Plans to build 1,300 homes at Ripon’s army barracks approved

Harrogate Borough Council’s planning committee met this afternoon to consider an application from government housing agency Homes England, which has been developing the plans for several years alongside the Ministry of Defence.

Councillors were split over the schemes’ impact on roads in the city as well as if historical military buildings on the site, which were used during both world wars, would be protected.

Votes were tied at six for and six against moving the officer’s recommendation to defer and approve the plans subject to conditions.

This meant the committee’s chair, the Conservative councillor for Harrogate St Georges, Rebecca Burnett, cast the deciding vote to see the plans passed.

Clotherholme

The military is set to vacate the site in 2026 but phased work will now begin.

The scheme is called Clotherholme and also includes a new primary school, sports pitches, retail, food and drink units and a 60-bed care home.

The site is home to the Royal Engineers and consists of Deverell Barracks to the east, Claro Barracks to the west and Laver Banks to the south.

Homes England says 3,000 people will live there to increase the population of Ripon by a fifth, although this does not take into account the loss of military personnel that have lived in the community for decades.

It’s expected that all the homes would be built by 2035 and 30% will be classed as affordable.

Changes to junctions but no new road

Campaigners have long raised fears about the impact on local roads and there have been calls to include a relief road via Galphay Road but this was rejected.

Access to the site would be from Clotherholme Road and Kirkby Road.

Homes England undertook traffic studies that predicted if the homes were built there would be queues and delays at existing junctions, so changes to the Low Skellgate, Coltsgate Hill and Clock Tower junctions have been proposed as part of 28 changes to the existing road network.

A new roundabout would also be created at the junction of Kirkby Road andChatham Road.

‘Hell to drive through’

Liberal Democrat county councillor Barbara Brodigan spoke on behalf of Ripon Spa Residents’ Action Group against the plans.

Cllr Brodigan said she was not against the site being developed but objected to the number of homes proposed. She said a relief road should be built to accomodate any increase in traffic. She said:

“The city was founded 600 years ago and the layout of its streets and centre has hardly changed. It’s pretty to look at, but hell to drive through. The layout of the city’s streets was not designed for cars but for horses and carts and people on foot.”

Ripon Independent councillor for Ure Bank, Sid Hawke, said there was a question mark over the traffic surveys undertaken by the developer. He said:

“Have you been up Clotherholme Road at peak times? It’s absolute mayhem, you’re talking about putting 1,300 houses up there. Thats 2,000 cars on that road.”

David Rowlinson, speaking on behalf of the applicant, said highways and transport had been a “key issue” that Homes England and the MoD had worked through whilst developing the scheme. He said:

“We’re not new to this site, we’ve been working on it for five years. We’ve looked at this very thoroughly and worked with North Yorkshire County Council’s highways department to get their on-the-ground views. We feel we’ve robustly assessed the impacts and come up with the best solution possible for Ripon.”

“North Yorkshire County Council has confirmed there is no defensible reason to refuse the application on highways and transport grounds.”

Military history

The barracks were originally built as a convalescent camp for troops during World War 1.

Thousands were housed there including the wartime poet Wilfred Owen, who wrote some of his famous poems there.

Jane Furse on behalf of the Ripon Military Heritage Trust asked councillors to defer the plans until a strategy had been produced that protected from demolition two training bridges and a hut, which has been called one of the best-surviving World War 2-era prefab structures.

However, the bridges and the hut are not protected under planning laws.

Ms Furse gave a history of the military’s involvement at the site spanning two world wars and the Cold War.

She added:

“We request robost, enforceable conditions are imposed to protect our internationally significant heritage.”

Historic England raised ‘strong concerns’ over the demolition of the hut but it has been decided that it can’t be retained due to asbestos, which HBC officer Andy Hough called “extremely regrettable”.

Homes England said it is committed to working with Ripon Military Heritage Group on studies to resolve what happens to the buildings.

Mr Rowlinson said:

“We give a commitment that until issues are resolved and a strategy is developed, structures will not be destroyed. We’re happy to do that, we need to work through the process with the group.”

‘Evidence-based decision’

Conservative councillor for Ripon Spa and cabinet member for housing, Mike Chambers, who is also a former serviceman, said he supported “the majority” of the scheme but there are “clear issues” with the traffic assessment, so he would not be supporting the proposal.

Cllr Chambers claimed the changes to Low Skellgate junction, that will ban right turns, “will only seek to exacerbate the situation.”

Conservative council leader Richard Cooper, who was on the planning committee today as a subsititute, said rejecting the plans on transport grounds would risk a costly appeal.

In 2022, HBC had to pay £25,000 in costs after the authority was taken to appeal over its rejection of the Leon drive thru on Wetherby Road. Cllr Cooper said:

“You go and sit before an appeal and say to them ‘I drove down that road once and it was busy’, they’ll laugh at you. They did it with the Leon application, they laughed at us because there was no evidence to back up a refusal on traffic grounds and we lost the cost of the appeal because of that.”

Cllr Cooper added:

“If we aren’t a planning committee that basis our deliberations upon evidence, then we arent fit to be a planning committee at all. All our decisions should be evidence-based.”

The applicant has agreed to pay £4.694,875 to North Yorkshire County Council to go towards local primary and secondary schools.

It will also pay £907,267 to the NHS to support healthcare facilities.