170 Knaresborough homes ‘catastrophic’ for Hay-a-Park wildlife

Plans for 170 homes on Water Lane in Knaresborough will have a ‘catastrophic’ impact on wildlife at nearby beauty spot Hay-a-Park, according to local people.

Landowner Geoffrey Holland’s application would see homes built on the north-eastern edge of the town, next to the Hay-a-Park lake and three smaller ponds.

The site, which is on a flooded former quarry, was designated as a site of special scientific interest in 1995 because it supports a number of rare birds, including the goosander and reed warbler.

The planning application has provoked a passionate response from residents, with about 60 objections at the time of publication. Several raised concerns about the impact of the housing on hedgerows within the SSSI where birds nest.

David Bunting, who lives next to the lake, told the Stray Ferret he has concerns about flooding and the impact on the birds’ habitat:

“This housing would go right up to the lake and risks huge environmental damage to the site. Birds have come from across the world to nest here over winter for thousands of years.”

Goosander fears

Another local resident, James McKay, highlighted a report from 2012 which stated numbers of goosander have been decreasing. He told the Stray Ferret:

“It will have a catastrophic impact on Hay-a-Park gravel pit, which is already under pressure from increased urbanisation.”

Read more:

Harrogate Borough Council refused an application from Mr Holland for 218 homes in October last year, despite the site being allocated for development in what was then the council’s draft Local Plan.

The council said the proposal did not include enough affordable housing and was ‘of poor quality and out of character with its surroundings’. It also said it did not include a proper assessment that explored the impact of housing on the SSSI.

A planning statement submitted for the new application said the proposals included “a wide range of ecological enhancement measures”.

It added:

“The design-led approach, informed by consultation with the local planning authority and Natural England, responds sensitively to the site setting, respecting the urban grain and ecology features present in the surrounding landscape, both built and undeveloped.”

Minimise impact on birds

Following the refusal last year, ecological consultancy Baker Consultants produced a Hay-a-Park SSSI impact assessment on behalf of the developer. It recommends that Harrogate Borough Council and Natural England manage the SSSI’s grassland and woodland to improve biodiversity.

A separate ecological appraisal recommended the impact on birds is minimised through the creation of green space within the development and with nest boxes.

It also says construction that might directly impact breeding birds should be limited to September to February when they do not breed.

The Stray Ferret asked the agent for the application, Cunnard Town Planning, for a statement but we had not received a response at the time of publication.

The application will be considered by HBC’s planning committee at a later date.

Plans to turn Bishop Monkton pub into five houses

There are new plans to turn a village pub in Bishop Monkton, south of Ripon, into five houses.

If the plans get the go-ahead the Lamb and Flag, on Boroughbridge Road, could soon make way for more housing in the area.

The pub would be converted into two homes, the existing bed and breakfast would be converted into one house and the developers would also build two new houses on the rear car park.

Bishop Monkton, which the Domesday Book refers to as the “Tun of the monks,” has seen an increase in residential development over the last 50 years.

Read more:

The Lamb and Flag is a “building of interest” and sits next to listed buildings. However, the planning application says the harm to those buildings would be “less than substantial.”

Developers also say in the plans that the design of the new houses will retain the character of the original pub and the core of the building.

Harrogate Borough Council formally acknowledged the planning application last Friday. There’s no date set for when it will be heard.

Despite new developments and growing populations, village pubs have found it difficult to survive.

Nearby Burton Leonard lost a pub in recent years. The Hare and Hounds was also replaced by housing.

Housing Investigation: infrastructure at breaking point?

The Local Government Association says it “can’t be emphasised strongly enough” that quality infrastructure must be the starting point of any good Local Plan. 

But Harrogate didn’t have a Local Plan for six years. Thousands of homes were built, yet there was no strategic plan for vital services such as schools and healthcare. 

Mike Newall lives in a cottage on Whinney Lane – until recently, a quiet rural street on the west side of Harrogate. 

