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19
Oct
Plans for 1,100 homes on huge Harrogate site to be unveiled
Plans to build 1,100 homes on 180 acres of land in Harrogate are to be discussed this week.
Land agent Hallam Land is considering a formal application to build the homes, as well as a primary school, local centre consisting of shops and services and a small employment zone next to Saltergate Business Park.
The development would take place on land to the east of Burley Bank Road and west of Oaker Bank.
As part of an initial consultation, representatives from Hallam Land will present the emerging proposals to Harrogate Town Council’s planning and regulatory committee at Harrogate Civic Centre at 5.30pm on Wednesday (October 21).
The presentation will last up to 20 minutes, followed by a further 20 minutes for councillors and members of the public to ask questions.
The 180-acre site near Saltergate Business Park. Image: Marrons
A letter from Hallam Land to the town council says the ‘emerging scheme’ is “intended to help meet North Yorkshire’s established and growing need for new homes”.
The letter adds there is “scope for extensive landscaping and sustainable travel connections through the site and to surrounding areas”.
It said the company intends to submit a screening opinion to North Yorkshire Council, the local planning authority, this week to determine whether the development would require an environmental impact assessment.
Harrogate Town Council would not determine any planning application but would submit its views as part of the consultation.
Hallam Land’s letter says:
This is not a planning application. Its purpose is to help establish the environmental and technical matters that will need to be assessed before any planning application and environmental statement is prepared.
Public consultation will take place with the local community in the coming months.
Who is behind the scheme?
Sheffield-based Hallam Land specialises in helping landowners secure planning permission then selling on the land at the enhanced value.
North Yorkshire Council is not expected to have an up-to-date local plan — a key planning document outlining where development will take place — until December 2029.
Not having an up-to-date local plan makes it more difficult for the council to refuse planning applications.
The Stray Ferret reported in December last year that Hallam Land had instigated the process towards building 1,100 homes — exactly the same number being proposed in Harrogate — at Tockwith Airfield, 600 metres from the site of the Battle of Marston Moor, where more than 4,000 people died in 1644.
On that occasion, the council ruled that an environmental impact assessment was required.
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