Land earmarked for 270 homes and a new school

A new residential development to the south west of Harrogate should include up to 270 family homes, a primary school, informal green space, footpath and local road links.

Banks Property is developing proposals for the Castle Hill West housing scheme on a 12.7 hectare site in Pannal Ash and expects to submit an outline planning application to Harrogate Borough Council in the near future.

The site, which is allocated for housing in the Harrogate Local Plan, is opposite the Castle Hill Farm site along Whinney Lane, for which Banks Property received planning permission in 2018 and where housebuilder Stonebridge Homes began work on the first of 130 homes at the end of last year.

The latest scheme is being designed to bring a range of economic, employment, environmental, supply chain and social benefits to the area, as well as contributing towards local affordable housing needs.

So local people are kept up to date with the plans during the pandemic, Banks Property has set up a Castle Hill West web page containing the key plans and information, as well as a project-specific e-mail address through which people can contact the project team.

Part of the family-owned Banks Group, Banks Property develops brownfield and greenfield for commercial and residential property schemes.

As well as the Castle Hill Farm scheme, it has previously developed housing in Sheffield and at Methley near Leeds.

Lewis Stokes, community relations manager at The Banks Group, said: “There has been a lot of interest in the homes that have begun to be built on the Castle Hill Farm site and we are confident this latest scheme will prove just as popular with people who want to live locally.

“Castle Hill West has been allocated in the Harrogate Local Plan for this sort of development and ensuring any residential scheme comes with the right sort of supporting social, environmental and transport infrastructure is an essential part of creating a thriving new community.

“As many people are currently finding, the pandemic is preventing us from holding the face-to-face community exhibitions that we normally like to provide for our planning applications.

“So we have set up the web page to ensure everyone has access to comprehensive information about the scheme, can view and comment on our proposals and can contact members of the project team with any queries or ideas they might have.

“We are working to build our business presence across Yorkshire and are continuing to work towards bringing a number of further schemes in the county forward in the near future.”