The Pannal Ash area is now though surrounded by new development and faces the prospect of thousands of new homes over the next few years – changing the face of where he lives forever. 

He is clear that both Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council have so far failed to ensure that residents will be able to access vital services when the housing is eventually built and asks: 

“Where is the social infrastructure?

“Apart from a new primary school on Whinney Lane, where are the thousands of new residents going to get GP and dentist visits? Local surgeries and dentists are full. A normal appointment at Mowbray Square medical centre takes two to three weeks. 

“It goes to show that prior to HBC having a local plan, the council were hobbled and exposed.”  

Schools places 

Harrogate Grammar School, St Aidan’s and St John Fisher are some of the highest-rated comprehensive secondary schools in the north of England. 

The growing number of homes in the area has made the scramble for school places even more competitive, with high value placed on homes within the catchment area. 

A freedom of information request submitted by the Stray Ferret to North Yorkshire County Council reveals that every secondary school in the district is heavily oversubscribed, and the situation deteriorated from 2018-2020. 

Similarly, primary school places are at a premium. The data reveals 55 of the district’s 71 primary schools were oversubscribed for 2020. 

New primary schools have been included in plans at Whinney Lane in Pannal Ash and Manse Farm in Knaresborough, but in many cases where there are large housing developments planned, no new schools are proposed and the local primary schools are oversubscribed.

There are developments underway in the Kingsley Road and Granby triangle, as well as the Bellway and Persona developments on Skipton Road, with hundreds of homes between them. 

There are several primary schools in the area that could educate children from the new developments- all are oversubscribed, including: 

Doctors’ surgeries 

While a scramble for school places could affect Harrogate’s youngest residents’ start in life, a rapidly ageing population means there will also be a greater demand on the district’s health services. 

From the beginning of the Local Plan period in 2014, HBC forecasts a 54% increase in the local population of people aged over 65 by 2035 –that’s 18,720 more people– which will put GP practices in the district under increased pressure. 

But other than Homes England’s 1,300-home development at Ripon Barracks, none of the major developments with planning permission in the district proposes to build new healthcare facilities to accommodate them. 

There are currently 17 GP surgeries in Harrogate, Ripon, Knaresborough and the district’s villages. 

But a 2020 NHS survey of GP practices found that the district’s practices did not score well for patients wanting to get a prompt appointment with their GP. 

Read more of our housing investigation:

Just 44% of patients at Beech House surgery in Harrogate said they were able to speak to their GP when they wanted to. At Leeds Road surgery, that number fell to 39%. 

A spokesperson for NHS North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), in charge of healthcare provision for the district, said: 

“North Yorkshire CCG is actively involved in discussions with the planning department at Harrogate [Borough] Council on all the large scale housing developments in the district so that the impact on local health services is taken into account and any appropriate funding is secured that can be used to provide additional clinical capacity within primary care.” 

Following a recommendation from the government’s planning inspector, Harrogate Borough Council is currently developing a “Parameters Plan” for the Western side of Harrogate, where 4,000 more homes are mooted. 

The intention is to consider sites as a whole in terms of infrastructure, public transport and sustainability, rather than a piece meal approach. But it’s been delayed which has left local residents group HAPARA very concerned. 

Developers avoided paying for infrastructure

One reason why so little appears to be done to improve infrastructure is developers have been able to get away without making enough financial contributions – thanks, in part to a lack of a Local Plan, which has weakened the council’s hand with developers.

With no Local Plan, it meant HBC had no roadmap for how the new housing would impact on infrastructure in the district. It meant developers were able to fall back on national planning policy which says a development “should not be subject to such a scale of obligations and policy burdens that their ability to be developed viably is threatened”.

As a normal condition of planning permission, the council asks developers to sign what is called a section 106 agreement to help pay for infrastructure that residents will use. 

For schools, the money could pay for bigger classrooms or more equipment.

