New Town Consultation - Over 500 responses There was a brilliant response to the Harrogate Borough Council draft plan consultation. Nearly 600 response forms were completed by local residents and delivered to the Council before the deadline on the 9th March. There were also objections filed by individuals independently of the campaign. This amazing response from our communities and has sent a very clear message to HBC and the Planning Inspectorate that the proposal for the Great Hammerton new town is flawed and should not proceed. This development is not needed, it is not wanted and the fundamentals behind it are unsound. In addition to the individual responses your campaign team submitted a group response supported by your petition. This full document can be viewed on the Group’s website kghg.co.uk. on the Reports Page. It was the culmination of a huge amount of work by many people and makes a very good case for why the draft Plan is “unsound” and not legally compliant. Thank you to everyone who completed response forms and signed the petition - it was a magnificent result. We would also like to thank Richard Raper, our planning consultant, who worked very hard researching and collecting data and preparing his own detailed analysis and report as part of our response. Where do we go from here? It is tempting after such a rush of activity to sit back and let the official process run its course with the Planning Inspectorate but we must not. We have to keep up the momentum - by lobbying key parties and by continuing to build our evidence base so we are ready to appear in front of the Planning Inspectorate at the public examination of the plan. We need to continue to work with Richard Raper to assist and support us, but we are now very short of money. Please help us to build on the good work already completed by donating to the campaign. Donations can be made either via our Just Giving page https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/keepthehammertonsgreen or by sending donations direct to our new treasurer Sally Newman at 6 South View, Kirk Hammerton, YO268DT. Payments can also be made by direct bank transfer Acc. No. 61312768, Sort Code 30-91-92. To those who have already helped us - we thank you on behalf of all our communities. Your Campaign Team will be meeting soon to decide our strategy and approach for the next phase and we expect to issue a further newsletter outlining our plans. We look forward to keeping the fight going - for our communities today and the generations of tomorrow. Village Survey A key part of the Campaign Team response was the output from the village survey. The detail of this is included in the formal response on the web site but the highlights include: • •

93% of residents do not support the proposed new settlement. Nearly 80% of the population use their cars to get to work completely undermining the HBC assertion that the railway is a viable alternative to car commuting

•

In terms of shopping and social/leisure activities, the front runners were Boroughbridge for supermarket shopping and York for high street shopping and social/leisure. In short it meant the new town will do little to support economic activity in the Harrogate/Knaresborough area.

David and Goliath This really is a David and Goliath battle. Not only do we have to challenge HBC who, as originators of the plan, hold all the cards, but we also have to contend with the well-resourced, profit-driven developers. The would-be developers are CEG for “Great Hammerton” and Oakgate for “Maltkiln” (Cattal). There is no clarity however because the draft Plan did not define any boundaries and simply showed a large area around the Hammertons, Whixley and Cattal which could be developed. There could therefore be a combination of the two proposals. This lack of certainty was at the heart of our objections. However, whatever is proposed will be unacceptable because, if a new settlement on this scale is needed - which is highly doubtful – this is not the best location. The draft Plan is not yet in force but nevertheless the Hammerton developers, CEG, have already submitted a planning application for 3000 houses - the scheme known as “Great Hammerton”. We must continue to challenge these proposals on legitimate planning grounds. In a further twist which has caused local outrage, HBC is now advertising for consultants to be hired on a £100,000 contract to help it do more detailed work on the new settlement in advance of the public Examination. Leaders of the campaign group think it is morally wrong and disgraceful for HBC to spend our Council tax money on trying to shore up its position in the face of overwhelming local opposition. New Lane Development As well as the big threat of a new town other unwanted piecemeal development threats continue. Loxley Homes have returned with a revised application for the green field site off New Lane, Great Hammerton. The number of houses planned has reduced from 92 to 80 but little else has changed. When the original proposal was submitted there were 175 objections. Let’s do better this time – please retrieve your objection from 2017, refine it where appropriate and re-submit it to HBC by the 26th March. If you weren’t able to submit an objection last time, please submit a new one. We’ve seen what can be done when a community pulls together so let’s ensure that this application gets consigned to the recycling bin once and for all. And Finally… Our aim is to deliver another newsletter in early April which will give us an opportunity to share with you the group’s revised strategy and approach following the completion of the consultation process. In the meantime, if you would like to contact the team please e-mail us at [email protected].

Thank you for your continued support Keep The Hammertons Green and Our Villages Green Action Group