Anger at 280-home plan for greenfield site

9:18am Friday 2nd May 2008

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Schools and services would be unable to cope with a planned housing estate in Skipton, it is claimed.

Skipton Properties wants to build around 280 homes, including some affordable houses, on farmland at Elsey Croft, between Moorview Way and Otley Road.

�They�re trying to bulldoze a small village in there.�

Craig Bradley

The plan, which was revealed in detail last week, has been hailed as a community, eco-friendly scheme including large open areas designed to encourage social interaction.

But residents of Wensleydale Avenue, near the site, say it should remain undeveloped.

Craig Bradley said local people felt the new homes would put an unbearable strain on schools and other services in the area.

"There is only one serving primary school in the area and that is oversubscribed. All the facilities will be overstretched," he said.

Mr Bradley said the development would change the nature of Skipton. "They're trying to bulldoze a small village in there," he said.

"We object because of the sheer size of the development and that it is a greenfield site. The environmental impact of this size of development will be huge."

He added that residents had received a letter informing them that there was a plan to build around five homes on the site and no more.

"At the end of the day, it is a greenfield site and development is something that should not be rushed into," he said "I do understand that affordable housing has to be found, but there are other affordable houses being built in Skipton at Keighley Road and at Broughton Road."

At Skipton Town Council's Environment and Planning Committee last Thursday, councillors said they needed more information about the scheme before they made an official comment.

Some councillors said it would be premature to comment about the plan before the expected July publication date of the area's planning blueprint, the Local Development Framework.

Members resolved to invite district council planning officer Helen Signol to a meeting to discuss the application.

Skipton Properties says the homes, mostly two-storey family houses, will be arranged in groups accessed via walkways and with a central communal area.

It says the development will be a "low-carbon, sustainable community" based on principles of sustainable living. It adds that it would be a desirable place to live because of its aims to create community cohesion, identity, ease of movement and integration with its surroundings.

The plan was first revealed at a public meeting at the end of last year. An application to the council was rejected because of insufficient detail.

A new outline plan has now been successfully lodged with the council and is currently out to consultation until May 16.

l Brian Verity, managing director of Skipton Properties, this week attended a ceremony in Keighley to mark the start of a £65 million project to build homes on the site of the former Grove Mills.

The scheme, billed as the most ambitious the town has ever seen, will transform the mill complex into townhouses and apartments.