But the Stray Ferret has learned through a freedom of information request that since 2014, Harrogate Borough Council has collected just £2.6m in payments from developers to help pay for schools, roads, health or public transport to cover the whole district.

Dr Quinton Bradley, senior lecturer in planning and housing at Leeds Beckett University, said developers in Harrogate have been able to use these viability assessments to argue their way out of paying.

Whereas if HBC had a Local Plan with a clear focus on infrastructure, it would have been more difficult for developers to do this.

He said:

“It’s money that should have come from developers and landowners, but the public taxpayer has to compensate because the developers didn’t pay it.”

The situation is so serious that the council has requested government introduces a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) to supplement Section 106 agreements. This is because the council has identified a £98m shortfall until 2035 to pay for infrastructure, including £42m for schools. 

The cumulative effect of having no Local Plan has been significant, and it’s meant schools and healthcare facilities in the district have lost out on additional funds to service a rapidly growing population. 

 

If you have any comments on our housing series or are personally affected in any way get in touch on contact@thestrayferret.co.uk 

 

Housing Investigation: New homes out of reach for too many locals

In the six years Harrogate had no Local Plan, housing developers were able to flood the market with expensive four and five bedroom homes. 

It meant an opportunity to address Harrogate’s housing needs was missed and the district remains unaffordable for many young people and those on lower incomes, such as key workers.  

Megan’s Story: 

Megan McHugh

Megan McHugh, 24, has lived in Harrogate all her life and said it’s “heartbreaking” that she cannot afford to buy a house in her hometown. 

She has £20,000 in savings, earns a decent salary as a team leader at a local supermarket and is careful with how she spends her money.  

But she said she feels “stuck” living at her parents’ house, with her dream of owning a home further and further out of reach because the local market isn’t providing the type of home she needs at a price she can afford. 

“I always say this time next year I’d like to be in my own place,” she said. “Then I work it out and think I physically can’t afford it. I’d go tomorrow if I could, but I can’t.” 

Megan said she gets frustrated when she sees housing developments built in Harrogate with so many four– and five-bedroom houses.  

“It’s an affluent area so they want to bring more affluent people into the area and make Harrogate look better,” she added. 

“But if you’re like me and you want to buy your own home in Harrogate, you’ve got absolutely no chance. I feel stuck.” 

What types of homes are needed?  

When a developer builds on a patch of land, 40% of the homes must be classed as “affordable”. But because HBC had no Local Plan up to 2020, it was unable to dictate to developers the types of homes needed for the remaining 60%, which led to a flood of executive-style four-and five–bedroom properties being built. 

Harrogate published a Housing and Economic Development Needs Assessment (HEDNA) report in 2018 outlining the types of houses are needed in the Harrogate district. 

It reported a “notable” demand in the district for one- and two-bedroom properties, with estate agents suffering from a shortage in stock, which it said was driving up prices. 

It also said four-bedroom properties and above should only take up 20-35% of the homes in development. 

But the HEDNA report was published four years after Harrogate’s draft Local Plan was withdrawn, and in that time more than 6,000 homes had been given planning permission. 

The Stray Ferret analysed the period when Harrogate went without a Local Plan and found that house builders were building far more four- and five-bedroom homes than the report said the district needed. 

These include Miller Homes’ 176-home Milby Grange development in Boroughbridge, where 45% of the properties are either four– or five–bedroom, and Bellway’s 170-home Dalesway development on Skipton Road, where 43% had four bedrooms or more.  

Affordable housing 

While developers cashed in to build expensive four-and five–bedroom homes in the district, Harrogate Borough Council has largely ensured affordable houses make up 40% of developments. 

However, many of these homes are still not affordable in most normal people’s definition of the word. 

The government defines affordable as homes sold at 80% of the market rate or homes for social rent. 

But with the average house price in Harrogate £360,000, according to property website Zoopla, it means that an “affordable” property in Harrogate is still more than 10 times the average salary of £25,000. 

