A housing development in an area with a target of 40 per cent affordable housing has been recommended for approval, despite it featuring no affordable housing.
Hambleton District Council planning officers said Arncliffe Homes scheme to build 14 semi-detached homes on a 0.48 hectare former allotments at the south-western end of Bedale fell just below its criteria by which developers had to provide affordable housing or contribute towards it.
The authority, which views building affordable housing among its top priorities, has stipulated within Bedale affordable housing can be sought on schemes of 15 or more units, or on sites of 0.5 hectares or more.
A spokesman for the developers said a main benefits of the development would be provision of family homes that would “widen the choice of housing in the locality and help to meet the council’s housing needs”.
Bedale councillor John Noone said while it was frustrating no affordable housing would be provided, the semi-detached two and three-bedroom properties were the type of homes needed in the town.
Cllr Noone said: “You can clearly see the developers could have got more houses on the site, but they have not done so because building affordable housing is less profitable.”
He said the proposed development represented a reasonable compromise following the controversial sale of the allotments site.
However, the proposed scheme has generated a number of objections from residents in the area, including complaints over the number of planned parking spaces.
One resident described the proposal as “totally inadequate”, saying each home should have a minimum of two spaces.
She said: “The parking on Calvert Way is horrendous with not enough off street parking provided and cars parked on the side of the road throughout the estate.”
A Calvert Way resident added: “One of the reasons I brought this property was that it is quiet and peaceful sitting at the edge of the town by the allotments and I feel annoyed that this is no longer going to be the case by putting the new development in and the road right passed the front of my property.”
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