Housing Archives - Page 48 of 51

Housing developers pay £1.2m to fund Harrogate projects

Harrogate Borough Council charged housing developers £1.2m in 2019/20 to fund infrastructure projects, such as children’s play equipment and village halls.

The figure is revealed in the council’s first infrastructure funding statement.

The statement includes details of section 106 payments, which developers pay as part of the planning process to fund infrastructure that residents will use.

A report to councillors revealed that of the £1.2 million generated, the council has so far collected £550,000.

Almost £200,000 of this has already been spent on schemes such as children’s play equipment, allotments, cemeteries, open spaces, village hall improvements and outdoor sports repairs around the district.

Examples of specific projects include: improving the toilets at Killinghall village hall, improving a multi-use games area in Kirkby Malzeard, installing planters in Darley and erecting village signs in Little Ouseburn

Harrogate Borough Council’s section 106 payments relate only to open space, village halls and affordable housing.

Developers also pay section 106 payments to improve education, roads and public transport but these are collected and monitored by North Yorkshire County Council.

The report also reveals the council has collected £2.4 million in section 106 payments from previous years, which it has not yet spent.

The document says section 106 payments can only be spent when the final payment from a development has been received.

It also says it keeps the money to “avoid the risks associated with developers going out of business”.

The report is expected to be rubber-stamped by the council’s cabinet member for planning, councillor Tim Myatt, on Tuesday.

37 homes in Ripon look set for go ahead

Thirty-seven houses look set to be built on the site of former warehouses in Ripon after Harrogate Borough Council granted outline planning permission this week.

Prime Talent Ltd submitted plans to demolish vacant buildings at the Old Goods Yard, 2 Hutton Bank, which were previously used by companies such as Millennium Windows and Power Plastics, and build the homes.

Originally, 43 homes were mooted but the number was reduced after concerns were raised about the loss of the site for employment use.

An updated scheme was put forward with fewer homes and six units, which can be used by local businesses.

In August 2019, the council’s planning committee deferred approval to the chief planner subject to conditions, which included the completion of a legal agreement that dealt with the number of affordable homes.

Councillors also asked for a study on how the homes would be protected against subsidence.

Because the development involves bringing a vacant brownfield site back into use, the developer was able to apply a vacant building credit.

The government introduced vacant building credits to encourage developers to bring back into use previously developed sites containing vacant buildings by reducing the number of affordable homes they are obliged to build.

This reduced the number of affordable homes for this development to six, which is 16% of the development.

Normally on brownfield sites, the council asks developers to include 30% affordable housing.

As the site is in an area that may be subject to gypsum-related subsidence, developers undertook a study that recommends using rafting foundations on the buildings to mitigate any potential subsidence issues.

The developer is now set to submit a reserved matters application, which deals with the site’s appearance and types of homes.

120-home Knaresborough development to begin this month

Work is set to begin this month to build 120 homes in Knaresborough after Yorkshire Housing purchased the site from Gladman Developments.

The 18-acre site on Boroughbridge Road is allocated for development in Harrogate Borough Council’s Local Plan and planning permission was granted in August last year, despite objections.

Yorkshire Housing, which is a housing association, hopes the two, three, and four-bedroom homes will begin to be ready in January next year.

Andy Gamble, director of development at Yorkshire Housing, said:

“The 120 new homes will be mixed tenure and will provide homes for shared ownership, affordable rent, rent-to-buy and market sale.

“We want to continue creating new communities that bring more, much-needed homes to Yorkshire where our customers are proud to live and call home.”

Scriven Parish Council said the homes would result in “saturation” for Knaresborough and its facilities when the plans were submitted.

The objection said:

“Knaresborough is under tremendous pressure and the historic market town, which all the residents recognise and enjoy, is being destroyed by over development.”

Former Yorkshire pub of the year could be turned into a home

A former winner of the Yorkshire Pub of the Year title could be turned into a five-bedroom home.

The Crown Inn pub in Great Ouseburn won the prize at the White Rose Awards in 2011 but plans have now been submitted to convert it into a family home.

The proposals include four first-floor bedrooms, two with en suites, as well as a guest room on the ground floor. There would also be a cinema room and a single garage, with the proposals including creating a two-storey extension.

The full details can be viewed on the planning section of the Harrogate Borough Council website, using reference 20/04342/FUL.

The pub has been vacant for several years, closing in June 2016. The village, which is five miles from Boroughbridge, is currently served by one pub, the Lime Tree on Branton Lane.

In October plans were submitted to convert the Green Tree pub in nearby Little Ouseburn into housing. The pub, which is on the main B6265 from Green Hammerton to Boroughbridge, closed in late 2019.

Ripon housing development on old industrial site refused

Harrogate Borough Council has refused a 13-home development in Ripon city centre due to its impact on local heritage.

