Bilton councillor Paul Haslam has expressed his pride at the efforts of local residents who unsuccessfully fought at a planning inquiry against 53 homes being built on Knox Lane.
The controversial scheme in Harrogate will now go ahead after a planning inspector overturned councillors’ original decision to refuse the development last year.
North-east-based Jomast had been developing the plans for several years and argued the homes would be in a good location and meet local demand.
But they were met with committed resistance from residents who mobilised a campaign and submitted more than 500 objections to fight the plans.
Ahead of the inquiry last month, North Yorkshire Council took legal advice and decided not to fight the appeal.
At the meeting, this led to the unusual sight of a row of council officers sitting in silence for two days whilst around ten different residents attempted to argue why the scheme should be refused.
The inspector was critical of the council for not contesting the appeal and said the system expects officers to put up a fight, regardless of the chances of winning.
The residents who spoke were largely laymen but there were experts on hand including Keith Wilkinson MBE and Dr Damian Bowen who tackled conservation and contamination respectively.
Paul Haslam (Independent, Bilton & Nidd Gorge) told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the inspector’s decision was “incredibly disappointing” but he was “immensely proud of the fight the residents put up.”
He said:
“We knew it was an uphill fight. The inspector put the most weight on the fact that the location was in the Harrogate district local plan.”
The local plan was approved in 2020 and was voted for by all but one of the councillors on the former Harrogate Borough Council, including Cllr Haslam.
But many councillors have argued they were put in a difficult situation with no choice but to vote it through.
This was because if the council did not have an active local plan as it did for a spell during the 2010s, it would lead to a free-for-all situation where developers could essentially build where they wanted.
North Yorkshire Council has begun the process of creating a county-wide local plan that will replace the Harrogate plan and it asked landowners to submit potential sites for inclusion this year.
Cllr Haslam urged residents to get involved with the local plan process and scrutinise sites that are put forward.
He said:
“I believe that any future local plans must have greater inspection by the public at the time if we are to accept primacy of local plans.
"For example, a citizens assembly on the local plan, by region that could be based on past districts, of North Yorkshire.”
The inspector also ordered North Yorkshire Council to pay Jomast as yet undetermined costs for the appeal and inquiry.
Jomast was represented by a barrister and also enlisted several planning experts at the inquiry, who will now see their fees reimbursed by the council.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked Jomast if it was able to give a figure on how much the possible costs could be worth but we did not receive a response.
However, other similar appeals across the country have led to councils being forced to pay a significant five-figure sum.
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