Planning document adopted after bitter wrangle

Selby District Council has formally approved the Core Strategy document, which will shape business and housing development over the next 14 years as well as paving the way for millions of pounds of investment.

The move brings to a close a hard-fought and costly chapter for the cash-starved council after the document had to be suspended in the autumn of 2011 following concerns by a Government-appointed planning inspector over house-building targets.

The inspector acknowledged fears from Yorkshire’s oldest brewery, Samuel Smith’s, and others that the council expanding into green-belt land to meet housing targets, and excessive growth planned for Tadcaster, represented deficiencies in the proposals.

But the council’s executive member with responsibility for place shaping, Coun John Mackman, claimed yesterday the document will act as the foundation for attracting new enterprise and building critically needed homes.

He said: “This is a significant document which sets out the strategic framework not just for planning but also for investment decisions and business and housing growth for the district in the long-term. It’s taken a tremendous amount of work over a number of years to get us to this stage, but we now have a document that will set the pace for business and housing growth to 2027.

“Our Programme for Growth investment is centred on supporting business development and new jobs, as well as giving people access to the housing they need - and the Core Strategy is a vital part of helping us deliver on all these important issues.”

The development plans outline sites for commercial and industrial development, but the proposals to build new homes are seen as key to the over-arching strategy. There are about 1,900 new homes already in the pipeline in the Selby district which have planning permission, which leaves about 5,300 to be identified on new sites. But the council expects the population in the district to grow to nearly 100,000 from its current 82,000 by 2017.

The strategy identifies the need for up to 128 acres of employment land across the district, including the £300m Olympia Park project, which accounts for nearly half of the total area. The regeneration scheme to transform derelict land to the north of Selby and create 1,000 new homes and more than 2,000 jobs is one of the biggest developments the district is likely to witness this century.

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