Councillors approved 224 homes at Whinney Lane in Harrogate today which will also see a new primary school built.
The 12-hectare site is opposite the Squinting Cat pub on the edge of town and forms part of the allocation H51 in the Harrogate local development plan.
This document was agreed by the now-defunct Harrogate Borough Council in 2020 and maps out where housebuilding is permitted in the district.
The scheme put forward by housing developer Banks Group is the first of two applications for H51 which could eventually see more than 700 homes built on the former farming fields.
A second application is expected to come before councillors later this year.
North Yorkshire Council’s strategic planning committee this afternoon in Northallerton to consider the first application.
It will see 40% of the homes classed as affordable and all homes will be fitted with air-source heat pumps.
Banks Group said the scheme will help to meet a high demand for homes in the area.
But with up to 4,000 homes expected to be built in the western side of Harrogate there has been much debate about the impact it might have on the local road network.
Local Tory councillor John Mann said the number of proposed homes was “astonishing” and equates to a small town being “annexed” onto Harrogate without the appropriate infrastructure in place.
David Siddans from Harlow and Pannal Ash Residents Association said the group was not against housing being built at H51 but that proposals to improve roads in the area were inadequate.
Mr Siddans said:
“It leaves transport performing worse than at present with queues and delays leading to a worsening economic performance.”
However, a council officer said traffic modelling had suggested the scheme will not have a negative impact on roads around Whinney Lane.
Justin Hancock, planner at Banks Group, said the company was “extremely proud” of the scheme which he said will meet the needs of the community.
He said the developer has worked alongside the council on the West of Harrogate Parameters Plan and the West Harrogate Infrastructure Delivery Document which has resulted in more money being pledged towards infrastructure.
Mr Hancock added:
“We worked with local community groups for a number of years. We’ve listened and provided reassurance about how development will work.”
Banks Group will pay North Yorkshire Council £2.9m through a section 106 legal agreement towards local roads but Cllr Richard Foster (Conservative, Wharfedale) said he was disappointed that this won’t be spent on any immediate improvements.
An officer told councillors that Transdev’s number 6 bus will eventually run down Whinney Lane and into the site but this won’t begin until homes are built and residents have moved in.
With the site allocated for development in the local plan, Labour councillor for Northstead in Scarborough Eric Broadbent said the application “shines” when compared with other large schemes that have recently come before the council.
Cllr Broadbent added:
“It’s refreshing to have an application where everything has been looked at. A lot of hard work has gone into it.”
Chris Aldred (Liberal Democrat, High Harrogate & Kingsley) said he sympathised with local residents regarding transport but there were “a lot of good things” about the scheme.
Cllr Aldred said:
“People want to live in Harrogate and they’ll pay above market rate to live here. That’s why developers want to develop here and we have a line up of schemes coming on board.”
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