Decision today on Harrogate Tesco and two major housing schemes

Councillors will decide today whether to allow a new Tesco supermarket and two major housing schemes be built on the outskirts of Harrogate.

Tesco has applied to build a supermarket, petrol station and 209 car parking spaces on the site of the former gasworks off Skipton Road.

Persimmon Homes has submitted plans to erect 162 homes off Kingsley Drive and another developer, Jomast, wants to build 53 homes off Knox Lane in Bilton.

Harrogate Borough Council officers have recommended all three scheme be approved. But the Conservative-controlled planning committee will vote whether to approve or reject each recommendation. They could also defer a decision to request further information.

The meeting, which begins at 2pm, can be watched live on the council’s YouTube page here. People can also watch the meeting at the council offices at Knapping Mount.

The Stray Ferret will also cover the meeting.

Concerns about committee chair

Kingsley Ward Action Group, which campaigns to protect green spaces in the Kingsley area, where several hundred homes are in the process of being built, has written to members of the planning committee expressing concerns about the role of Cllr Rebecca Burnett, who chairs the planning committee.

The action group claims Cllr Burnett, a Conservative who represents Harrogate St Georges, has a “disclosable interest” in Kingsley planning matters, according to the council’s own planning code of good practice, which states members living “close to an application site” should — subject to an exception — declare it and leave the room while the application is discussed. The code says:

“A member who lives close to an application site, will usually have a disclosable interest to declare under the Code of Conduct. This means that, subject to the exception referred to in paragraph 1.5 (ix), they cannot take part in the decision and must declare the interest and leave the meeting room. A member in these circumstances may not stay to listen to such an application even if they are not a member of the committee making the decision. This may also be the case if a relation or friend of the member lives close to the application site or where the relative or friend has submitted the application.”

Cllr Burnett’s address listed on the council website is within about half a mile of the proposed Persimmon site.

The action group is desperate to prevent further development in Kingsley. The Stray Ferret has contacted the council and Cllr Burnett repeatedly to get a response to its claims but has not received a reply on the issue.

As chair, Cllr Bennett had the casting vote in favour of the 30-home Kingsley Farm scheme when the planning committee met last month and was tied 6-6 on whether to approve the scheme.

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Harrogate councillors approve sixth Kingsley housing scheme

Harrogate Borough Council‘s planning committee has approved a sixth housing development in the Kingsley area after a heated debate today.

The committee was split 6-6 on whether to accept 30 new homes at Kingsley Farm. It meant Rebecca Burnett, the chair of the committee, had the casting vote in favour.

It means more than 600 properties will be built in the Kingsley ward, where residents have already expressed exasperation at the scale of development and lack of supporting infrastructure.

Most of today’s debate centred on access to the site even though council case officer Kate Broadbank said the meeting should focus on the general principle of development. Access, she said, would be debated at the later reserved matters application for ironing out the details.

Ms Broadbank said there would be access roads to the development from Kingsley Road and Hawthorn Place. Creating the access road on Kingsley Road would, she said, require the removal of a stone wall and a ‘small number of trees’, which she said would be replaced.

Chris Aldred

Cllr Chris Aldred speaking today

Cllr Chris Aldred, a Liberal Democrat who represents the area on North Yorkshire County Council, said the new access road on Kingsley Road would go through an orchard and mean there would be five junctions in the space of 150 yards.

He called for the decision to be deferred, adding:

“There’s no planning necessity for this site now. We have enough houses in Harrogate already. We can work on this slowly but surely.”

A local resident, Matt Hodgson, told the committee “access remains crucial at this stage when discussing the suitability of the site”.

‘We have listened’

Speaking on behalf of the applicant Quarters Kingsley Ltd, David Williams said it was a small local developer working alongside the landowner, who has owned the site for 100 years.

Mr Williams said it was a former chicken farm that had become an “overgrown wasteland” that had “no purpose”

David Williams

David Williams speaking at the meeting

He said the applicants had already agreed to reduce the number of home from 49 to 30, adding:

“We have listened. We are doing everything we can to make a positive contribution to the area.”

Doctors and dentists

Pat Marsh, the Liberal Democrat councillor for Harrogate Hookstone asked if there would be any increased provision for doctors and dentists in the area.

Ms Broadbank said ‘there will be a contribution’ through the section 106 agreement which developers sign to pay for infrastructure associated with their schemes but where it was allocated would be a matter for the NHS.

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All six councillors in favour of the scheme were Conservatives. Three Liberal Democrats, two Conservatives and one Independent opposed the recommendation to approve the principle of development on the land.

After the scheme was approved, Cllr Burnett berated Cllr Marsh for saying ‘shameful’.

