ahead with plans for Green Hammerton and last week rubber-stamped a public consultation that is expected to take place later this year.

Harrogate Borough Council will press ahead with a consultation on 3,000 new homes in Green Hammerton.

Last night the council’s cabinet approved the move, which will see the consultation take place over a six-week period this Autumn.

The council will now publish documents for the consultation, which includes a preferred option of land south of Cattal train station.

Richard Cooper, leader of the borough council, told the cabinet meeting it was “critically important” that the council get the consultation right.

He said:

“I am really keen that the planning team put their money where their mouth is and where our mouth is as councillors and really have a strong consultation process because at the end of it, even if we do not agree, there can be no doubt at all that the consultation process was inclusive, valuable and that all sides felt that it was an honest and genuine consultation.

“I’m relying on the planning team to take that forward and I am sure that is what is going to happen.”

Meanwhile, Cllr Rebecca Burnett, cabinet member for planning, said the options set out in the documents were “not fixed” and that putting forward a preferred option would help to “stimulate response”.

It comes as a campaign group in Green Hammerton raised “grave concerns” over the process.

Read more:

• Council accused of ‘steamrollering’ through Green Hammerton plans

• Flaxby development set for High Court battle

Chris Eaton, from Keep Green Hammerton Green, disputed the council’s claim it had engaged with stakeholders in drawing up its plans.

In a letter to Cllr Burnett, seen by the Stray Ferret, Mr Eaton said he was writing “to express our disappointment and grave concern about the process of creating the new settlement development plan document”.

He said the council’s preferred option had been chosen without input from local residents.

His letter said:

“For your officers to say in cabinet papers that there has been some engagement is highly misleading.

“We believe that you have a moral obligation, if not a legal one, to fulfil your promise and to urgently facilitate meaningful engagement with those communities most affected by the new settlement.”

Responding to campaigners’ concerns at the cabinet meeting, Natasha Durham, planning manager for policy at the authority, said the options are not “set in stone” and that the consultation was the “first step of wider discussions” on the development.

The site was chosen after planning consultants Gillespies produced a report for the council setting out three possible sites.

HBC’s decision to choose Green Hammerton over Flaxby for a new settlement will be examined at a judicial review, which will take place on October 27, 28, and 29 at the High Court in London.

If found to be unlawful, the decision on where to place the new settlement may have to made again.

HBC’s planning committee is expected to reject the 2,750-home Flaxby development on October 13.

The date has been pushed back a week after a “technical error” meant the developer Flaxby Park Ltd was not informed.

Residents can find out more on the settlement and fill out the consultation here from October 19.

Plans have been submitted to convert the Green Tree pub in Little Ouseburn into housing.

The application to Harrogate Borough Council bids to turn the pub into two one-bedroom apartments and one three-bedroom semi-detached home.

Another two three-bedroom semi-detached homes would be built in the rear car park.

The pub, which is on the main B6265 from Green Hammerton to Boroughbridge, closed in late 2019.

Read more:

• Knaresborough pub sold with planning for homes

• Full steam ahead for micropub at Knaresborough train station

In 2017, owners Michael and Barbara Briggs were granted permission to convert the property into housing while retaining part of the downstairs as a micro pub.

However, planning documents state Mr Briggs died in January 2017 and Mrs Briggs struggled to maintain the pub alone.

After three years of trying to market the micro pub, Mrs Briggs decided it was no longer a viable business, and now wants to convert more of the building into homes.

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’

Read more:

• Flaxby development set for High Court battle

• Council accused of ‘steamrollering’ through Green Hammerton plans

‘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.