Inquiry into plans for 200 new homes

A PUBLIC inquiry will be held in the spring after a housing developer accused Barnsley Council of delaying a planning application for more than 200 new homes.

The hearing could have a significant impact on the council’s plans to develop sites in the Royston area in the next 15 years on such a large scale that the authority is developing a ‘masterplan’. That document is still being drawn up, however, and a developer with a planning application for housing off Lee Lane has now gone to the Planning Inspectorate because Barnsley Council has not made a decision in an acceptable timescale. The situation is complicated because the authority did not want to start making planning decisions before the masterplan was in place and understood the developer was willing to work to the council’s timescale.

Days ago, two similar masterplans were adopted to cover a large site bounded by Pogmoor, Gawber,

Higham and Barugh Green and another in the Hoyland district.

The council insists those masterplans – which set out responsibilities such as providing new roads, schools and affordable housing – are needed to prevent a free-for-all among developers, who might otherwise avoid making the correct level of contributions to the areas involved. The outcome of the Royston public inquiry will be significant because if the developer succeeds, it will mean it can press ahead with work without the controls in place the council wants.

There is no legal requirement to have masterplans in place, but a year ago the council adopted its Local Plan, which opens up swathes of land for housing and economic development over 15 years.

The masterplans are seen as a way of controlling development in the areas affected.