Public to be informed over £1bn base growth

Plans to transform Catterick Garrison have provoked fears over the impact the development will have on Richmondshire's transport infrastructure.

Senior officials from the Ministry of Defence, North Yorkshire County Council and Richmondshire District Council will meet the public to outline proposals.

The Garrison Area Partnership Forum will also discuss the impact of other major developments across four of Richmondshire's parishes – Scotton, Colburn, Hipswell and St Martins. Other major developments include plans to build hundreds of homes at Colburn.

Richmondshire District Council's deputy chief executive, Tony Clark, will be at the meeting which starts at 6pm on Thursday, May 20, at Catterick Leisure Centre in Gough Road.

He said: "We want to provide people with the full facts to have an informed debate, as mis-information can cause a great deal of problems.

"Concerns have been raised over the impact from a series of major developments, especially the proposals to expand Catterick Garrison. It will have a big impact on the area, but we want to outline the plans to the public in detail."

The forum, which is one of five partnerships set up across Richmondshire, normally debates a range of issues, but this month's event has been devoted solely to the topic of transport to deal with the public's concerns.

The proposals to transform the centre of Catterick Garrison have been hailed as a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" as part of the wider development of the town's military base over the next two decades.