Battle of Kingsley Drive: How residents reacted to new vote to approve 162 more homes in Harrogate

Disappointed residents who have been battling new house builds in their crowded area of Harrogate for five years have reacted with anger to councillors’ latest vote in favour of development.
By Graham Chalmers
Published 16th Feb 2023, 04:00 BST

Speaking after members of Harrogate Borough Council's planning committee voted by nine votes to two on Tuesday (Feb 14) to approve 162 homes at Kingsley Drive, local resident Catherine Maguire said she feared the new development - combined with lack of road infrastructure - might lead to:

- A school child being knocked down by rat running traffic on a morning.

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- Construction traffic having a serious collision with local resident.

Members of Kingsley Ward Action Group wearing campaign T-shirts outside Harrogate Civic Centre in a protest against the new Persimmon housing development. (Picture Gerard Binks)Members of Kingsley Ward Action Group wearing campaign T-shirts outside Harrogate Civic Centre in a protest against the new Persimmon housing development. (Picture Gerard Binks)
Members of Kingsley Ward Action Group wearing campaign T-shirts outside Harrogate Civic Centre in a protest against the new Persimmon housing development. (Picture Gerard Binks)

- An emergency vehicle being unable to get through the area.

- Residents having to wait so long for a doctors appointment that their condition worsens.

One of a string of individual housing developments by different builders since 2019 which have resulted in approximately 600 new homes in the Kingsley Road/Bogs Lane area and the loss of green spaces, Persimmon Homes saw a previous application for 217 homes refused in 2021. Since then, the house builder has reduced the number of homes in the development twice.

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It has also introduced renewable energy to some of the homes since the first refusal, including 92 homes with air source heat pumps to provide 100 per cent of the heating and hot water.

But Catherine Maguire, a member of Kingsley Ward Action Group – which was formed three years ago by a group of local residents – said the battle was not over.

The aim now was to secure as much of the remaining green space for community use as possible.

"Looking back after five years of fighting we have managed to reduce Persimmon Homes plans by by almost a third," she said. "Our mission is now to get Persimmons to agree to a large community parkland to benefit the whole community, perhaps using allocated section 106 funding, paid by developers for community infrastructure projects, which no residents in Kingsley have seen spent in our area so far."

Persimmon’s application includes a small play area on the site, which is identified for housing in Harrogate Council’s Local Plan, but residents want something bigger.

Related topics:HarrogateResidentsPersimmon HomesHarrogate Borough Council