Showcase for homes at centre of plans row

Yorkshire Coast Homes (YCH), based in Scarborough, has submitted proposals for 105 homes on land off Helredale Gardens and St Peter’s Road in Whitby.

But the scheme, which has been in the pipeline for the past two years, is complicated by protests from some of the residents over the proposed disappearance of Helredale playing fields – which is the subject of a separate judicial review involving North Yorkshire County Council. No date has been fixed for the hearing yet.

Helredale Neighbourhood Council wants the fields to be registered as a village green but the attempt was rejected last year following a non-statutory public inquiry in April last year.

The independent inspector’s advice that the application should be refused was upheld by the council’s planning and regulatory function sub-committee in October, at which point Helredale Neighbourhood Council applied for a judicial review.

The director of operations for YCH, Bill Miller, said the company intended to demolish three blocks of flats containing 21 homes in all on land at St Peter’s Road and to “reprovide” a leisure area in lieu of the village green being swallowed up in the development.

Statistics from The National Housing Federation demonstrate the acute need for affordable housing in the area – the average house price for the Scarborough area, which includes Whitby, is nearly £160,000, while the average wage is less than £17,000.

Because of the huge level of public interest in the scheme, Scarborough Council, which owns the land, is holding a public exhibition at Whitby Tourist Information Centre between Tuesday, June 21 and June 28.

The council has extended the date for receipt of comments to July 19, giving people more time to have their say.