Relief road go-ahead could put town on way to £100m revamp

The second phase of the Brough relief road, which has been in the pipeline for over a decade, will free up up 100 acres of land south of the Hull to Selby railway line for development.

Last November developers outlined proposals for a 100m development, which will be phased in over 10 years, including up to 850 homes, as well as supermarket, hotel, pub and opportunities for new healthcare facilities.

But the project is deeply controversial in a town which has more than doubled in population in the last two decades.

Some feel Brough is already big enough it is and does not need developing further. Others say it is the only way to bring in new facilities.

An online petition against the plans has gathered 115 signatures so far.

One of the main arguments against is that there is already too much pressure on local schools, with catchment primary schools at Brough, Ellougton and Welton all oversubscribed.

When Elloughton cum Brough parish council voted on the relief road, the vote was split and the chairman of the parish council Kathleen Galbraith had to use her casting vote.

Coun Galbraith said yesterday: "There's a just a general need for facilities within the village. In my way of looking at it the best way of providing them would be if we could use the land south of the railway."

However former chairman of the council, parish councillor Bryan Davis said he was concerned that the area would end up a "big sprawling mass" with individual communities losing their identity.

Coun Davis, who is chairman of the Humber and Wolds Rural Community Council, said the site was earmarked for employment development until two years ago when the designation was changed by the local authority to mixed use, without consulting them. He was sceptical that they would end up with as many facilities as promised.

He said: "I came here 17 to 18 years ago and the population was less then around 5,000. We are now over 10,000 and this will push it potentially over 10 years to another 5,000. There is major, major opposition to more housing.

"Elloughton and Brough have already joined up and you could have Elloughton, Brough, Welton and into North Ferriby all joining into one. We are becoming a major town without necessary consultation."

East Riding councillor Anthony Galbraith, the husband of Coun Galbraith, said the community was split on the issue. However he believed the site should be developed: "We have got these huge new estates and we are suffering the consequences of that without having the corresponding facilities. The schools are bulging at the seams and the GPs have large patient lists and there's too much traffic round for the roads.

"I think on balance we ought to look for development to provide the missing facilities and I don't see any way of this happening without them taking the road over the railway and utilising the land to the south."

Planners are recommending that councillors defer the decision on the road, consisting of a single carriageway with a bridge over railway line and a roundabout at the southern end with three arms, is deferred while outstanding environmental issues are resolved, then approved.

Some 1.8m set aside by developers of land to the north of the railway some years ago will go towards the road, with developers and landowners of the site to the south making up the shortfall.

The 100-acre site is owned by Horncastle Group, BAE Systems and the Jordan family.

No one was available from the developers yesterday, but in an earlier statement they said the 100m investment would be a "huge boost" for the economy, creating around 550 permanent jobs, as well as providing services on the doorstep for local people.