Controversial plan to sell off Colburn lorry park for just £7,000 delayed

A decision on a controversial plan to sell off a lorry park to prevent a residential area being used as an open toilet and instead use the site to improve facilities for young people has been delayed.
The entrance to Colburn lorry parkThe entrance to Colburn lorry park
The entrance to Colburn lorry park

Richmondshire District Council will investigate alternatives to a proposal to sell its well-used lorry park in Colburn to its town council for just £7,000, on the proviso it is used for a community purpose.

A Colburn Town Council spokesman told a district council meeting that a dearth of faclities for young people in the area had led to an antisocial behaviour order being imposed for two years.

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He said the lorry park site would help serve the aspirations of youths in Colburn, which has been ranked among North Yorkshire’s most deprived communities.

The spokesman said the area suffered from “disgusting” waste left behind by lorry drivers, but the introduction of a skate park and a small building for youths to meet at the site would instead provide a positive influence on young people.

The spokesman added lorry drivers would be able to park at the planned A1(M) junction 52 motorway services area at Catterick when it was completed, a claim which has been disputed by hauliers who say such lorry parks are not suitable for sleeping.

Councillors heard the proposal had angered residents in neighbouring parishes who feared the lorry park’s closure would exacerbate overnight lorry parking issues they already faced.

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Councillor Melva Steckles, chair of Brough St Giles Parish Council, called on the district council to examine the possibility of creating a lorry park in Catterick Garrison.

Coun Steckles said: “With the best will in the world, even when the new motorway service station is open at Catterick and there is lorry parking provided we will still have parking issues in our parish.”

She described the difference in value the district council had stated the lorry park site was worth – £200,000 if it was sold for housing, but only £7,000 if it was sold for community use only – as “eye-watering”.

Coun Steckles said: “The value of the site belongs to the residents of Richmondshire through the district council and selling it off for £7,000 is not right.”

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A Hipswell Parish Council spokesman told the meeting the fact that the district council had removed toilets from the lorry park and not replaced them was “a failure of its own making”.

Before the proposal could be debated councillors agreed a decision on the site should be put off until the council’s February meeting so officers could get information about alternatives, such as the cost of providing toilet and shower facilities there and the volume of overflow lorry parking in the area.