Developers at station site ask to cut size of new homes

DEVELOPERS BEHIND a scheme to convert a former railway station site which played a role in arming British soldiers ahead of D-Day have made the unusual move of asking for consent to build smaller houses than ones they have consent to build.

More than three years after being given permission to build 42 homes, including 17 four-bedroom homes in West Tanfield, near Ripon, Wetherby-based developer Berkeley DeVeer has reapplied to Hambleton District Council after finding the market for executive-style homes has become saturated.

The move follows concerns raised by councillors over the scale of properties and amount of affordable properties which developers are seeking to build to meet the housing needs of younger residents and families.

Councillors approved the scheme, welcoming a £149,000 off-site recreation contribution from Berkeley DeVeer. In May 2018, the developer announced prices for properties would range from “£275,000 for a three-bedroom semi-detached house to £460,000 for a superior four-bedroom home”.

In documents lodged with the council, the developer has applied to build 11 more three-bedroom homes and six fewer fourbedroom properties at the site of the former Ripon to Masham line station, which closed to passengers in 1931.

The firm said demand for the four-bedroom homes on the site is lower than had been anticipated. During the Second World War ammunition storage in the area increased the number of trains passing through Tanfield and in it was particularly busy in the build up to D-Day in 1944.