New 50-home estate approved for town after three years of talks

ANOTHER HOUSING estate near a heavily congested road has been given the go-ahead in North Yorkshire’s fastest growing town after three years of negotiations.

Richmondshire District Council’s planning committee approved a proposal to build 50 homes to the north of Heatherdene Road in Catterick Garrison on the remaining land of a former military hospital, which had been part of the area’s original post-First World War Army base development.

The decision marks the latest in a series of housing estates to be given the green light off the A6136 Catterick Road from Colburn to Catterick Garrison, an area many residents say needs bypassing as the authority’s target includes 1,900 new homes in the town between 2012 and 2028.

While the developers had said bringing the derelict land back into use was “a primary goal” as it would result in a parcel of land for future use that protected fields from harm, their initial plans for 64 homes on the 1.2-hectare site had drawn significant concerns over residents’ quality of life.

Officers told the meeting the revised plan would see 34 terraced and semi-detached homes and 32 per cent affordable housing in the form of 16 two-bedroom flats in two blocks developed.

Councillors were told the amended proposals featured designated areas of public open space and “landscaping buffer areas”, including a village greenstyle area around which the houses and apartment block would be sited. They was told another issue raised over housing developments in the area – off-street parking – would be overcome with a mixture of driveways and integral garaging for individual properties, while parking for the flats would be provided in front of each block.

After the meeting, Colburn councillor and leader of the authority, Coun Angie Dale welcomed efforts to ensure access to the estate would be safe, with a focus along a popular route between Coronation Park and the housing estates due to the number of children that use it.

She also praised actions to ensure sewerage connectivity and capacity would be improved, which she said was one of the biggest issues facing the area.

Coun Dale said: “This is land that needs developing and has been in the pipeline for a long time. The council’s officers have worked hard on it to get this development down to acceptable numbers of houses.”