Roadside grass verge classed as 'public open space' on plans to build homes in Yorkshire village

Hambleton District Council’s planning committee agreed to postpone a decision over Brafferton Manor Farmers’ plans to build 28 homes off Boroughbridge Road in Brafferton-Helperby, to seek a cut in the number of properties on the site.

A meeting of the committee heard the principle of developing the site had been set by a government inspector, who had previously overturned the council’s decision to reject the scheme. That decision came after the developer appealed the council’s original ruling.

The appeal decision meant the remaining matters for consideration included the proportion of affordable housing and housing mix on the site, and issues such as design and flood risk.

However, Nigel Denison, chair of Helperby and Brafferton Parish Council, said that while the affordable housing included in the scheme was welcome, there was a widespread and major concern among local residents and the wider community about the entrance to the estate near a sharp, blind bend on Boroughbridge Road.

He told the meeting an extra 60 vehicles from the estate would be entering the road at a point where there had been a number of crashes with walls either side of the road, but that no road safety measures had been proposed in the wake of the incidents.

Mr Denison, a former chief of staff at the Infantry Training Centre in Catterick Garrison, said: “We would like to see some kind of action to reduce the risk to motorists in that area. This isn’t really a case of if there’s going to be an accident, it’s a question of when and how often unless some mitigation measures are put in place.”

Ward councillor Philippa James added: “There’s accidents there all the time. It’s a notorious spot. If this goes ahead it really does need some traffic control like a chicane.”

Nevertheless, the meeting heard neither North Yorkshire County Council’s highways department or the government inspector had proposed any traffic calming measures and, as the scheme had planning consent in principle, setting such conditions was beyond the powers of the council’s planning committee.

An agent for Brafferton Manor Farmers described the proposed estate as “low density” and that it featured “huge amounts of green space” – although it has since transpired that some of the green space is actually a sloping roadside grass verge.

He said while the proposed scheme featured 50 per cent affordable housing, if it featured four fewer properties, the proportion of affordable homes would have to drop to 30 per cent.

The committee’s chairman, Councillor Peter Barden said while the developers had set out plans for a public open space in the scheme, in reality the area was a sloping roadside grass verge.

He said: “There’s nothing to stop people, as it’s a public open space, using that, such as children, running down the slope across the footpath and onto the road. I think the whole site is crampt and overdeveloped.”