A MAJOR new housing estate of around 140 homes can be built on the outskirts of Skipton.

Outline plans for the development, on fields off Knaresborough Road - at the top of The Bailey - and stretching down to Otley Road were approved on Monday by Craven District Council’s Planning Committee.

Developers of the scheme will have to return with a fully detailed ‘reserved matters’ application which will have to be approved before work can start, and also pay £15, 000 towards work on junction improvements with the A65, where last year a 20 year old motorcyclist died in a collision with a car.

Chris Calvert, of The Pegasus Group, told the meeting that there had been no objections from statutory bodies, including the highways authority, that it was a sustainable site and that there was a need for housing. Some 30 per cent of the homes will be affordable and there will be cycle and pedestrian links together with the main access, off Knaresborough Road.