Buildings set for a long-awaited massive housing development of up to 1100 homes on the edge of York look set to be a little taller than originally planned.

However, the scheme on the 39.74ha British Sugar site on Plantation Lane, Poppleton, will contain more green infrastructure.

The planning committee of City of York Council is recommended to approve the changes when it meets next Thursday (March 7).

Central government had originally approved the development in 2018, when it went to appeal.

Landowner Associated British Foods first announced plans to redevelop the site in 2013.

But wrangling over City of York Council wanting more affordable housing as part of the scheme, and British Sugar saying such homes could not be afforded due to the cost of restoring the site, helped delay the planning process. 

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The site had contained the British Sugar processing factory, which closed in 2007, with the loss of more than 100 jobs, and the demolition of the buildings. The brownfield site has lain empty since 2008.

Plans were submitted before Christmas to vary the conditions surrounding the outline approval.

York Press:

A parameter plan had mainly 2-storey buildings, with up to 2.5 storeys along a main street and around areas of green infrastructure. The central area of housing (opposite a planned community hub) were permitted as up to 3-storey.

The amendment proposes 3-storey along the main street and the green infrastructure but 3-storeys is no longer proposed at the site frontage along Millfield Lane.

It is now proposed to relocate Carr Drain in the southeastern corner of the site, with a larger attenuation area (which will be ponds and swale). This gives more capacity for climate change.

The green corridors are now more linear with the green infrastructure increasing by 0.1ha.

A report by council planning staff prepared for the Thursday meeting notes support for the scheme Nether Poppleton Parish Council as it will help local housing need.

Rural West York city councillor Anne Hook supports the scheme for the same reason but had concerns about the traffic it would generate along Mill Lane.

The report noted the drainage and roads would be built first, followed by the housing, with the southern side developed before the northern side. This would allow for the necessary site remediation and would not delay housing delivery, it said.

The higher buildings to be  at least 50m from the boundary would not harm the amenity of nearby residents and would provide hierarchy and a sense of place for the development. Neither would they affect the character of the area.

The changes to the spine road/main street feature wider shared pedestrian cycle paths, giving priority to foot and cycle traffic. The changes were developed in conjunction with the council’s Highways Officers.

 

The application added: “No material changes to the planning obligations are proposed or necessary.”

Officers concluded that the variation of the outline approval be granted. But their report also confirmed further permissions would be needed at the Reserved Matters stage concerning details of the access, layout, scale, design and external appearance of each phase of the development.

No updated timeframe as to when housebuilding might start and finish were given in this latest plan, but last August when British Sugar asked the council as to the details it would need to include in this planning application, the scheme was already running around eight years behind schedule.

York Press:

It spoke of the first homes being built in April 2027, with the completion of the first home in September 2027. This compares with original plans to start on the first home in November 2021 and complete it in May 2022.

The overall scheme would be completed by 2034/35, British Sugar said, compared to the original ambition of completing the entire development by December 2025.