Green Hammerton plan for 3,000 new homes approved

Plans to build a new 3,000-home village in countryside between York and Harrogate have been approved.

Campaigners said Harrogate council's decision to build the development near Green Hammerton would be "utterly devastating" for surrounding villages.

It is part of the authority's plan to provide affordable housing and build up to 14,000 homes by 2035.

Alternative sites at Flaxby and Cattal were considered, but Green Hammerton was chosen as the preferred location.

The village currently has about 675 residents.

Campaigners in Green Hammerton and Kirk Hammerton said the decision would mean a tenfold increase in the local population, see agricultural land destroyed and put pressure on local facilities.

Chris Chelton, chairman of Keep Green Hammerton Green, said: "We are small communities, we enjoy a very nice rural lifestyle and that's why people come to live in a village."

The council said new affordable housing was needed or it "risked losing generations of young people to other towns".

It said the project would include new roads, public transport, schools, healthcare, leisure and recreation.

Councillor Rebecca Burnett, cabinet member with responsibility for planning, said; "I think it will be wrong of us not to recognise that this area will change.

"But this isn't anything new. All of our homes were at one point new-build homes. "

The plans will go out to public consultation in January before being submitted to the government for a final decision.

Meanwhile, a scheme to build a 1,700-home development in York has been revealed.

The Garden Village Development has been proposed for the north of the ring road, close Huntington and Earswick.