A HOUSE builder has been given the go-ahead to reduce the number of affordable homes on its almost competed residential development on the edge of Gargrave.

Wooler’s ‘Park Croft’ development on Hellifield Road, next to Gargrave Primary School and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, is almost complete, with phase one of the development on the market, with prices for homes ranging from £365,000 to £795,000.

Planning permission for 29 homes on the site was given in April, 2013 and included 40 per cent affordable. Permission has now been given for the percentage to be reduced to 30 per cent, in line with the affordable homes policy in the Craven Local Plan.

Nine of the 29 homes on the site will now be classed as affordable and will be made up of one one bedroom property, five two bed, and three three bed properties.

The council’s affordable homes policy in its local plan requires developments of 11 homes or more on greenfield sites to provide a minimum of 30 per cent affordable.

In addition, in designated rural areas, developments on greenfield sites of six to 10 dwellings are required to make an equivalent financial contribution for affordable housing.

The Gargrave Neighbourhood Plan says all new housing developments in the village should contribute to maintaining a mix of tenures, types and size of dwelling in the parish.