York: Huntington garden village plans backed by government

Plans for nearly 1,000 new homes, a school and country park near York have been backed by the government.

Redrow Homes referred its proposals for Huntington to the housing secretary after it said City of York Council was taking too long to make a decision.

The plans for the development were first submitted in 2018.

The council said it had not been given enough information about the expected impact on local roads and there was disagreement over cycling provision.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Redrow Homes had appealed to the planning inspectorate on the grounds of non-determination.

Following a public inquiry in January, the planning inspector recommended that appeal be allowed and planning permission granted.

Minister of State for Housing Lucy Frazer has now backed that decision on behalf of Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Michael Gove.

Under the proposals, developers want to build 970 homes on land to the west of Monks Cross Link Road, along with a primary school, community facilities and a convenience store. A country park is also earmarked to the east of the road.

While the land is within York's green belt, it has been allocated for housing in the city's draft Local Plan, which is a blueprint for future development and which is currently being examined by government inspectors.

Councillors had previously called the proposals "premature", saying the developers should wait until the city's Local Plan was ratified.

The government acknowledged the development would cause harm to the green belt, but said it would "make an important contribution" to housing in York over an extended period, which it said was urgently needed.

A decision notice stated the government agreed there were "social and economic benefits of housing delivery".

It added: "The Secretary of State agrees that delivery of 30% affordable housing would be a further social and economic benefit to which significant weight should be attached."

City of York Council said it did not have a policy objection to the principle of development on the land.

However, it cited a lack of information on highways impacts and disagreement over whether the plans for the garden village development provided adequate cycling and pedestrian connections to Monks Cross and York in general.

Barratt David Wilson Homes has also appealed to the government over its plans to build 300 homes a mile away, next to the LNER stadium near New Lane.

A decision was expected by September but is yet to be announced.

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