Ripon councillors consider judicial review on 1,300-home Clotherholme plan
Ripon City Council is to take legal advice on the merits of seeking a judicial review of Harrogate Borough Council’s handling of the 1,300-home Clotherholme planning application.
The Homes England development on Ministry of Defence land at Claro Barracks, Deverell Barracks and Laver Banks was granted outline approval on February 23 on the casting vote of planning committee chair and Conservative councillor Rebecca Burnett.
This came after votes were tied at six for and six against supporting a recommendation to defer the plans to officers for approval subject to conditions.
At the planning meeting no reference was made by officers to a traffic assessment commissioned by Ripon City Council in 2020, because of fears that additional vehicle movements generated by the barracks scheme would cause permanent gridlock across Ripon.
A subsequent report from the consultant, who carried out the assessment, contained recommendations on a range of mitigation measures that could be taken at key junctions and traffic hotspots to reduce pressure on Ripon’s roads.
In the light of the report, the city council called on Homes England to reduce the number of houses in the development to an initial 800, with the option to seek approval for a further 500 once the traffic impact of the first phase of the scheme had been assessed.
At Monday night’s full Ripon City Council meeting, Independent council leader Andrew Williams said:
“It is clear that our traffic survey and the correspondence that we had with Harrogate Borough Council planners was totally ignored.
“They have ridden roughshod over the wishes of people living in the city, leaving them with a potential problem to deal with for years to come.”
Ripon Liberal Democrat county and city councillor Barbara Brodigan told the meeting:
“I attended the planning committee to speak on behalf of the Ripon Spa Residents Action Group about the concerns we have about traffic, but it appeared to me that this was a done deal.
“The city council’s own traffic assessment wasn’t even raised by officers.”
City councillors unanimously supported a proposal put by Cllr Williams and seconded by Cllr Brodigan, to take initial legal advice on the merits of seeking a judicial review of Harrogate Borough Council’s handling of the planning application.
At the February 23 planning meeting, David Rowlinson, speaking on behalf of Homes England, said:
“We’re not new to this site, we’ve been working on it for five years. We’ve looked at this very thoroughly and worked with North Yorkshire County Council’s highways department to get their on-the-ground views.
“We feel we’ve robustly assessed the impacts and come up with the best solution possible for Ripon.
“North Yorkshire County Council has confirmed there is no defensible reason to refuse the application on highways and transport grounds.”
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Plans for 1,300 homes could leave Ripon in ‘perpetual gridlock’Homes England will not be allowed to ‘ride roughshod’ over the wishes of people in Ripon and must renew consultation with the city council.
That was the unanimous view this week of elected members, who have described the proposed traffic plan for the 1,300-home Clotherholme development on the barracks site as ‘unacceptable’.
Speaking at Monday’s city council meeting, Conservatives Stuart Martin and Mike Chambers, who are also district and county councillors, joined Conservative parish councillors and the ruling Independents in voicing concerns.
Cllr Martin said:
“At the outline planning stage, this is the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we have to get things right on the traffic front.
“If we don’t, the city will suffer the consequences for years to come.”
City centre roads ‘at capacity’
Cllr Chambers added:
“The city centre roads are at capacity and we must make it known to Harrogate Borough Council that this plan does not work and will not work, if Homes England doesn’t come forward with new traffic mitigation measures.”
Homes England, which is the government housing agency also owns the West Lane site in Ripon where 390 homes will be built by Taylor Wimpey after outline planning permission was granted last month.
City council leader Andrew Williams said:
“Between the two sites they have almost 1,700 houses and I recommend that we say we are willing to accept 800 homes at Clotherholme and hold back on making a decision on the other 500 until this council is satisfied that Homes England has properly and thoroughly addressed the traffic issue.
“We will not allow people who don’t live in Ripon to make decisions from afar that ride roughshod over the wishes of local residents, who don’t want a city that is in perpetual gridlock.”
The busy junction of Somerset Row with High and Low Skellgate, where vehicles would not be able to turn right under the Homes England traffic plan.
“One of the unacceptable proposals in the plan is to prevent traffic at the junction of Somerset Row with Low Skellgate from turning right, meaning a detour for thousands of motorists a week.”
Cllr Williams’ proposed staged approach to handling planning for the Clotherholme scheme, was supported by all councillors, who also called for Harrogate planners and Homes England to come to the city council to hear the views of members.
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Cllr Pauline McHardy said;
“We haven’t met with them for over a year and it’s about time for them to get around the table with us, so we can let them know about the concerns people from all parts of the city are expressing about the traffic impact that the barracks site will have.”
Support for Ripon Military Heritage Trust
Prior to their discussion about the Clotherholme scheme, Christopher Hughes, chairman of Ripon Civic Society and Alan Skidmore, a trustee of the the Ripon Military Heritage Trust, addressed the council.
They provided an update on proposals to seek protection for historically-significant structures at the barracks site, which are currently threatened with demolition to make way for the new homes development.
It was agreed that in its correspondence with Harrogate planners, the city council will confirm that the trust’s proposals have the unanimous support of the council.
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