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Planning update October 2025

Planning Update September 2025

Husthwaite Neighbourhood Plan  – almost ready!!

After literally years of work, we are very close to completing a consultation draft of the Husthwaite Neighbourhood plan.   There have been delays this year for a number of reasons, primarily the cancellation of funding for neighbourhood plan groups, regardless of the stage they have reached and also illness/absence of key personnel.  But we are now nearly there – currently making final revisions to policies and sorting photos, maps and diagrams to illustrate the text.   We still have to obtain some informal feedback from North Yorkshire Council – better to know now rather than later if it has any major concerns – and then we can circulate to the Parish.

We are really looking forward to sharing the draft Plan with the local community as it is based on all the views and comments received over the last few years, particularly in the Parish Survey last year and the drop in events at the village hall.  We hope you will be impressed but also critical and let us know if  you have any concerns.   Obviously there are limits to what we can do in our Plan as we have to comply with national and local planning policy  but we hope that residents and businesses will nevertheless feel that the draft Plan does broadly reflect local aims and needs.

We will deliver a letter to each household in the Parish as soon as the Plan is ready to be reviewed – it will be available online and in paper form.  There will also be announcements on the village website and by email. Instructions on how to comment will be included.

When the public funding programme was dismantled in June, a number of MPs spoke out against the decision including Dr Luke Evans who said: “Neighbourhood plans are not obstacles to progress; they are the architects of local consent. To dismantle them is to forget that true planning begins not in Whitehall, but in the beating hearts of our communities, which call these places home.”

We wholeheartedly agree with this which is why we are determined to see this project through to completion and with the community’s continued support we should be able to do that.   The forthcoming consultation is the next key step and we are very much hoping for a good response.

EDCCA-Services Boxes Poster v1

EDCCA

May, June, July 2025

We have a draft plan!!  It is nearly 100 pages long and we believe it addresses all the concerns and aspirations that our community has highlighted through surveys, drop in events and comments.  It still needs quite a bit of work –  lots of tidying up to do and also final checking against national and local planning policy to ensure it is compliant – but we are looking forward to sharing it with everyone as soon as possible.

Loss of funding

It is a huge achievement to reach this point given all the other demands on our time and the fact that we are currently without funding. As previously reported, the government’s annual funding for supporting neighbourhood planning runs from 1 April-31 March.  We have been waiting since 31 March for them to open up the applications for 2025-26  so we could apply for the final tranche of £8k usually available to groups like ours that are approaching the consultation and referendum stages.  However, in mid June the Government announced that there will be no more funding – nothing at all, regardless of progress or expectation.  This is a huge blow and, despite obvious pressures on the economy,  very surprising.   Given the amount of taxpayer money already invested in the creation of neighbourhood plans under the Localism Act, it seems wrong to frustrate the process in this way. It also penalises less affluent communities in particular and is bad news for local authorities who will now have to try and find the resource to help groups who cannot access professional support.

The Yorkshire Local Councils Association has consulted on the implications of the loss of funding with a view to lobbying for a reversal of the decision but no-one is very optimistic!  We have also spoken to North Yorkshire Council which is looking into practical ways it can further assist groups but it cannot provide any direct funding.

The Parish Council has stepped in to pay our Planning Consultant for work already done on our draft plan and he has also very nobly offered a reduced rate to see us through the final stages.    The Parish Council is planning to make an application to the Village Trust to ask it to share the costs so that we do not waste all the years of work which has already gone into this project.

So for now please bear with us but we hope to have the perfect early autumn reading available for you in a few weeks!

Sarah Aspinall on behalf of Parish Council and Neighbourhood Plan working group

AGENDA

1. To receive apologies of absent Councillors and declarations of interest from those present.
2. To discuss planning applications and appeal:

25/01158/FUL – The White House, Low Street, Husthwaite – Application for Ground floor layout to be reconfigured with alterations to the utility, WC, and dining room areas. External alterations including driveway extension, new patioed area to the rear, and the removal of a hedge. Selected existing windows and doors to be replaced or repaired.

25/01159/LBC – The White House, Low Street, Husthwaite – Listed Building Consent Ground floor layout to be reconfigured with alterations to the utility, WC, and dining room areas. External alterations including driveway extension, new patioed area to the rear, and the removal of a hedge. Selected existing windows and doors to be replaced or repaired.

25/01178/LBC – Black Bull Cottage, The Nookin, Husthwaite – Listed Building Consent to install a rooflight above the kitchen in addition to previously approved 22/01402/LBC.

