Councillors have approved a scheme for 25 homes to be built on a field in Cononley.
The plans include no affordable homes despite North Yorkshire Council having a policy of 30% in all developments.
This was because the developer submitted a viability appraisal which said it could not afford to build any.
Although councillors said they were “minded to” refuse the plans at a previous meeting in November, they agreed to defer a decision whilst officers could formulate the wording for a refusal that could be defended in the event of an appeal.
However, less than a week ago, the government’s planning inspectorate overturned an appeal from developer Calvert Homes following a previous refusal by Craven District Council a year ago.
This was for a slightly different application for 25 homes on the same site with inspector describing the decision by the now-defunct council as “unreasonable”.
The developer submitted an appeal after the refusal and whilst it waited, it submitted a new application that addressed concerns about the scheme’s impact on two listed buildings, Pear Tree Barn and Pear Tree Farmhouse, by moving two homes to a different position on the site.
But because the inspector had now overturned the decision on the first application and granted planning permission, it meant for councillors to have any control over the homes’ impact on the listed buildings they would have to approve the second application.
With the second application, the council would also be able to inspect the books of Calvert Homes at a later date to see if an affordable housing contribution might be possible.
Although the developer can still choose which of the two approvals it would like to move forward with.
Ripon councillor Barbara Brodigan said the committee was “between a rock and a hard place” and Skipton member Robert Heseltine said the position had left “an extremely sour taste in my mouth.”
Andy Brown, who represents Cononley for the Green Party said he was critical of the decision to build no affordable homes which would not meet the needs of residents in the village. He said:“It’s a strange world when you can come forward for development of 25 houses on a flat site and not offer one affordable home.”
But developer Charles Calvert, who is from Cononley, disputed questions over the viability appraisal for affordable homes and told councillors that other developers had looked at the site over the last decade but decided they couldn’t afford to build the homes.
Mr Calvert said: “There isn’t a better developer than me to do this.”
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