A PLAN for six new houses on a former depot site has been thrown out.

The proposal, which would have seen six new terraced three-bedroom homes built on the old North Yorkshire Highways Depot site in Manor Vale Lane, Kirkbymoorside, had been recommended for rejection by Ryedale District Council planning officers as it lies in a flood zone.

At the planning meeting last week, committee members heard that an application on such land had first to pass the “sequential test”, meaning that no development should take place if there are other sites available.

Officers said it did not pass this test.

Janet O’Neill, agent for applicants Thomas Crown Associates, argued at the meeting that the development would break up the concrete site with more permeable gardens, thus making it absorb more water and be less flood prone.

She said: “This application is for a housing scheme within the town limits. Over the past 10 years the site has become empty and unsightly.

“The development proposed would vastly improve the appearance of the site and provide family housing of a modest type.”

Objecting to the development was the Kirkbymoorside Town Band, whose rehearsal building lies just opposite the proposed new houses.

John Barret, from the band, said that the band qualifies for protection from such developments as a “recreational service that contributes to the vitality of the community”.

Cllr Lindsay Burr said: “I really hope that in the future something can be done on this unsightly piece of land that won’t cause flooding or have an impact on the band.”

Cllr Tim Thornton added: “We should try to encourage the owners of the land to do the right thing, break up the hardstanding surface, reduce flood risk and make it into a public amenity space. No amount of housing applications will be successful.”