Then there is social housing, which are homes provided to people on low incomes or with particular needs by councils or housing associations.

The council has around 1,800 households on its social housing waiting list  — but in Harrogate, less than one in ten applicants are likely to be allocated a property each year. This waiting list has swelled as Right to Buy sales have depleted HBC of its housing stock.

To try to meet demand, the council recently spent £4.5m buying 52 homes in Stonebridge Homes’ 130-home development on Whinney Lane. 

Sixteen of the homes would be transferred to HBC’s housing company, Bracewell Homes, to be sold under shared ownership, and the rest would be made available for social rent. The council has said similar purchases could be forthcoming. 

“You need people of all ages to keep a place alive”

The Knaresborough Community Land Trust (CLT) is hoping to develop a disused area in the town centre to provide three flats as affordable housing. 

Hilary Gardner, treasurer at the CLT, said many young people are being forced to move to places like Leeds because they simply cannot afford to buy a place in Knaresborough. 

“It’s denying people the opportunity that was a given for their parents, providing they worked hard. 

“Being able to buy your own property when you’re in your 30s is important, isn’t it? 

“There are large properties being built in Knaresborough, but they are not for everyone.” 

The long–term effect on people not being able to afford homes could be profound in a town like Knaresborough, which could see its lifeblood disappear. She added: 

“You need a body of people of all ages to keep a place alive.” 

The Knaresborough Community Land Trust is hoping to develop a disused area in the town centre to provide three flats as affordable housing.

Read More:

“We need homes to be distributed more fairly”

The proliferation of housebuilding in the district has largely been driven by central government, which wants to see 300,000 new homes built across the UK, with every region building its share. 

However, Dr Quinton Bradley, lecturer in housing and planning at Leeds Beckett University, told the Stray Ferret the government’s economic theory for housebuilding is “fundamentally flawed” because it’s led to an uneven and unequal housing market, as seen in Harrogate. 

“It’s not as simple as saying, ‘build more homes then the price will come down’…The house builders don’t want that, so that whole analysis is fundamentally flawed.

“The housing crisis is not a crisis of undersupply –, we need homes to be distributed more fairly.” 

Homes for ‘economic growth’ 

Harrogate’s 2018 HEDNA report concluded that the district needs 669 new homes to be built every year, yet it said only 296 of these homes are to serve the genuine housing need of the local population, which might be a young family trying to buy their first home or an elderly couple wanting to downsize. 

The report added that 314 of these 669 homes should be built for “economic growth”: attracting wealthy people into the town and into high-value jobs in the science, logistics and finance industries, which are the sectors Harrogate Borough Council wants to boost, according to the HEDNA report. 

However, Dr Bradley said building homes for economic growth is “basically wish fulfilment”. 

“Nobody knows how the economy will grow. The people writing the HEDNA report would have asked HBC, ‘how would you like Harrogate to be in the future?’  

“They’d say, ‘Well we’d like it to be really prosperous so let’s allocate some more housing for that’, but it’s a fantasy.” 

With development set to progress at its current pace for at least the next 15 years, the gulf between the housing haves and have-nots in Harrogate is likely to widen further. 

It means that Megan McHugh’s hopes of owning her own property in her hometown will continue to be out of reach. 

Throughout this week we’ll be looking at the impact of the unprecedented levels of development in the district:

Investigation: Harrogate targeted for development during planning chaos

An investigation by the Stray Ferret has uncovered how some of Britain’s biggest land promoters deliberately targeted Harrogate to exploit cheap land and high property prices.

Between 2014 and 2020 the district’s planning system was in disarray.

These failings made it easy for developers to get controversial housing schemes approved. The developers, knowing this, made speculative applications for thousands of homes across the district.

All this week, the Stray Ferret looks at the impact of six years of planning failings: thousands of extra cars on the roads, large detached houses prioritised over much-needed affordable homes for local people, and a lack of sustainable, environmentally friendly building.

