DEVELOPERS behind rejected plans to build 30 new homes next to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal on the outskirts of Skipton have gone to appeal, describing the refusal decision by the former Craven District Council as 'perplexing'.

Mandale Homes North Yorkshire had its application to build at Clay Hall, Broughton Road, refused for the second time by the former council in October, last year, 13 months after it had submitted its plan, and despite the principle of housing already established for the 2.7 acre site.

It was its second attempt to build on the untidy piece of land, which has not been used for grazing for some time and which stretches underneath the A629 Skipton bypass. Its larger scheme for 42 homes was refused by the council in June 2021,with councillors describing it as a 'colossal over-development'. The decision was upheld on appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, but with partial costs awarded to the developers. An outline application to build up to 20 homes at the site was approved by the council in October, 2016.

Ahead of its scaled-down application in 2022, Mandale Homes opened an office in Skipton in order to market the homes, but the scheme was refused by officers with delegated authority on the single ground of it being an 'inappropriate development'.

In its appeal statement to the Planning Inspectorate, Mandale Homes criticises the former council's record in meeting its housing targets, and describes its opposition to development of the site, which already has a site access, following the granting of outline planning, as 'perplexing'.

It claims its plan to build 30 homes, including affordable, with associated landscaping and public open space will tidy up the area, provide public benefit during and after construction, and have no adverse impact on highways safety or flooding.

It states that the development will: "Provide social benefits through the provision of housing, including affordable, and the provision of on-site open space with an off-site contribution; provide economic benefits during the construction period and as residents access local services and facilities; provide environmental benefits through the regeneration of the site and with the landscaping and habitat creation leading to biodiversity benefits, and provide sustainable design and construction benefits to help address climate change."

It says there will be no impact on neighbouring properties, or highways safety, it will be of a suitable density and layout, and there will be no increase in flood risk.

Mandale Homes says its revised scheme for 30 homes has taken into account previous refusal decisions with the proposed properties more 'spaced out and less dense' and have been reduced in height in that they are two and not two and a half storeys.

Moving to housing targets, the developer says the Craven Local Plan set out the building of 4,600 homes between 2012 and 2032 - or about 230 per year across the district; but that by the end of March, 2022, 'just 1,881 dwellings had been completed across the district, which equates to188 net dwellings per annum and a deficit of 42 per annum on average'.

Its appeal statement claims: "In order to achieve the Local Plan target for Skipton of 2,300 dwellings in the remaining nine years of the plan period, the rate of housing delivery would need to increase to 162 dwellings per annum to achieve a total of 1455 (1,455.3) in that period."

In urging the planning inspectorate to allow the appeal, Mandale Homes concludes: "We strongly contest the appeal proposals are an appropriate form of development and that the council’s decision to refuse the application was unfounded."