Harrogate's crucial housing infrastructure document will not be scrapped under new-look council

The West Harrogate Infrastructure Delivery Strategy (WHIDS) is being drawn up by HBC and North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) to shape how infrastructure in the west Harrogate will cope with up to 4,000 new homes.

It will supplement the West Harrogate Paramaters Plan (WHPP), which was approved in February.

HBC has paid £25,000 to consultancy Hyas to produce the document. It was expected last May but is still yet to be published.

The area features heavily in HBC’s Local Plan, with Otley Road towards Beckwithshaw, for example, set to be transformed with over a thousand new homes.

Other major sites in the area include Persimmon Homes’ under-construction 600-home King Edwin Park scheme on Pennypot Lane.

But with shovels yet to be in the ground for many of the proposed sites, residents’ group, Harlow & Pannal Ash Residents’ Association (Hapara), has put its hopes in the WHIDS to ensure investment takes place into roads, schools and healthcare before the homes are built.

As part of the delivery strategy, a review of existing infrastructure is being carried out ahead of the document being published in draft form during a public consultation.

With less than four months until HBC is abolished, Hapara is questioning if the document will now ever see the light of day.

Last week, NYCC announced the new North Yorkshire Council will develop its own Local Plan to replace the one drawn up by Harrogate.

A HBC spokesperson said the WHPP, which was approved by HBC’s cabinet last February, would still be used as a material planning consideration until the sites covered in the plan are developed.

However, David Siddans, a spokesperson for Hapara, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “It is now so long since we had an engagement session with HBC on the WHIDS, that it has practically receded from my memory.

“The last engagement session with HBC was on July 19th following which we were promised a further session in October when it was expected that further analysis work by the consultants had been carried out. It is now December and there has been no further contact.”

A spokesperson for Harrogate Borough Council said: “Work on the West Harrogate Infrastructure Delivery Strategy (WHIDS) continues.

“It is an important piece of work to ensure the effective delivery of infrastructure to support the West Harrogate sites. We will hold further stakeholder engagement in due course”.