Today, we examine how the Harrogate district became a target for opportunistic developers .

The draw of Harrogate

The Harrogate district is a prime place for money to be made in property.

It’s one of the most desirable places to live, often coming top in national property surveys. Just last month, Harrogate was named the ‘chic capital of the North’ by Tatler. It makes it very attractive to developers.

The latest figures put the average home at almost £360,000 – a whopping 13 times the average income for the district.

It is, according to the Harrogate Borough Council Housing Strategy 2019-2024, the least affordable area in the north of England.

It means home owning is out of reach for many low to middle income families caught in the Harrogate housing trap. There are more than 2,000 families in the district on the Housing Register living in unsuitable accommodation.

It’s not a question of Harrogate building too many properties. Rather, it’s too few of the right homes, in the right places, at the right price to meet local people’s need for affordable homes.

Planning failings

Every council has to put forward a 21-year plan to the Secretary of State for approval.The Planning Inspectorate examines local plans on the Secretary of State’s behalf to determine their suitability.

In 2014, the Planning Inspectorate advised Harrogate Borough Council  to withdraw its version of the Local Development Plan (or LDP 2014-2035).

The LDP sets out the council’s priorities and policies for land use. It defines where and how many homes can be built, where employment sites are located and what our town centre will become.

For a plan to be approved, it must demonstrate that it is well evidenced and meets local need. The plan must be in accordance with the National Planning Policy Framework and a raft of legislation, practice guidance and regulations.

Harrogate Borough Council withdrew its draft LDP at its first hearing on April 24, 2014, upon advice from the planning inspectorate.

The failed plan – years in the making – was deemed ‘inadequate’.

A letter from the Planning Inspectorate to Harrogate on April 29, 2014 explained that the evidence used in the plan was too out of date to be meaningful.

Harrogate was forced back to the drawing board.

Prior to its submission, Liberal Democrat leader councillor Pat Marsh had told the Yorkshire Post:

“I do not have confidence in anything to do with the plan, whether it be the actual allocation of homes, whether there is the necessary infrastructure in place to cope and how members will be able to decide on the final proposals which are still being finalised. I have been a councillor for 22 years, but I have never experienced anything quite like this. It is a complete shambles.”

Conservative councillor Alan Skidmore, who was appointed cabinet member for planning at HBC in 2012, publicly defended the plan at the time. Yet speaking to the Stray Ferret this year, he said he knew the plan that had been prepared was “absolute rubbish”.

“I was astonished. I delayed it as much as I could, much to the chagrin of certain planning officers. We were forced to submit it in the state it was in, because if we didn’t, the government would have taken steps against us.”

Houses under construction at Harlow Hill Grange in Harrogate

The local plan should have helped control where new housing was built

Land supply

Harrogate failed on another critical requirement. Councils must show that they have a supply of specific deliverable sites enough to provide five years’ worth of new housing (plus an appropriate buffer).

This is called the five-year land supply (5YLS).

In 2014, the council had more than two thousand families on the housing register.

Planning inspectors and developers surgically dissected Harrogate’s calculation that just 390 new market and affordable homes per annum was enough to meet housing need.

The figure had to be revised, and Harrogate employed a consultant, GL Hearn.

To meet the 5YLS, Harrogate had to find enough developers with land to deliver 1,050 completed homes a year.

As a result, the land earmarked for development within the plan was insufficient.

The perfect storm

Without an approved local plan and evidence of a five-year land supply, a condition called the ‘tilted balance in favour of presumption of approval’ was triggered which prioritised building houses.

In 2013, the Campaign for Rural England warned local government that a

“widespread failure to implement local plans left 175 local authorities (including Harrogate) vulnerable to ‘damaging development’”.

