Objectors have called for the decision to be shelved, claiming there has been a failure of due process
Campaigners are calling for planning permission for new houses to be overturned, warning the proposals will ruin the entrance to a historic village and destroy a rural landscape.
Residents in Great Smeaton claim Hambleton District Council’s planning committee has driven a coach and horses through principles and regulations that should protect such settlements, a rare survivor of a coaching village on the original Great North Road, the main route between England and Scotland since medieval times.
Permission for five homes was approved by the council’s planning committee on land south west of Smeaton East Farm, east of the main A167 Northallerton to Darlington road, the line of the old Great North Road. Objectors have called for the decision to be shelved, claiming there has been a failure of due process.
Objector Andrew Marriott said: In the face of staunch opposition from the village, the planning committee approved the development. That was despite being advised of multiple errors of fact in the papers submitted, including their own internal documents.
They are compromising the local ecology, especially the habitat of a colony of great crested newts. These were found within 45 metres of the site in May this year. According to the council and the applicants, the local environment cannot support these protected amphibians, they are permitting the removal of multiple sections of an ancient and protected hedgerow, destroying an important piece of ridge and furrow and comprising a landscape that has defined the area for centuries, he said.
He said: The development is also likely to create a serious road traffic hazard at the south of the village. This is all in addition to the council’s own acknowledgement that the development marked a departure from their local development plan.
A spokesperson for Hambleton Council said: The council can confirm it has received formal complaints through its customer complaints procedure which it is currently processing.
