THE disastrous Ryedale Plan was adopted in September last year and there appears to be a damage limitation exercise being undertaken by Malton and Norton town councils to mitigate its impact.

Ryedale’s ruling group took the view that it did not want any new development in its villages. So it decided to dump developments in Malton/Norton and the other towns – 50 per cent in Malton and Norton; 35 per cent in Kirkbymoorside and Pickering and five per cent in Helmsley. The remaining 10 per cent goes to 10 service villages. In addition, Malton/Norton are required to take 80 per cent of all new employment development. Ryedale is 550sq miles and it is astonishing there is no room for development in its wide open spaces.

This is in spite of the unique historic highways network in Malton/Norton, which is already congested and is not designed to take an increase in traffic of between 28,760 and 33,000 new vehicular trips per day (4,027 in the peak hour – ie. about three new trips every two seconds), and disregards the still unresolved flooding issues in both towns, and the lack of infrastructure.

The plan takes no account of the need for new blood to retain facilities such as village shops, pubs, post offices and churches. The council seems only able to understand big business, so it is concentrating on big sites which yield large sums of money for the council’s coffers, leaving very little for small builders who risk closure, and no opportunity for farmers to build new houses in or next to villages.

There will be no new affordable houses for farm and other workers who want to live near their place of work. The plan is a rolling plan, which means the policies continue unless they are changed when the plan is reviewed. The last plan ended in 2006, but its policies continued until the adoption of this plan last year. So don’t be deceived into thinking the policies will change in 2027.

There was supposed to be a site selection process, but Ryedale adopted the plan without allocating sites. The result is that Malton/Norton has become a developers’ free for all. Malton and Norton town councils are meeting district council officers to see if sites can be agreed. This does not mean that town council members approve the amount of development the towns are required to take.

We could simply stand aside and let the district council and the developers do their worst and criticise from the side lines, but it is better to try to sort something out, even though the final result is unlikely to please everyone. It is a damage limitation exercise – nothing more.

Paul Andrews, Ryedale District Councillor (Malton ward)