But the Federation of House Builders disagreed, saying:

‘‘Fears that the lack of a (local development) plan will lead to the untrammelled destruction of the countryside are overblown. Even where there is no Local Plan, development must still conform to the NPPF, which clearly sets out that development must be well located, well designed and sustainable.”

Harrogate Borough Council planners advised councillors from 2014 to 2018 that there was a ‘tilted balance’ in favour of approval on almost every major development regardless of whether the site was well located and sustainable.

For almost every major housing scheme, planning officers advised committee members to approve the application.

The planning committee did turn down some applications during that time, though, and the council successfully defended its decision at appeal.

A district vulnerable to promoters

Enter the land promoter: land promoters seek out land which could be ripe for housing and help the owner get outline planning permission before managing the onward sale to a developer.

In the Harrogate district, a hectare of agricultural land will fetch around £25,000 at the farmers’ auction.

As a development site with outline planning approval, the same land will realise between £1.2 and £2.3 million.

The promoter then takes a share of the land’s increased value when it’s sold.

Gladman Land is the promoter behind applications for nearly 1,500 properties in the district since 2014, including Harrogate, Boroughbridge, Killinghall and Knaresborough.

Co-founder David Gladman told the High Court in July 2016:

“We normally only target local authorities whose planning is in relative disarray and… either have no up-to-date local plan or, temporarily, they do not have a five-year supply of consented building plots.”

Even if the council refuses the application, it’s of no consequence.

Gladman Land stated that going to appeal was part of its business strategy, with a success rate of over 90%. They advertise themselves as one of the most successful land promoters in England.

It’s completely legal and was essentially a standard practice within the land promotion industry.

In 2016/17, Harrogate received the highest number of planning applications since records began.

Crofter's Green Killinghall

The development at Crofters Green, Killinghall, was one of those passed at appeal. Click here to read more.

Strengthening position

By January 2019, Harrogate could demonstrate a robust 5YLS which tilted the balance in a different direction.

Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee was advised to support an outline application by Gladman’s to build 175 houses on Bar Lane, Knaresborough.

The debate ran over several hours with councillors struggling to reach a consensus, despite officers’ recommendation to approve the proposal. Eventually, the committee deferred the application to planning officers to approve, subject to some details being finalised.

But just nine months later, on September 9, 2019, the same application returned to the planning committee who refused it against the advice of officers.

The advanced state of the local plan and a healthy 5YLS gave the planning committee the confidence to reject the proposal.

The local development plan was finally accepted by the planning inspectorate and adopted by HBC in May 2020 affording further protection against harmful development in the borough.

But the damage has been done to the fabric of our communities, and over the next week, the Stray Ferret will look at the impact that six years of planning dysfunction has had on the lives of local people.

Coming up

All this week, we look at the impact of a planning system in disarray. 

 

Housing case study: 75 homes forced on Killinghall after appeal

Towns and villages across the district were targeted by developers while Harrogate had no local plan or five-year land supply.

A proposal by Gladman Land to build 75 homes in Killinghall was initially refused planning permission by Harrogate Borough Council.  

It said the development “would cause significant harm to the form of the village and to the landscape character, which includes the Nidd Gorge Special Landscape Area and a number of public rights of way, by its manner of extending the built form of the village into open countryside”. 

In October 2016, the company appealed against the decision 

The Planning Inspectorate dismissed the draft Harrogate local plan as being “of little weight”, saying that it considered the main issues to be whether the council could now demonstrate a five-year supply of deliverable housing land.   

After hearing arguments from both, he concluded that Harrogate needed to make provision for 3,857 homes over the period 2016–2021.  

This was considerably higher than the 390 per year originally calculated by HBC.  

‘Suitable location’

The planning inspectorate determined that the site “was a suitable location for the proposed development having regard to national and development plan policies in respect of sustainable development and the delivery of new housing”.  

Its report concluded that the failure to evidence a five-year land supply by the council was the planning consideration to which he attached most weight.  

