A £300 MILLION development which would mean more than 850 homes being built in Selby is set to be approved this week despite a legal challenge against a council’s planning blueprint.

Selby District Council’s planning committee had been recommended to give the go-ahead for the first stage of the Olympia Park scheme in Barlby Road last month.

But a decision on the development, which would also include a primary school, supermarket, pub or restaurant and a new railway bridge, was delayed because of opposition to the authority’s core strategy.

The legal claim was lodged by Tadcaster-based Samuel Smith’s Brewery, which wants the entire strategy quashed after claiming it was not consulted as a “key stakeholder”.

The Olympia Park application, on land owned by animal feed firm BOCM PAULS Ltd, will go back before councillors next Wednesday and officials have said it should be approved as the outcome of the brewery’s challenge is “uncertain”.

The overall Olympia Park development is eventually intended to have up to 1,000 homes and could create more than 2,500 jobs.

The committee will be asked to approve granting full planning permission for the bridge over the Leeds to Hull railway line, a new roundabout, two new roads and a sports and community hub, and outline permission for the housing, school, restaurant and supermarket with more detailed proposals being submitted at a later date.

In a report, planning officer Richard Sunter said “limited weight” could be placed on the legal claim when considering the application.

This meant there was no reason to reject the plans, as they had “significant benefits” for the town and the district.

Samuel Smith’s has challenged the core strategy on ten grounds, with the council saying it had already been classed as “sound” by a Government planning inspector.

Three Swans Property Management Ltd, which is leading the Olympia Park development, has said it will provide “much-needed housing” and construction jobs for Selby, and will also create more jobs through employment land being made available as well as “revitalising the eastern gateway to Selby”.