Villagers have voiced anger over a housing association’s plans to build two housing estates featuring a majority of bungalows on open farmland, saying it should be building partnerships rather than antagonising locals.
Broadacres Housing Association has lodged a planning application with Hambleton District Council to build 79 properties, including 22 affordable homes and eight self-build plots at two sites, off Paddocks End and Garbutts Lane, Hutton Rudby, near Stokesley.
The documents state Broadacres has “stressed that they had identified the quantum of development through the housing needs survey” it sent to 750 properties, to which it received 117 responses.
Papers submitted to the council state the conclusions of the housing needs survey primarily identified there was an ageing population within the village, with many residents currently occupying large family homes.
They state: “A significant proportion have expressed a desire to be able to downsize into suitable, high quality accommodation if this was available.
“There will be potential additional benefits to the village as a whole obtained through the Community Infrastructure Levy payments to enhance existing facilities in the village or provide additional amenities.
“These may take the form of road improvements to Garbutts Lane, additional car parking within the village, a new bridge crossing to Hundale Gill to provide circular walks within the village, play facilities within designated open space, additional allotments etc.”
Additionally, the papers state, the syurvey found a need for family housing that was both suitable for current needs and can adapt to future care and mobility issues.
The documents state: “As very little housing stock in the area can cater for changing needs, all the homes on both sites will be designed to the principles of Lifetime homes standards.
“There was also a need identified to provide for more affordable housing within the village.
“This has been addressed through the variety of accommodation being provided across the two sites.”
However, some Hutton Rudby residents said they had been left aghast by the scale of the proposed developments and believe Broadacres have made assumptions about demand for homes based on a catchment area well beyond the bounds of the village, and including parts of neighbouring local authorities.
In a written objection to the plans resident Stuart Mcarthur said with other recently permitted developments, Broadacres’ plan was ” significantly out of kilter with local demand and need”.
He stated: “The proposed development is disproportionately large and is not in keeping with the identified needs of the village.
Another objector, Michael Hill, said Broadacres proposals featured “elemental flaws”, including that “the provision of 70 homes goes far beyond the number required by Hambleton’s own Plan and by the draft Neighbourhood Plan which is being developed to protect the village against unwanted and unsuitable developments.
He said: “I believe in the provision of social housing, and as such I should like to be a supporter of Broadacres.
“However, Broadacres’ behaviour over developments in Hutton Rudby in the course of recent times has alienated me – and no doubt other residents – and destroyed any innate trust that may have existed. You should be building partnerships; instead, you are creating antagonism.”
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