Villagers in Bishop Monkton say climate change has led to increased flooding in their village over the past decade — and two housing developments, with a total of 125 new homes, will exacerbate the problem.
Bishop Monkton Action Group was formed two years ago to raise awareness in the village about a 98-home development on Moor Road by Alfa Homes and 25-homes by Kebbell Developments on Knaresborough Road.
The group’s members are residents Kenneth Barker, Jonathan Beer, Harvey Bigg, Martin Minett, Raj Selvarajan and Bob Upton.
Both sites in the village, which is five miles south of Ripon, were allocated for development in Harrogate Borough Council’s Local Plan, which means they are likely to be approved in some form.
But the action group is holding out hope that they will be dismissed outright because surface water at the two sites will run off into Bishop Monkton Beck, a small river that runs through the village.
Major implications
The group says freak flood events are becoming more common in the village.
One resident submitted an objection to both developments that said from 2011 to 2020 the village faced nine days of floods, which was the same as the previous 50 years combined.
A spokesperson for the action group said
“The wider cumulative impacts of these developments will have major implications to the village in our view.”
The Alfa Homes proposal
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Flood risk assessment
A flood risk assessment submitted on behalf of Alfa Homes says surface water from the development will be discharged into Bishop Monkton Beck, which the Environment Agency classes as a river.
The developer said it has factored in a 30% increase in rainfall due to climate change but the risk of flooding would remain low.
A flood assessment submitted on behalf of the smaller Kebbel Developments scheme said surface water run-off into the river “will not increase flood risk elsewhere.”
That scheme will store water in a tank before it is discharged into the river.
However, members of the action group fear the two schemes, as well as a plan to increase the number of caravans on a local holiday site, could make flood events like those seen in 2015 and 2020 worse.
The two applications have almost 300 objections between them, with many people citing fears about flooding in the village.
North Yorkshire County Council, which is the flood authority, said HBC should refuse the application on flood grounds. It said:
“[The development] will ultimately increase the risk of flooding and exacerbate an already flood prone area; potentially further jeopardising people, property and critical infrastructure.”
Mike Mulligan, director at Kebbell Developments, sent the following response:
“The site is allocated for residential development in the adopted Harrogate Local Plan and therefore the principle of development has already been established. The comments and concerns of local residents on surface water flooding are noted and our engineers are liaising with the relevant bodies on the detailed design of the on-site attenuation and drainage scheme.
“We can confirm that the surface water drainage scheme for the development will meet all the necessary requirements. The key principle of the scheme is to ensure that the surface water is attenuated on the site in a large storage tank before being slowly discharged into the Beck at an agreed discharge rate.”
Afla Homes did not send a response at the time of publication