Outline plans for green-belt homes are approved

OUTLINE PLANS to build up to new homes on green-belt land in a village on the edge of Nidderdale have been approved.

The proposal for 39 properties, which received 121 objections and one letter of support, is the latest in a line of applications to be submitted in Hampsthwaite in the last year, with a total of more than 200 new homes proposed.

And 56 houses - many of which carry a price tag of more than £500,000 - are in the process of being built on rural land in the village.

At a meeting of Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee yesterday, 11 councillors voted in favour of the scheme, with two against and one abstention.

Terry Mounsey, the chairman of Hampsthwaite Action Group, which was set up to fight the recent barrage of applications in the village, said it was frustrating objections were “being ignored”.

He said: “They haven’t taken into account the cumulative effect. This is one of three or four sites that have been proposed that could have a devastating impact on the village. We will continue to fight.”

In the application that went before councillors, officers said there was an annual requirement for 669 houses in the district. They added that the development site has already been proposed as a housing allocation for a similar number of homes within the council’s draft Local Plan. They also said up to 15 of the homes would be “defined as affordable”.

Last week, the North Yorkshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England said villages constantly faced applications for large expensive properties despite an urgent need for affordable homes.