Had Harrogate met its statutory planning obligations, there may have been a different outcome to the thousands of homes given approval between 2014 and 2020. 

At the time Killinghall conservative councillor Michael Harrison, who was also Cabinet Member for Planning, was reported in the local press as saying Gladman was targeting Killinghall because the council lacked a local plan and five year housing supply.

He said:

“Villagers are right to be upset and feeling that the village is under siege from developers. They are correct.

“It is, in my view, an unacceptable way to get planning permission and it deprives the local residents, and the local council, of the right to have their say on how the district should be developed.”

Killinghall is just one of the areas in the district which feels it is “under siege from development”.

Residents fear the whole fabric of the village has changed as more and more houses are built.

With growing congestion and a lack of local amenities, they worry the formerly small settlement is fast becoming a suburb of Harrogate. 

Read more

 

Spofforth villagers ‘over the moon’ at 72-home planning refusal

Spofforth villagers are “over the moon” that an application to build 72 homes in the historic village was refused yesterday — but there is uncertainty over what happens next. The proposed development has been the subject of fierce opposition.

Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee rejected the proposal yesterday at a meeting that dealt with the appearance and landscaping of the scheme even though a council report recommended approval.

Houses will be built on the site in some form as outline permission for the development was granted to Vistry Partnerships and Yorkshire Housing in March 2019.

Speaking to the Stray Ferret today, Spofforth parish councillor Chris Heslop said the decision was the “best possible outcome” for the village.

He urged the developers to work with residents on a scheme that better addressed housing density, appearance and flooding.

“All we hope as Spofforth Parish Council is we now get some involvement in the application that comes forward. That site has outline planning so they won’t just walk away from it.

“It was refused so we were absolutely over the moon about it. That was the best possible outcome. For once it looks like sense has prevailed.”

If the applicants appeal it raises the spectre of a costly legal battle for Harrogate Borough Council, but Cllr Heslop believes there would be grounds to fight it.

At yesterday’s planning committee, Liberal Democrat councillor Pat Marsh referred to the government’s National Planning Policy Framework, which says, “permission should be refused for development of poor design that fails to take the opportunities available for improving the character and quality of an area and the way it functions”.

Read more:

If Vistry Partnerships and Yorkshire Housing do go develop a new plan for the site, people in Spofforth hope they will be able to have more of a say.

Cllr Heslop added:

“This plan was put on us and the wants needs and requirements of the village weren’t thought of at all. I would hope with this, [the developers] would have learned they need to work with the village not railroad over it. We won’t give in to another poor application.”

Andy Gamble, director of development at Yorkshire Housing, told the Stray Ferret it was considering its options.

“We are disappointed with the decision to refuse our application and await further details from the council, after which we will consider our options.

“Yorkshire Housing is passionate about creating new communities and delivering quality affordable homes that will help address the housing crisis and provide homes in Yorkshire.”

A Harrogate Borough Council spokesman said:

“Decisions made at planning committee are determined by councillors based on officers’ reports and information held on the application file. Officers do make a recommendation but it is entirely up to the committee how they vote on applications.

“In regards to an appeal, we would not comment on something that hasn’t even happened.”

Controversial 72-home Spofforth development refused

A controversial application to build 72 homes in Spofforth was today rejected amid claims it would turn the historic village into a “carbuncle of urban sprawl’.

Harrogate borough councillors voted 6 to 3 to reject the plans, even though a council report had recommended approval.

Developers Vistry Partnerships and Yorkshire Housing won outline planning permission for the scheme in March 2019.

The council’s planning committee met this afternoon to consider the appearance, landscaping and layout of the development — but such was the level of concern it rejected the scheme.

The developers will now have to decide whether to appeal — a move that could lead to a costly legal battle.

‘Urban sprawl’

Spofforth parish councillor Chris Heslop, a third-generation farmer in the village, said the proposals would not benefit local people. He said:

“Development must be in keeping with the village and not a carbuncle of urban sprawl.”

