UPDATED - NYC have confirmed to us that the deadline for submitting comments on the Avant Homes revised planning application for 60 homes is Friday November 22nd

Avant Homes made a public commitment to a packed meeting at the Village Hall last Wednesday to come back soon with a response to ideas from villagers about drainage and road safety issues relating to their controversial, proposed sixty-home development in Bishop Monkton.

More than seventy people attended the meeting which had been facilitated by the Parish Council and chaired by its Vice-Chair, Sheila Parsons. Avant’s Regional Planning Manager, Chris Megson, told the meeting the new revised plan differed from earlier iterations in several key areas – a significant reduction in the density of housing (down from 88 to 60 homes); more public open space; a better mix of housing types and more attractive looking houses; as well as the retention of more hedgerows.

During the question and answer session, most speakers focused on the impact of the proposal on the village’s infrastructure, notably drainage and sewerage and the impact on road safety. Specific suggestions made included the following:-

• that the discharge point for surface water from the development via a new trench dug under Hungate should be further down the beck along Boroughbridge Road beyond the areas of the village most prone to flooding rather than near the Lamb and Flag site as proposed by Avant.
• that the new trench could also accommodate a new sewage pipe thus helping to alleviate the problem of foul water discharging into the drains.
• That three things might be done to lessen the road safety risks of the development -an entrance for the new development on Moor Road rather than Knaresborough Road; a roundabout at the Moor Road/Knaresborough Road junction and a footpath be built inside the hedgerow up Moor Road from the junction to the top end of the development.

There was widespread criticism of Yorkshire Water and other bodies for their failure to understand issues in the village. Several speakers suggested that Avant should be working with the village to put pressure on YW and others to improve the village infrastructure before the planning application was decided. In response, Avant’s Technical Director, Jon Birkin, who also attended the meeting, undertook to respond to the village soon after the deadline for comments to the Council had passed in November about whether the company would incorporate any of the village’s suggestions into their scheme.

A number of other issues were raised during the meeting, including the precise location of the proposed pedestrian crossing from the development across Knaresborough Road; the possibility of more bungalows in the plan; concern that there weren’t enough parking spaces planned for the scheme; and issues around the maintenance of trees and green spaces.

The development, on land near the Knaresborough Road/Moor Road junction, was originally for over 100 homes when it was first proposed back in 2020. The land involved is designated for housing in the Harrogate Local Plan but it has been the subject of hundreds of objections during the various stages of the planning process. The latest plan was submitted to North Yorkshire Council for planning permission on 1st October and the Council’s own target date for assessing the application is in January of next year.

To see the full planning application and to submit comments by November 22nd click