Council chief appeals for public support in village homes clash

Coun Neville Huxtable has spoken out after the local authority came under a barrage of criticism for the Sowerby Gateway project, to build more than 900 homes in the village on the outskirts of Thirsk.

Residents claim there has been a worrying lack of public consultation over the development, which is part of the council’s local development framework, saying it could cause Sowerby’s transport infrastructure to collapse.

Fears have also been raised by opponents about the lack of extra educational facilities for the hundreds of children the development will bring in.

But yesterday Coun Huxtable defended the plans to the Yorkshire Post and urged residents to realise the vital importance of building extra affordable accommodation in Hambleton, with at least 333 new homes needed a year up to 2016 to meet the critical need.

“We need more houses in Hambleton and across North Yorkshire,” he said.

“If we don’t build these houses there will be huge problems.

“More young people will need to live with their parents and employment opportunities will also suffer.

“What we have is a huge scope of problems and we have to overcome it somehow.

“We had very little response to that consultation when it was launched.

“But since planning applications were lodged for the scheme we have been deluged with complaints from local people who said they knew nothing of these plans.

“It is frustrating that people didn’t come along.

“Had they attended events at the very beginning I’m sure we could have overcome the problems that they are coming up with at the moment.

“I share some of these concerns and I am quite sure that they are valid.

“I don’t think at this stage we have got the final answer yet.”

The Sowerby Gateway development would provide 920 homes, 40 per cent of which are affordable, a new seven classroom primary school, employment opportunities and community facilities over the next 15 years.

Outline permission has already been granted to part of the scheme, which was first mooted back in 2007 and alongside the proposed £200m North Northallerton development master-plan, represents the biggest development ever to take place in the district.

More than 150 villagers attended a public meeting earlier this month over the proposals, voicing concerns about transport bottlenecks on the road into Sowerby and no extra secondary school provision being included in the scheme.

The Yorkshire Post understands that despite the storm of criticism from residents, an action group against the development has not yet been formed by residents.

Latest figures from the National Housing Federation show the average house price in the Yorkshire and Humber region is now £153,736, while the average income is only £19,000. In North Yorkshire, the scale of the problem is even more acute, average house prices standing at almost £210,000 while average earnings last year were less than £19,000.

The Yorkshire Post revealed earlier this month that experts were predicting a rising tide in homelessness across the “golden triangle” between York, Leeds and Harrogate, where average house prices are up to 12 times the rate of average income.

In Hambleton, at least 6,540 new dwellings are needed to address the shortage between 2004 and 2026 – with 1,491 of them needed in Sowerby and Thirsk and 68 annually over the next five years.