The government has awarded Harrogate Borough Council almost £100,000 to help turn three brownfield sites in Pannal, Ripon and Sharow into social housing.

Harrogate is one of 15 councils to receive funding from the £75m Brownfield Land Release Fund, which aims to build more affordable homes.

The three sites to be awarded funding are council-owned garages that HBC wants to demolish and replace with social housing. These are:

Holmefield Road in Ripon (£35,000), Church Close in Sharow (£30,000) and Pannal Green in Pannal (£30,000).

The plans for Ripon and Sharow have already received planning permission.

In October, HBC was awarded £50,000 from the same fund to bring forward housing on two underused garage sites in Bilton and Knaresborough.

A council spokesperson said: 

“This is a fund specifically aimed at the cost of infrastructure requirements on council-owned land.

“By helping meet these costs, sites will become viable for development, either by the local authority directly or by private developers, enabling the site to be placed on the open market.”

Read more:

• 52 social homes built in Harrogate despite 1,800 households stuck on waiting list
• Government awards Harrogate £50,000 for housing on underused garage sites

The Harrogate district has an acute shortage of homes built for social rent.

Last month The Stray Ferret reported that just 52 social homes were built last year in the Harrogate district, despite there being 1,867 households on the social housing waiting list.

Lib Dem leader on Harrogate Borough Council Cllr Pat Marsh, who also sits on the council’s planning committee, said the council needs to be more proactive instead of relying on developers to build them.