Plans have been approved for 58 houses in a North Yorkshire village despite existing problems of sewage in the streets and being pumped into the local river.
Members of the Skipton and Ripon area planning committee agreed with the officer’s recommendation to allow the development on land off Moor Road, Bishop Monkton, when they met this week.
But councillors said they took the decision reluctantly after hearing about ongoing issues with the sewage system.
Councillor Dean Culshaw, chair of Bishop Monkton Parish Council, told the meeting that the village regularly flooded during heavy rainfall, with sewage escaping into the street.
He said:
“The surface and foul water infrastructure was designed and constructed in the 1900s when the village had 200 houses. Bishop Monton currently has over 300 houses.
“Yorkshire Water said openly that Bishop Monton is currently close to capacity. Since that statement, 30 more houses have been built or approved to be built.”
Cllr Culshaw added:
“It is disingenuous to say that capacity has not been reached, but nobody puts pressure on Yorkshire Water to prove it has capacity.”
The councillor added that Yorkshire Water had discharged into the River Ure from its Bishop Monkton site 184 times over the last 12 months.
He added:
“Yorkshire Water are clearly pumping sewage into the River Ure under normal circumstances because the infrastructure is not adequate.
“A 30 per cent increase in demand with no increase in capacity is a recipe for disaster.”
A previous housing scheme in the village was rejected by the planning committee, but was later approved by a planning inspector on appeal with the council forced to pay costs.
It was confirmed at the meeting that Yorkshire Water had not raised concerns that the latest development would exceed the capacity of the sewage system.
The committee was told that this meant councillors could not insert a condition that capacity must be improved before work started on the housing.
Councillor Andy Brown said the committee had no choice but to approve the scheme, which is within the village’s development limit and on land allocated for housing.
He added:
“This committee no longer has the power to represent the people who elected us.
“We’re driven by rules set way above us and if this site meets those rules, we’ve got no choice other than to pass it.”
Councillor David Ireton said he felt “sorry” for the residents of the village, adding:
“I’m going to move approval of the application regrettably.
“I think we have been let down by Yorkshire Water with their response when I’m sure they must have had letters, emails, and telephone concerns about the state of the sewerage in Bishop Monton for 20 years.”
Chris Megson, who spoke at the meeting on behalf of applicant Alfa Homes, said:
“The development proposals before you today are the culmination of many years of hard work and this has resulted in a technically robust high-level development which officers agree complies with the development plan.
“The scheme will give rise to a number of benefits, including the provision of 58 new homes, including 23 affordable houses and four bungalows, and significant financial contributions for infrastructure improvement.”
After approving the application, the committee agreed on a motion that called on Yorkshire Water to provide reliable assessments of system capacity when assessing developments in North Yorkshire in the future.
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