CRAVEN councillors will next week consider the draft version of the area's long awaited development plan.

The consultation, draft Craven Local Plan will go to Wednesday's Spatial Planning Sub-Committee, and - if acceptable to councillors - it will go out for six weeks consultation on the following Monday.

Monday's spatial planning sub-committee was told, following consultation, it was planned the plan - which sets out development aspirations until 2032 - would then be submitted to the council's Policy Committee and Full Council in September.

The 'publication draft' plan will then go out for a final six weeks consultation before being submitted to the secretary of state in early December.

With detailed examination of the plan, it was estimated it would be formally adopted around July next year.

Councillors were told that once the document had left the council, it would be in the hands of the secretary of state and not possible to be exact in when it was likely to adopted.

Government guidelines had been used to estimate the time period, and a small buffer built in, but it was for now just a 'guesstimate'.

Sian Watson, spatial planning manager, said an enormous amount of work had gone into the plan, and the last two major pieces of evidence work had been completed.

They were the viability assessment - without which the plan would be rejected straight away - and the highway modelling report.

Highways consultants concluded just two road junctions in Skipton would need improving if the local plan in terms of new housing and development was implemented.

Although four in the town would operate at 'over capacity' if all 214 new homes per year were built across Craven, just the Gargrave Road/A65 roundabout, and the Harrogate Road/A65 junction would need work.

The council's aspiration to seek 40 per cent affordable housing on new housing developments was found acceptable as part of the viability assessment.

Mrs Watson said it was clear the council could use the 40 per cent as a starter point, but there was room for negotiation on specific sites.

And she added: "The challenges we are getting at the moment is whether we have that right to have that starting point, and the evidence we have at the moment is yes, we do have that right."

Wednesday's meeting of the Spatial Planning Sub-Committee will take place on Wednesday at the council offices, Belle Vue Square, at 6.30pm.