Plan to build hundreds more homes at Beverley proposes shutting historic lane into town to cars

A planning application has gone into East Riding Council on behalf of Bellway Homes for 306 homes on fields and a former nursery garden off Long Lane.

Long Lane will be stopped up with bollards at the point where a new access to the site from Woodmansey Mile will cross it, according to plans submitted online.

There will be an informal crossing point for pedestrians, cyclists and horseriders, while people driving to homes to the south of Long Lane will use “new roads to be provided by the development proposals and those to be delivered within the wider (housing) allocation”.

Long Lane is said to be the original road from Hull to Beverley, which meandered down to the village of Thearne where it branched off to the former ferry at Wawne.

Chariman of Beverley Civic Society Dick Lidwell said the latest proposal had been "news to him" as the original masterplan of 2016 proposed traffic lights, which would only allow estate traffic onto the new development, not Long Lane.

He believes cyclists and horseriders will appreciate the lane becoming a greenway, adding: "It will improve it for cyclists, cars tend to go quite fast even though there's a speed limit."

However there hadn't been consultation and "it seems to have just slipped in".

He said: "I'm sure there will be some Beverlonians who will certainly regret not being able to drive into Beverley that way.

"I think Beverlonians will be surprised to hear it's happening and I think you will find opinion is divided."

The majority of the new homes will have three or four bedrooms, but the plans also include 76 affordable properties, with one, two or three bedrooms, “pepper-potted” across the site and “indistinguishable” from those sold on the open market.

It is claimed the development will deliver a £43m “construction investment” to the area over the eight-year build period.

The land is allocated for housing development a part of the Local Plan blueprint.

It is expected that the houses will be built at a rate of at least 40-a-year and will deliver “much-needed new homes in a sustainable location”.

The site once formed part of the deer park owned by the Archbishop of York which then passed into agricultural use.

There have been no significant structures on it from at least the late 19th century.

A spokesman for East Riding Council said: "This is a live application which was submitted to the council recently and is currently out for public consultation which will end on 25 June.

"Anyone wishing to view or comment on the application can do so by visiting the Public Access website - https://newplanningaccess.eastriding.gov.uk/newplanningaccess"