25/01346/CAT – Laurel House, Low Street, Husthwaite – Application for works to fell a tree in a Conservation Area. T1 (Eucalyptus)

25/00026/REFUSE – Horse Banks, Highthorne Lane, Husthwaite – Part retrospective change of use of land to domestic curtilage and associated fencing 24/02452/FUL

3. To agree a statement for appeal 25/00013/REFUSE – OS Fields 7456 And 6163 Amplecarr Husthwaite – Installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) array/solar farm with associated infrastructure 

AGENDA

• To receive the apologies of absent Councillors and declarations of interest from those present.
• To confirm the accuracy of the minutes of the meetings held on 13 May and 9 June and to approve the signature of the minutes by the person presiding.
• To discuss matters arising from the previous meeting.

1. 1.  Neighbourhood Plan.
   2.  Replacement of tree on Village Green.
   3.  Coronation Seat.
   4.  Replacement of East View Railings.
   5.  Review of Husthwaite Emergency Plan.

• To discuss matters that have arisen between meetings.

1. 1. Listed Asset of Community Value.
   2. Withdrawal of Locality grants for Neighbourhood Planning support services.

• To report on planning matters.

25/01200/CAT – Badgerdub Cottage, The Nookin, Husthwaite – Works to fell 4 trees in a Conservation Area

25/01206/FUL – Badgerdub Cottage, The Nookin, Husthwaite – Proposed single storey rear sunlounge

• To receive the financial report and authorize any payments to be made.

• To discuss items that may be of interest to the Council

1. 1. NYC Revenues and Benefits System Upgrade
   2. Energy Sustainability Funding
   3. Supergrid Transformer Delivery.

• To receive reports from the council’s representatives on other organizations.
  • Bier House
  • Cemetery
  • Communications
  • Highways
  • Local Parish Forum
  • Neighbourhood Watch
  • Police
  • Public Footpaths
  • Recreation Area
  • Street Lighting
  • Village Hall
  • YLCA
• To receive a report from the North Yorkshire Councillor.

• To confirm the time and date of the next meeting.

Carol Fenwick, Chair, Husthwaite Parish Council

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North Yorkshire Council is consulting on the following two documents:

• North Yorkshire Local Plan: our first conversation, May 2025 – We are asking for your views on the priorities and issues the North Yorkshire Local Plan can help address.
• Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report, May 2025 – Sustainability Appraisal is a legal requirement to assess the economic, social and environmental effects of the local plan and to monitor its impacts.

Comments are invited on the North Yorkshire Local Plan: our first conversation document and the Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report for a period of 8 weeks from:

Monday 19 May 2025 and ending Tuesday 15 July 2025 at midnight.

All relevant comments received during the consultation period will be considered to inform future stages of local plan preparation.

In addition, the following supporting documents are available to view for information purposes and completeness only and we are not inviting comments on them:

• Housing and Economic Development Needs Assessment (HEDNA)
• Settlement Hierarchy Background Paper

To view the consultation and supporting documents and to provide comments please visit the consultation portal at:

https://northyorks-consult.objective.co.uk/kse/

Printed copies of the consultation documents are also available at council offices and libraries within the local plan area.

Guidance on how to submit comments and details relating to this consultation are provided on the consultation portal.

You can find out more about the North Yorkshire Local Plan and this consultation at: https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/localplan

Contact Us:

Online: Contact us | North Yorkshire Council

By telephone: 0300 131 2 131

Kind regards,

Planning Policy & Place Team – North Yorkshire Council

April has again been a drafting and research month. It also saw the release of a corrected Housing Needs Assessment.

We alerted AECOM to the fact that there were some calculation errors in the Housing Needs Assessment mainly relating to the plan period (which is 11 years but had been put in as 15 in some places).  They issued a revised document here.  This has resulted in some changes to their  overall conclusions –  in particular they estimate we need another 6.6 (call it 7!) affordable homes (to buy) over the current supply in the village by 2036 and not 9 as previously advised.

The Local Landscape Character Assessment, now some 68 pages in length including photographs, is nearly done. This is the first time a detailed analysis of this type has been created and it should prove invaluable in assisting planners and developers going forwards.

As might be expected, drafting detailed planning policies covering the whole range of necessary topics from parking to playgrounds and bungalows to bats is taking more time than expected. Our planning consultant is working on this  (with our help) as much as he can around other commitments and we hope we will have a final first draft in May.

Once all the documents are drafted, we will then need to sort out any missing evidence and get some informal feedback from North Yorkshire Council. We will also need to carry out required Environmental Regulations Screening. At the same time, we are keen to get some informal comments from a small group of ‘first readers’ from outside the working group. If you would able to assist with this, please do get in touch with Sarah on 01347 868155 or ℅ husthwaitepc@hotmail.co.uk.

We hope to get to the full Parish Consultation on the draft Plan and the draft Design Code in June. We thank everyone for their patience.