Derelict cricket pavilion in Yorkshire to be demolished ahead of plan to build 480 homes

The government’s housing agency Homes England is behind the housing scheme which covers 28 hectares of largely green fields off Otley Road in Harrogate. The homes would wrap around horticultural charity Horticap.

A mix of one, two, three, four and five-bedroom houses are proposed for the site. Homes England says 40% of the houses will be allocated as “affordable”. An outline planning application was submitted last year but it is yet to receive final approval.

However the developer asked North Yorkshire Council if it could demolish several buildings on the site and the authority confirmed this month that it can. It means that five timber buildings accociated with a former stables will be demolished as well as a small shed and a stone barn on the site. A cricket pitch formerly used by Pannal Ash cricket club will also be demolished.

However, under plans submitted by Homes England, the development is set to include a new cricket pitch on the site and the club will return to using it.

Documents state: “The wider proposals for the Bluecoat Park site include a new cricket pavilion and cricket field, which will provide a new home for Pannal Ash Cricket Club and will allow them to return to the site. Alongside the proposed residential development and cricket facilities, a football hub is also proposed. These sporting facilities will provide much higher quality sporting facilities in this area, which will help encourage an active and healthy lifestyle.”

The section of Otley Road approaching Harlow Hill is set to be transformed by up to 1,500 homes over the next decade. The Bluecoat Wood site has been mooted for housing for many years and Homes England took it on after a previous plan fell through. The former Harrogate Borough Council Local Plan, which is still binding, says that the Windmill Farm site on the other side of Otley Road can also be developed.

Plans for 770 homes and a new primary school were submitted last year by Anwyl Land and national housebuilder Redrow Homes. The site also includes space for self-build homes, but there have been long-standing fears from residents that the services that people rely on will be put under further strain by the new developments.

The Western Arc Coordination Group is hopeful a council-led document called the West Harrogate Infrastructure Delivery Strategy (WHIDS) will go some way to ensuring investment takes place into roads, schools and healthcare before much of the homes are constructed, but it has faced a series of delays which has frustrated residents in the group.