Harrogate housing development plan to include new primary school

Plans are being submitted for the development of 270 affordable homes as well as a new primary school in Harrogate.

Banks Property says its proposals for the new Castle Hill West housing scheme in Pannal Ash will bring a range of economic, employment, environmental, supply chain and social benefits to the area, as well as contributing towards local affordable housing needs.

The 12.7 hectare site is located directly opposite the Castle Hill Farm site, for which Banks Property received planning permission in 2018.

Regional housebuilder Stonebridge Homes began work on building the first of 130 family homes at the end of last year.

Banks Property expects to submit the outline of its planning application for the new site to Harrogate Borough Council in the near future.

Areas of informal green space, new footpath links and new local road links which can accommodate a bus service will also be included as part of the plan.

Banks Property has set up a dedicated Castle Hill West web page containing the key plans and information about the development, which invites local residents to ask questions and share their queries about the scheme using a project-specific email address.

Part of the family-owned Banks Group, Banks Property develops brownfield and greenfield land for commercial and residential property schemes using a ‘development with care’ approach. It has previously developed housing schemes in Sheffield and at Methley near Leeds.

Lewis Stokes, community relations manager at The Banks Group, commented: “There has been a lot of interest in the homes that have begun to be built on the Castle Hill Farm site and we are confident that this new scheme will prove just as popular with people who want to live locally.

“The Castle Hill West site has been allocated in the Harrogate Local Plan for this sort of development and ensuring that any residential scheme comes with the right sort of supporting social, environmental and transport infrastructure is an essential part of creating a thriving new community.

“As many people are currently finding, the pandemic is preventing us from holding the face-to-face community exhibitions that we normally like to provide for our planning applications, so we have set up the web page to ensure that everyone has access to comprehensive information about the scheme.”