North Yorkshire Council’s executive has agreed to recommend to halt a review of the Local Plan for the Ryedale area, despite concerns it could leave the door open for developers to challenge to build in areas not in communities’ best interests.

The meeting heard the Government had charged the unitary authority with bringing into line a complex patchwork of Local Plans from the county’s former seven district councils.

However, the current Ryedale Local Plan is due to expire in 2027 and planning officers have concluded the requisite five-year supply of housing land needed to prevent developers from having almost free rein to select sites is very unlikely to be maintained for the area until a new plan for North Yorkshire is in place.

The meeting heard Malton Town Council had received advice from a leading barrister that if the review of Ryedale’s Local Plan was halted they would have grounds for a judicial review and that the Secretary of State could be invited to intervene and take control of the process from North Yorkshire Council.

Mayor of Malton Councillor Ian Conlan said while surrounding villages had effectively been “frozen in time” due to the lack of building, the existing Ryedale Local Plan had 50 per cent of the housing planned for Malton and Norton.

He said urgent action was needed to address a variety of issues, such as congestion and pollution, rather than await the approval of a plan for the whole county.

After being pressed over whether the authority would be able to complete the lengthy and complex Local Plan process in under five years, Open to Business executive member Councillor Derek Bastiman told the meeting officers were confident they could.

He said it had been concluded as significant extra work was needed on an updated plan underway in Ryedale, completing that would produce “a document with a very limited shelf life”, use up resources and create confusion for communities.

 

Coun Bastiman said all the issues the town council raised would be reviewed as the county-wide plan was developed and that North Yorkshire Council would check with Whitehall officials that its approach was acceptable.

He added: “The council would be surprised if government decided to use powers to intervene on plan making process at such an early stage in the life of the new authority.”

 

Executive member for housing, Councillor Simon Myers added: “Every member of this council, certainly every member of this executive, does not want North Yorkshire’s development to be hostage to fortune and we will see that it has adequate resources to progress it in a timely manner. What’s true in Malton is true in Skipton. All our residents have concerns.”