Red Tree Developments wanted to demolish buildings at the site of the former NY Timber yard to build the homes.

The site on Trinity Lane was home to a timber yard from 1860 to 2018.

Red Tree bought the 0.64-acre plot, which is adjacent to the listed buildings, Holy Trinity Church of England Junior School and St Wilfrid’s Catholic Church, from Cairngorm Capital for an undisclosed sum this year.

In the planning application, the developer said the timber yard, which is not listed, must be replaced due to its “poor state of repair”:

“In order to create a high-quality residential scheme which achieves all of the required standards it is essential that the building is replaced.”

The building in 1929.

However, Christopher Hughes, chairman of the Ripon Civic Society objected to the plans and said the structure should be retained due to its historical importance.

He said:

“It’s an important survival of Ripon’s industrial heritage and its importance is underestimated and in this application totally overlooked.”

The council’s chief planner John Worthington refused the plans which he said would cause “unacceptable harm” to the Ripon Conservation Area. He also criticised the plans for offering no affordable homes.

The Stray Ferret asked Red Tree Developments for a response but we did not receive one at the time of publication.

‘We couldn’t afford to buy a home in Knaresborough’

In previous generations, getting on the housing ladder for a young couple with steady incomes was a given.

But in today’s housing crisis, it’s a pipe dream for too many people, particularly in high-value areas like Knaresborough and Harrogate.

Married Knaresborough couple Steph Getao, 32 and Scott Gibson 35, spent three years looking for their perfect property in Knaresborough and Harrogate — but failed to find one within their budget.

It forced them to look further afield and they recently purchased a two-bedroom house with a conservatory and garden in Allerton Bywater, a village south-east of Leeds.

At £175,000, Steph said the home was much cheaper than similar properties locally.

Scott works for an electrical manufacturer in Boroughbridge and Steph works in an office in Harrogate. Steph told the Stray Ferret it was “upsetting” that they couldn’t buy a home closer to Scott’s hometown.

She said:

“We both love it here. He has his childhood friends here. It was so depressing. It was either get what you can in Knaresborough or Harrogate or have a choice and look further afield.”

According to property website Rightmove, the average property price in Knaresborough last year was £320,000

In new housing developments, Harrogate Borough Council demands that 40% of all homes are classed as “affordable”.

The government defines affordable as homes sold at a discounted rate, homes for social rent, or through shared ownership schemes.

Steph dismissed shared ownership schemes as a “different face of renting” and questioned how “affordable” these homes really are.

“An affordable home was £200,000 plus. I don’t understand what they mean by affordable. You can’t put that amount of money down and call it affordable.”

Steph is a director of Knaresborough Community Land Trust, a not-for-profit organisation that is hoping to develop a disused area in the town centre into three flats as affordable housing.

Such initiatives provide small scale solutions. But for Knaresborough to flourish, Steph says the town needs young people to stay and put down roots.

She added:

“Without young people, Knaresborough will get more and more sleepy. The high street is basically all old dear shops! Knaresborough needs its young.

“Scott’s parents and aunts all have houses locally, then you go to the next generation and we’ve all moved out of Knaresborough [due to house prices].

“You’ve got to do what’s best for your pocket, so we went Allerton Bywater. I wish we had more local people being able to purchase within Knaresborough. If we had an influx of young people, we’d see a change in the high street immediately.”

Harrogate sees biggest increase in new homes in 20 years

There was a net increase of 975 homes in Harrogate during 2019/20, the biggest increase in at least 20 years.

The latest figures were published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and show a sharp rise in new housing compared with previous years.

The figures go back to 2001/2 and cover new builds, conversions, changes of use, and demolitions.

in 2018/19 there was an increase of 682 and in 2017/18 it was 611 — but in the ten years prior the average figure was 291 homes a year.

The figures show the impact of Harrogate’s Local Plan, finally adopted earlier this year after over a decade of wrangling. The plan calls for 637 homes to be built in the district every year until 2035.

Last week, the Stray Ferret published a major investigation that explored the impact of the Local Plan on the people living in Harrogate, Knaresborough and Ripon.

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

Spiralling house prices have affected people like Megan McHugh, 24, who has lived in Harrogate all her life. She told the Stray Ferret it’s “heartbreaking” that she cannot afford to buy a house in her hometown.

She said:

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

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.”

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.

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.

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.

Tomorrow : More than 26,500 extra cars on the road: one local man says congestion is putting him out of business
Friday: Climate change: why the district’s new homes are already out of date when it comes to the environment

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

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Goosander fears

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Minimise impact on birds

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Schools places

Doctors’ surgeries

Read more of our housing investigation:

Developers avoided paying for infrastructure