A 224-home scheme at Whinney Lane in Harrogate has been recommended for approval by a council officer ahead of a meeting next week.
Councillors on the strategic planning committee will meet next Tuesday morning in Northallerton to have the final say on the plans by Banks Property, which would also see a new primary school created on the same site.
The site forms part of the allocation H51 in the Harrogate local development plan, which maps out where housebuilding is permitted in the district.
It is the first of two applications for H51 which could eventually see more than 700 homes built on the former farming fields. The site is adjacent to Lady Lane and close to the Squinting Cat pub.
The plans have been in the works for a long time after being submitted to the council in 2020.
The developer says 90 of the homes would be classed as affordable.
The closest bus stops to the site are 500m away on Beckwith Road.
Over the last few years, 130 homes have already been built on Whinney Lane and access to the site would be from a recently constructed roundabout.
The application received objections from Haverah Park with Beckwithshaw Parish Council, Pannal and Burn Bridge Parish Council and Harlow and Pannal Ash Residents Association.
They all cited a lack of investment in infrastructure such as roads.
The west of Harrogate could see around 4,000 homes built in total and the council has published two strategies aimed at easing the impact of development on local residents.
Pannal’s Conservative councillor John Mann also objected to the Whinney Lane proposals and said planning permission should not be granted due to the impact on the area’s narrow local roads, which had traditionally served farmers.
Cllr Mann said:
“Many of the residents are concerned about the cumulative effect of the several large housing allocations on the ability of the west of Harrogate transport network to cope with the increase in vehicle usage which will be a consequence of the 4,000 houses that will ultimately be built in the West of Harrogate.”
The site is located within the Crimple Valley Special Landscape Area (SLA) which was created to enhance the appearance of the urban edge of Pannal.
A council officer said in a report that the homes will make a “valuable contribution” to meeting the housing need in Harrogate, including the delivery of affordable housing.
Planning documents submitted by the developer urged the council to approve the scheme. They said the scheme will create an “integrated community with a sensitive relationship to the existing settlement edge of Harrogate and countryside setting.”
The meeting will take place at County Hall in Northallerton at 10am on August 13. It will be streamed live on North Yorkshire Council’s YouTube channel.
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