Residents say plans for almost 100 new houses would turn their North Yorkshire village into a "town with no services".
Villagers in Dishforth, between Thirsk and Ripon, have hit out at government targets for new housing after being informed of a proposal for up to 98 new homes.
The outline application is being drawn up by developer Caddick for land off Topcliffe Road.
The government has set a target of more than 4,000 new homes a year for North Yorkshire — up from 1,384.
Dishforth Residents’ Group has vowed to fight the scheme in their village and has claimed the housing target for the county is a “threat to rural life”.
The group says the village has already seen two new estates built in recent years and has gone from 200 homes in 2018 to nearly 350 in 2025.
Resident Lindsay Gudgeon added:
“Dishforth has provided many new homes to help the UK’s housing crisis in recent years, but as a rural community, built around farming, we need to be realistic.
“No additional services were added as a result of the new houses, so we have a very limited public bus service and no shop, meaning everyone has to travel by car to access essential services.
“Dishforth is not suitable for further development at this scale and I fear the village would be taken away from those of us who moved here to enjoy rural life and turned into a town with no services.”
Villagers claim there are more than 20 houses currently for sale in Dishforth, and say the developer’s claim that the area needs more housing is not credible.
According to the residents’ group, a leaflet drop on the plans by Caddick missed “many” homes, while its own survey found that 93 per cent of 216 people who replied were opposed to the scheme.
In a response to the concerns of the residents’ group, Caddick said Dishforth had been identified as a service village and a location for new housing in the Harrogate District Local Plan 2014-2035.
A spokesperson added:
“Dishforth contains services that are akin to, or indeed greater, than those found within other service villages.
“Given the scale of housing growth that North Yorkshire is required to deliver (particularly within the former Harrogate borough), the availability of services within the village and its proximity to the larger settlements of Ripon, Thirsk and Boroughbridge, it is considered that Dishforth represents an appropriate location for accommodating a very small amount of the borough’s overall housing need.”
Caddick said it had employed a courier to deliver the consultation leaflets to every home in the village.
The company confirmed it had been contacted by some residents who advised they did not receive a leaflet but had provided feedback online.
North Yorkshire MPs and council chiefs have lobbied the government over the county’s housing target, claiming it is putting unprecedented pressure on rural land.
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