More than 2,000 people have their say on Craven housing plan

The district’s draft Local Plan, detailing potential sites for new homes and development in the area, has been the subject of an eight-week consultation which has now closed.

The next step, say councillors at Craven District Council (CDC), is to sort through responses to draw up a final preferred list.

“Everything has been taken into account,” said Coun Richard Foster, leader of the council and lead for affordable housing.

“The previous consultation received a similar number of comments and we’ve acted on these and made recommendations.

“At the end of the day, people have had a look at all sites now. We know we’ve got some room, we’ve got more in the plan that we actually need.

“This should give us an idea of now of people’s opinions. Hopefully there will be some consensus.

“We do have to build some houses. There’s no doubt about that.”

The Local Plan and its policies, setting out how land should be used to achieve economic, environment and social goals, will shape planning applications including housing, retail and employment uses up to 2032.

Comments on the draft plan were received from residents, developers and public bodies, with the majority concerning specific sites.

David Smurthwaite, strategic manager for planning and regeneration, said: “We would like to thank everyone for the time they have taken to make their comments on the draft Local Plan. All of the comments are being collated and will be used to shape the final version.”

The preferred list of sites will be considered by the Spatial Planning Committee in July, before a period of informal consultation on the preferred sites list.

The draft is to be formally published in September, before it is submitted to the Secretary of State for Examination in December.