Andy Paraskos, the Conservative councillor for Spofforth with Lower Wharfedale, called the application “wholly inappropriate”. He said:

“The application is essentially creating an urban estate at the entrance to a historic village. It leaves too many questions around flooding, its impact on countryside and urban development.”

Since winning outline planning permission, the developers had altered the layout and density of the scheme and raised the level of the homes by over a metre to prevent flooding.

‘Struck a balance’

Stephen Hughes, planning manager at Yorkshire Housing, said the scheme “struck a balance” between reflecting the characteristics of Spofforth and ensuring views of the village were not damaged by the housing. He said:

“We have been pushed very hard by your officers to ensure the scheme design is of high quality and reflective of the characteristics of the village and conservation area”.

But councillors were unconvinced the scheme was sympathetic to the village.

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The Stray Ferret revealed this morning over 300 local people, Historic England, Natural England, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, the council’s principal ecologist, North Yorkshire’s highways, the Lead Local Flood Authority and Spofforth Parish Council had all raised concerns about the scheme.

Cllr Bernard Bateman, who represents Wathvale, said he would be refusing the plans to reflect the views of local residents. He said:

“Where do the residents come into the play? At end of the day, we are elected by the residents into Harrogate Borough Council, yet they have no say.”

Cllr Stuart Martin, who represents Ripon Moorside and voted against the refusal, asked the council’s legal officer Peter Atkinson to clarify if a refusal would risk a legal challenge because the council had already granted outline planning permission and the site was allocated for development in the council’s Local Plan.

Mr Atkinson confirmed it would and said the council would risk incurring costs.

Controversial 72-home Spofforth scheme set for green light

Developers have made changes to a 72-home scheme in Spofforth, as they look to get final plans approved by Harrogate Borough Council next week.

The development by Vistry Partnerships and housing association Yorkshire Housing was granted outline planning permission by HBC in March, despite over 250 local objections on issues including the design of the homes, flooding and congestion.

The developers have since amended the layout of the houses and say the site is now more reflective of the character of the village.

However, Shirley Fawcett, chair of Spofforth Parish Council, wrote to HBC about the new plans, saying the layout remained “crowded, urban and completely out of keeping with the village”.

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She added:

“One of the greatest concerns is the visual intrusion caused by the proposed artificial site elevation by 1.5 metres, which will visually impair the view into this conservation area at the key gateway to this historic village.”

A report published by HBC case officer Andy Hough recommends the plans be approved.

The council’s planning committee will meet on November 18 to decide whether it should get the final green light.

Major Pannal Ash development could lose football pitch for more housing

Homes England wants to scrap plans for a community football pitch at the former Police Training Centre on Yew Tree Lane, in order to increase the total number of homes on the site from 180 to 200.

It was originally planned that the football pitch would be used by local sports teams, and potentially adopted and managed by Harrogate Borough Council.

However, according to planning documents, Sport England and the Football Foundation have said they consider it “unlikely” that the pitch would be actively used, instead advising Homes England to consider using the pitch for more housing.

Homes England is the government’s housing agency and the owner of the site.

The new plans also reduce the size of a green space for residents called Central Parkland from 0.81 hectares to 0.41 hectares.

Homes England has instead agreed to pay £595,000 to improve facilities at Pannal Sports Ground. This includes a £100,000 contribution as compensation for the loss of the playing pitch.

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The site will now have 200 homes

It is the second time this year that Homes England has asked HBC to increase the number of homes at the development.

In 2018, the council granted planning permission for 161 homes to be built on the site. However, since then, the land was transferred from the Home Office to Homes England which, in June, submitted fresh plans to add an extra 19 homes to the development.

In HBC’s Local Plan, the site is allocated for 160 homes.

For decades, police recruits from all over the UK came to the site in Harrogate to train. It was closed in 2011 due to cost-cutting.