Crucial meeting over former Yorkshire police HQ delayed for two months after complaints of council 'incompetence'

Members of Hambleton District Council’s Planning Committee were due to meet today to decide whether to allow Newby Wiske Hall, near Northallerton, to become a children’s holiday centre.

But after being told residents had not had access to certain key documents relating to the meeting, officials decided to delay the meeting until May 29.

“We have listened to what local people have told us about not having had sufficient time to consider the documents and feel that the best way forward to ensure that the planning committee is able to make a sound decision is to delay this meeting,” said Deputy Chief Executive, Mick Jewitt.

Members of Newby Wiske Action Group (NWAG), which was last year awarded legal costs against the district council over flawed planning procedures, said while it had published the officer’s report on one section of its website, the overwhelming majority of residents had been unable to find it as it was not published on the planning portal section.

NWAG member David Stockport said: “This is exactly a repeat of one of the issues that we took to judicial review after the last time the plan was considered. It is incompetent.

“You would think when a council has been taken to judicial review at a cost of about £50,000 to the taxpayer they would learn.”