Plans for a new residential development to the south west of Harrogate are set to move forward after they won the support of North Yorkshire Council’s strategic planning committee.
Developer Banks Property has been progressing plans for the new Castle Hill West housing scheme on a 12.7 hectare site on Whinney Lane in Pannal Ash, which would include 224 new homes as well as a new primary school.
The proposals for the site, which was allocated for residential development in the Harrogate Local Plan, were recommended for approval from North Yorkshire Council’s expert planning officers.
Members of the Council’s strategic planning committee have been unanimously minded to follow that recommendation.
The Castle Hill West will include a 40% allocation of affordable housing and is located directly opposite the Castle Hill Farm residential development, for which Banks Property received planning permission in 2018 and which was subsequently built out by a regional housebuilder.
The development will also make substantial contributions to the expansion and improvement of local secondary education, healthcare and sports facilities, as well as transport infrastructure.
Gillian Reed, senior development manager at the Banks Group:
Having had a recommendation for approval from North Yorkshire Council’s expert planning officers for a site that is allocated for residential development in the Harrogate Local Plan, we are very pleased that the members of the Council’s strategic planning committee have unanimously supported that recommendation.
We worked with local community groups for a number of years, we’ve listened and we have provided reassurance about how development will work.
Castle Hill West offers a fantastic opportunity to deliver a wide range of new community facilities alongside 224 much needed new homes, 40 per cent of which will be affordable homes, as well as the supporting social, environmental and transport infrastructure that is an essential part of creating a thriving new community.
Land and resources will be made available within the development for the construction of a new primary school on the site, while substantial contributions to the expansion and improvement of local secondary education, healthcare and sports facilities, as well as transport infrastructure, will also be included.
The new government has stressed the importance of increasing the UK’s supply of high-quality homes, both to ensure people have the housing options they need in the places they want to live and to support the wider UK economy’s future growth, and the Castle Hill West site will now be part of meeting both these objectives.
We’re very grateful to all those who have backed our plans and will now look to move them forward as quickly as we can.
Cllr Michael Schofield:
The need for affordable and sustainable housing is very real. Unfortunately I don’t believe that these, like many other developments to not fulfil those needs.
Unless we start to look at infrastructures first as I commented in my election campaign, then we are only pushing forward to increase pressures on the NHS , Schools, Highways and society as a whole.
A house cannot be suitably built without substantial foundations and neither can neighbourhoods or towns grow successfully without first addressing the infrastructural requirements.
I have no issue with new homes as long as all the above are looked at first and implemented.
Cllr John Mann statement at the Planning Committee:
The west of Harrogate is expected to absorb nearly 4000 new houses which represents a quarter of the total for the whole of the Harrogate district. This astonishing number is reached by adding Local Plan housing allocations to previous committed developments. This number of new houses equates to the equivalent of a small town, annexed to the side of Harrogate, and is being built in a locality with the very weakest road and transport infrastructure, which comprises a network of narrow country lanes and former cart tracks that link various villages and farms.
The future impact of traffic generated by this large scale development is a particular concern for my constituents. All the communities in the west of Harrogate already experience severe congestion and the environmental and road safety problems caused by high existing volumes of traffic. Effective measures are essential to address this, and mitigate future increases in traffic, especially as so far, only 700 of the scheduled 4000 houses have been built.
The road infrastructure strategy presented with this planning application consists of a number of junction mitigations and minor road widenings along Otley Road and the rat run through country lanes that leads to Burn Bridge and Pannal and on to the A61.
A total of 4000 new dwellings means that we could ultimately be absorbing over 6000 additional cars, 2500 of which would be on the road in the peak hour – in terms of road capacity we are trying to pour a quart into a pint pot.
I therefore urge the committee to reject this application.
However, if the committee is minded to grant the application, I would ask for the following changes to be made to the Infrastructure Delivery Schedule:
Please expedite and speed up the delivery of the scheduled improvements to the Leeds Road / Follifoot Road traffic lights as there are huge queues in both directions in the rush-hour.
Please expedite and speed up the delivery of the scheduled improvement to the Marks & Spencer‘s junction as there are capacity issues with this junction resulting in huge tailbacks in the rush-hour
Please expedite and speed up the delivery of the scheduled improvement to the Rossett Green Lane/Green Lane/Leadhall Lane Junction as the new housing will cause a significant increase in traffic at this junction
Lastly, please traffic calm and reduce speeds on Hill Top Lane, Hill Foot Lane, Church Lane and the bottom half of Yew Tree Lane leading to Spring Lane.
For further information on the Castle Hill West residential development proposals, visit www.banksgroup.co.uk/castlehillwest
