Route to expansion opened after town's relief road approved

Councillors meeting in Beverley backed the road, earmarked for land near Brough, despite complaints that there had been no proper consultation over the mixed use scheme which

its construction will inevitably spark.

Money set aside some years ago by developers of a new housing estate to the north of the Hull to Selby railway line will be used for the road, with the rest coming from the developers and landowners looking to build to the south of the line.

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

In 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 and pub.

An application for the site has yet to be submitted and councillors yesterday were allowed only to discuss proposals for the road, put forward by East Riding Council.

Speaker Peter Phillipson, who lives on nearby Myrtle Way, said the relief road was an "obsolete" solution to a traffic problem which existed 14 years ago, but had "virtually disappeared as a consequence of ongoing BAE cutbacks."

The retired chartered engineer said if developers wanted to open up land south of the railway they should submit their own planning application to allow proper consultation on traffic implications, road safety and environmental impact.

Mr Phillipson urged councillors to refuse what he called a "disappointing, dishonest and devious" application.

He added: "In conclusion construction of phase two of the Brough relief road will, by default, turn Moor Road into the access route to a huge development, a function for which is completely inadequate.

"The traffic consequences for Brough will be disastrous and a controversial development will become a "done deal."

However also addressing the committee, East Riding councillor Anthony Galbraith said many of those protesting were relatively new to the parish, but the plans had been on the cards for a decade "and those in the vicinity should have known that from solicitors' searches".

He said the population would soon reach 10,000, but they had few of the facilities associated with a town. "Schools for example are bursting at the seams, the GP patient lists are too long and there's too much traffic at rush hour and the junction with the A63. There's no appreciable public park, there's few youth facilities. You can't buy a shirt or a pair of shoes, a hammer or a nail without travelling several miles. There's not enough local employment outside BAE which is in a period of entrenchment.

"The only way I can see to address this deficiency is to utilise land south of the railway line."

Coun Julie Abraham moved the application, saying the development of the land was a "matter for another day".

However Coun Charles Bayram said he remembered when the field round Brough produced crops, rather than houses and busloads of villagers went in to work at the BAE Systems site in Brough, asking: "If BAE were to close where would the jobs be? The word sustainability hinges round the jobs.

"It's a planning application for a road but at the end of the day there's 400 (yet) to be built and 800 with this application.

"It's an awful lot of houses and there are other villages where there are jobs and they are desperately in need of housing.

"If none go where there are jobs I don't feel we are doing the right thing."

His amendment asking for the application to be looked at more closely wasn't backed and

councillors agreed to defer the scheme for one outstanding

issue and then delegate

approval.