“Can we have less bickering from the committee? I don’t think we need to hear ‘shameful’ shouted out when we have taken a democratic vote from all members of the committee.

“When things don’t go your way I don’t feel it’s acceptable for you to do that.”

 

Harrogate Borough Council leader reshuffles top team

Harrogate Borough Council’s Conservative leader Richard Cooper has made changes to his top team, 10 months before the local authority is abolished.

Cllr Cooper has appointed Cllr Sam Gibbs, who represents Harrogate Valley Gardens, as cabinet member for the environment, waste reduction and recycling brief on his six-person cabinet.

Rebecca Burnett, who represents Harrogate St George’s, has been appointed chair of the planning committee, which makes decisions on major housing and development projects.

Ed Darling, who was elected in Knaresborough Castle, is the new chair of the 12-person licensing committee, which can grant or refuse alcohol and Hackney cab licences.

Sam Gibbs

Cllr Gibbs, who has represented Valley Gardens since 2018, will replace Cllr Andrew Paraskos.

Collecting household waste is one of the council’s biggest responsibilities and this year it will be trialling wheelie bins for housing recycling.

According to the Richmond Conservatives website, Cllr Gibbs is employed as the constituency agent for Chancellor and Richmond MP Rishi Sunak.

He is also a county councillor, winning the Valley Gardens & Central division in this month’s local elections.

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Rebecca Burnett

Rebecca Burnett replaces Cllr John Mann as chair of the planning committee.

Cllr Burnett has been a councillor since 2014 but will be stepping down from local politics when the council is abolished in April 2023.

She was the cabinet member for planning from 2015 until 2020, during the formation of Harrogate district Local Plan 2014-35, which allocates over 13,000 new homes for building in the district up to 2035.

Other appointments

Ed Darling will become the new chair of the licensing committee, replacing Cllr Victoria Oldham, who will become the council’s final Mayor.

The Stray Ferret asked Cllr Gibbs, Cllr Burnett and Cllr Darling for comment but none responded.

The committee memberships will be confirmed at next week’s full council meeting. Read the full list here.

Councillor’s departure ‘will not affect’ High Court judicial review

Harrogate Borough Council has said the departure of its cabinet member for planning will not affect an upcoming judicial review over its local plan.

Cllr Rebecca Burnett, who was appointed to the position in 2015, stepped down yesterday with immediate effect.

Cllr Burnett oversaw the development of the borough’s local plan, which caused controversy after the council picked Green Hammerton over Flaxby for a 3,000 home settlement..

Residents in the village campaigned against the decision up until the plan was adopted in March 2020 and wrote to Cllr Burnett earlier this month “to express our disappointment and grave concern about the process of creating the new settlement development plan document”.

The borough council confirmed that Cllr Burnett’s had left to concentrate on her full-time job as marketing manager at bus company Transdev Blazefield.

But the news comes just a week before the borough council is set to appear before the High Court in London for a judicial review with developer Flaxby Park Ltd.

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The developer has claimed the council’s decision to choose Green Hammerton over its site in the local plan was based on “flawed information of a scant, conflicting and contradictory nature”.

Both Flaxby Park and Cllr Burnett have had a fractious relationship. In 2018, the company submitted a formal complaint to the council over “several factually misleading statements” regarding the basis for policies with in the then draft local plan.

The company wrote to her again in March 2019 over “a series of defamatory statements” made on the reopening of Golsborough Railway Station, but later decided not to make another complaint.

A spokesperson for the borough council said Cllr Burnett would not be involved in the hearing next week and that her departure would not affect proceedings.

Conservative councillor Cllr Burnett previously worked in Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones’ office as a caseworker.

Cllr Burnett will continue to serve as a councillor for the Harrogate St Georges ward in Rossett, a position she has held since 2014.

Cllr Tim Myatt has now been appointed as cabinet member for planning.

Harrogate district’s cabinet member for planning steps down

Harrogate borough councillor Rebecca Burnett has stepped down from her role as cabinet member for planning.

The council said in a statement today Ms Burnett had left the position with immediate effect to concentrate on her full-time job as marketing manager at bus company Transdev Blazefield.

She will be replaced by High Harrogate councillor Tim Myatt.

The news comes just over a week before the council is due to begin a judicial review in London’s High Court with the developer Flaxby Park Ltd.

Conservative councillor Ms Burnett previously worked in Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones’ office as a caseworker.

Cllr Burnett will continue to serve as a councillor for the Harrogate St Georges ward in Rossett, a position she has held since 2014.

She was made cabinet member for planning in May 2015, taking over from Cllr Michael Harrison, and oversaw the development of HBC’s local plan, which was adopted in March 2020.