Rethink on affordable homes after ‘fierce’ opposition to sites

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority has announced the final draft of its 15-year housing development plan which is seen as key to addressing a critical shortage of affordable homes.

Grave concerns have been repeatedly voiced that the younger generations who have grown up in the Yorkshire Dales are being priced out of the property market.

But senior officials at the national park authority admitted yesterday that the housing strategy has had to be overhauled after residents raised objections to a quarter of 40 sites which had been pinpointed for development.

Head of planning Peter Watson said: “There has been pretty fierce opposition to some of the proposed schemes.

“But we simply cannot do without new affordable housing schemes as a lot of local people cannot afford to buy a house and stay in their communities.”

The revised plan has allocated 34 sites for development, ranging in size from two houses up to the largest site – on the edge of Sedbergh – for 30 properties.

However, 14 sites have been dropped following a public consultation, although four new locations have been added in Grassington, Hawes, Long Preston and Dent. Sites were abandoned due to concerns over flooding, road safety and the scale of development proposed.

The land made available is expected to provide up to 230 two-bedroom and three-bedroom homes.

The chairwoman of the national park authority’s housing working group, Yvonne Peacock, stressed that the new properties would only be made available to people already living in the Dales.

She added: “It seems to have taken a long time to get to this stage. What we have found along the way is a consensus on the need for more affordable housing in the national park but little agreement on how or where it should be provided. But we have listened to people’s concerns and attempted to find the best sites available for development.

“Some of the sites have had to remain even when there is opposition – we need to build affordable homes, and it has been a difficult task.

“Our intention is to use local planning policy and to work with landowners, communities and housing providers to release more land for locally affordable housing.

“This will help keep younger households living in the area which should make a long term difference to community sustainability.”

The national park has a population of about 20,000 living there full-time, although an average of 15 per cent of the area’s 10,000 properties are second homes.

Despite the slump in the housing market, the average cost of a three-bedroom property is still in excess of £250,000.

While this is considerably lower than a peak of about £300,000 before the recession, house prices in the national park are beginning to climb again.

A public consultation on the housing development plan, which has taken four years to draw up, is now under way and will continue until May 16. A previous consultation was held last year, during which the concerns were raised.

The document will then be considered by a planning inspector at a public inquiry, which is expected to be held early next year.