Council leader backs down on housing plan

2:47pm Friday 17th October 2008

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People power won the day at a stormy public meeting where outraged residents last night forced a council leader to back down on controversial proposals for more housing.

Craven Council leader Chris Knowles-Fitton pledged to cast his vote agains the Leeds City Region growth plan for the district when the full council meets on Wednesday.

Craven has been considering taking on the growth bid, which would mean agreeing to more house building - 300 a year instead of 250 until 2026 – and bring with it millions of pounds of Government funding for roads and a possible railway station.

But against a barrage of heckling and clapping Coun Knowles-Fitton said: "It’s very clear that there is a unanimous view that you don’t want a growth point bid.

"I’m not given to commenting like this but I will vote against this bid. It will be uppermost in my mind that to vote for something you are against would be the wrong thing to do."

His commitment came after more than an hour in which councillors and council officers faced an explosion of opposition from about 250 people from the villages of Cross Hills, Glusburn and Sutton..

Hundreds more angry residents, unable to get in, shouted their opposition from outside South Craven School hall at Cross Hills, near Skipton.

They were thanked for turning up by South Craven Councillor Steve Place, who told them they were unable to get in because the hall was "bursting at the scams."

"But at least people will see, by this huge turn out, that South Craven is passionately against this proposal," he said.

Back inside, Sian Watson, head of planning and building control, attempted to give the details of the proposal.

But she was howled down with comments like - "We are not here to hear this." "We’ve had enough houses built here." "Put them somewhere else – what about the national park?

People shouted they wanted to protect their village identities, they were worried about more traffic increasing the gridlock on roads, about the impact on schools and heath services.

When she tried to explain that the Leeds City bid was separate from the local development framework in which it was propsed to construct 250 homes, she was shouted down.

Amid the cat calls she said: "You just want to stand there and shout at us and not hear how we have got to this stage."

After two appeals for order to prevent the meeting turning into a shambles, she was allowed to go on and explained that the local development framework was still in its consultation process.

The proposal was to build 35 percent of homes in Skipton, 26 percent in South Craven, ten percent in Settle and Giggleswick, eight percent in Ingleton and Gargrave, six percent in High Benthan and 15 in the other villages.

She then stepped down for Coun Knowles-Fitton who blamed the Government for "moving the goal posts" on development and stressed the council was not being economical with the truth.

Despite people’s views he said new homes would get built in South Craven as part of the local development framework as had been the case over the last ten years.

• The council's decision will be covered in full in next Friday's Craven Herald