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But the HEDNA report was published four years after Harrogate’s draft Local Plan was withdrawn, and in that time more than 6,000 homes had been given planning permission.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

Read more:

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.

New bid for 170 homes in Knaresborough

Fresh plans have been submitted for 170 homes at Water Lane in Knaresborough after a previous application was refused last year.

Landowner Geoffrey Holland’s application would see homes built on the north-eastern edge of Knaresborough, 2km from the town centre.

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’.

The new application has reduced the number of homes by 48 to 170, with 40% classed as affordable.

This is still more than the 148 homes allocated for the site in the Local Plan, which was adopted in March this year.

The application proposes 19 x 1-bedroom, 70 x 2-bedroom, 55 x 3-bedroom, 24 x 4-bedroom and 2 X 5-bedroom properties and 170 car parking spaces.

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Other housing developments have been granted planning permission to the north of Knaresborough over the past couple of years. These include 78 homes by Persimmon off Orchard Close and 78 homes by Avant Homes off Bar Lane.

In September last year, the council overturned its own decision to allow Gladman Developments to build 175 homes on Bar Lane.

The public has until November 22 to comment on the Water Lane development before the plans go before the council’s planning committee.

Bilton mother claims council housing system is flawed

A Bilton woman has criticised the system Harrogate Borough Council uses to allocate housing.

Courtney Barrass has been on the waiting list for a council property since her private landlord gave her notice to leave in April.

Ms Barrass has a partner, an eight-week old daughter and dogs and believes her domestic situation may have counted against her.

She claimed she was aware of some single parents who had received a house much quicker and urged the council to “prioritise situations better”. She said:

“They really need to sit back and look at the system. Maybe take the single people out of their three-bed houses to open up more options for families.
“I’m worried I’m going to be homeless. They don’t care about mental health or how situations will or already have affected us. We are just numbers on paperwork and it’s sickening.”

Ms Barrass alleged that when she first approached the council about going on its housing list a council worker told her that if she were evicted it would push her up the queue.

She stopped working while she was pregnant and she and her partner struggled to pay all their bills, so they didn’t pay any rent — only to then be told they were in rent arrears by the landlord and given notice to leave.

Because it did not have a home to move the family into, the council initially paid 75 per cent of the rent but this reduced to about 40 per cent when her baby arrived, she said.

Damp

The damp in Courtney’s flat in Bilton.

Ms Barrass said her landlord had been understanding about her situation but she didn’t know how long it would last, or how long she could wait for a council house.

“The council’s only interest seems to be trying to get me to stay in this house, which is full of damp and I cannot afford it.

“How many more times will I have to contact them and panic not knowing if I’ll get my rent paid next month? It’s a joke.”

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A Harrogate Borough Council spokesperson said it was unable to offer a specific comment about Ms Barrass’ situation. The spokesperson added:

“Properties are allocated via a points system, reflecting housing need. Applicants with arrears may be deemed as not qualifying for social housing, or may be deferred for period of time.

“We urge anyone who finds themselves in challenging circumstances to contact our housing options team as soon as possible. Anyone who finds themselves at risk of losing their home altogether should contact us sooner rather than later.”

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

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.

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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.