Avant Homes Objection Letter

ZC24/03358/FULMAJ | Residential development of 60 dwellings, including access, landscaping, public open space and associated infrastructure. | Land Comprising Field At 432447 466225 Moor Road Bishop Monkton North Yorkshire

Having reviewed the proposal, the Parish Council strongly objects on the following grounds.

Flood prevention

Of major concern to the Parish Council is the issue of flooding in the village and the impact of 60 new houses in the village adding to the already inadequate infrastructure that handles foul and surface water. We know that Yorkshire Water accept that it’s existing system is “close to capacity” we also know that YW refuse to identify how many extra houses will tip this over into actual capacity.

However, we do know that YW have told Avant that they can connect foul water to their system directly but not surface water, the developer must build attenuation tanks and lay a surface water drainage pipe to pump surface water into the village beck.

Unfortunately, the location of discharge into the Beck is the worse point to choose, this is immediately before the pinch point where major flooding occurs a few meters downstream. This location is not acceptable to the Parish Council.

YW don’t want surface water adding to their system because it cannot cope with the extra water. Avant have identified that surface water drainage on Hungate is inadequate and cannot use the highway drainage system which is blocked and floods regularly so a new pipe will need to be laid.

There is an opportunity here to alleviate many of the flooding problems from surface water.

1.        Lay the new surface water drain

2.        Select a discharge point for the new surface water drain much further down Boroughbridge Road where flooding is not an issue

3.        Use the opportunity of laying the surface water drain further down the beck to alleviate the flooding on the section of road from the Ford to Claremont Lane

4.        Repair the highways drain which is severely blocked and the cause of existing flooding issues

5.        Lay a foul water drain down the same trench to take the entry point into the existing foul water much further down the village further alleviating pressure on the existing “close to capacity” system

Digging up a major artery of the village, Hungate and Boroughbridge road, is costly and very disruptive for the village. It would seem to be short sighted if the only outcome is the benefit of the developer, YW and the residents of the 60 houses. All agencies, YW, North Yorkshire, Environment Agency and the developer have an opportunity to deliver something that will be both beneficial and life enhancing for the villagers of Bishop Monkton. It requires a little thinking outside the box and away from the narrow confines of Planning approval but represents a great opportunity.

Highways

The crossroads at Hungate/Moor Road/Boroughbridge Road is an accident hot spot, not all incidents are recorded but sight lines are not good. The addition of 60 new houses, will result in well over a hundred cars and several hundred extra car journeys. The development is an increase in properties of over 20% but these are family houses, multiple occupancy households so will likely represent a much greater increase in car usage. The addition of another exit on Moor Road will help alleviate some of that traffic and take it away from the crossroads. Additionally, we would like to see traffic calming at the crossroads, perhaps a mini roundabout.

The current exit on the development should have a safe crossing area, it is likely that many pedestrian journeys to the school and Village Hall will be made from the development.

Footpaths

We would like to see Footpaths extending from the current main exit on Boroughbridge Road up Moor Road for the length of the development. Pedestrian safety is a concern on Moor Road, and this would be a great start to improving that on the main access route to the A61 and the Ripon/Harrogate Bus services.

Construction Phase

The parish council have major concerns about the construction phase of the development borne out of direct experience of other recent developments in this village and other neighbouring villages. The Parish Council believes that comments outlined below should be considered at the planning stage and should be stringently monitored though out the build. With planning enforcement playing a part if conditions are broken.

Delivery and construction traffic: The construction phase will go through several stages remediation of the site involving large plant deliveries and multiple wagons muck shifting to and from site daily, for weeks running into months. This will be followed by aggregate and concrete deliveries 10-15 per day and this n turn followed by the house construction material all being delivered for a period of 2-3 years. It is clear to the Parish Council that the proposed site entrance is not fit for purpose and will cause no end of danger, disruption misery and pollution not Just to neighbouring properties but to the whole community. The road layout and conditions are just not set up to meet the material needs that this development will bring daily.

The only half suitable road to access the village for this amount of construction traffic is Moor Road. This road is already in a state of disrepair with no street lighting and no pedestrian footpaths to lead to and from the bus stop. However, The Parish Council believe the only way to ease congestion and make deliveries possible would be to create a temporary site entrance on Moor Road for duration of the build with allotted delivery times set out as part of the planning conditions. A planned route should also be incorporated in this which allows enforcement to take place if the routes and time slots are not adhered to.

Another strong objection is that this development should not be allowed to run in conjunction with the planned Kebbel Homes development, this will likely almost double the effects of what is stated above and will cause a prolonged period of dangerous chaos for the village.

Conclusion

The Parish Council believes that if the developer, Yorkshire Water and NY Highways work together this development can enhance life in the village instead of further overloading inadequate existing infrastructure rendering the development unsustainable.

Without that assurance and the adoption of the suggestions made above the Parish Council strongly objects to this Development.