Maltkiln development, Harrogate: Council to submit plans for 4,000-home town and two schools near Yorkshire villages next month

Harrogate Borough Council worked on the Development Plan Document (DPD) for several years before handing it over to the unitary authority due to local government reorganisation. The potential 4,000-home town and two primary schools would be constructed near the villages of Cattal, Whixley, Green Hammerton and Kirk Hammerton.

As the site is the largest allocation for housing in the Harrogate local plan, the council has a major say in how the scheme is developed. Wetherby-based developer Caddick Group has been chosen to build and sell the homes. According to a report prepared for councillors ahead of a meeting next week, the draft DPD “sets a clear and ambitious thirty-year vision” for Maltkiln.

It includes details of the site’s boundaries, how the scheme will be developed alongside local transport infrastructure and how homes will be built to combat the effects of climate change. If, as expected, the document is submitted to the secretary of state in February, it will be scrutinised by a planning inspector who will judge whether the scheme is viable or if changes are needed to be made to the DPD.

This will take place at a public meeting which the public can attend, similar to when a local plan is examined. But whether the scheme continues in its current form remains to be seen after a key landowner who owns fields around Cattal train station, making up around half of the proposed site, pulled out last year.

The council’s Conservative-run executive agreed last month to consider compulsory purchasing the land as a “last resort” if the landowner doesn’t change their mind. This led Kevin Bramley from Hunsingore, Walshford with Great Ribston & Cattal Parish Council, to compare the housing scheme to HS2, which saw its northern leg scrapped despite millions being spent on compulsory land purchases.

The draft DPD is available to read here.

Before the draft DPD is submitted, it will be debated by a council committee on Tuesday. It will then go to the executive and finally full council on February 24.

The report said: “The development of a new settlement known as Maltkiln is a key part of the Harrogate District Local Plan’s growth strategy, providing much needed homes and jobs in a sustainable location along the York-Harrogate-Leeds rail line.

“The broad location of the new settlement was established in the Harrogate District Local Plan (adopted 2020), but the plan states that the boundary, form and nature of the new settlement will be set through a development plan document (DPD).

“A draft DPD has now been prepared which sets an ambitious thirty-year vision for Maltkiln and a policy framework to guide how it is developed. Its evolution has been underpinned by evidence base work, community involvement and public consultation.

“The next and final stage of the DPD process is submission to the secretary of state for an examination in public. This will allow independent scrutiny of the DPD and allow a further chance for communities and stakeholders to influence the process and the final DPD. If adopted, the DPD will provide a robust framework for the Council to guide and manage the long-term development of Maltkiln.”