North Yorkshire villages at risk of becoming “dormitory estates”

The latest North Yorkshire community to fight plans for hundreds of new homes say the county’s villages are at risk of becoming “dormitory estates”.

The Protect Kirby Hill group has been formed in opposition to plans for almost 500 new homes to the north of Boroughbridge.

Three separate developments have been proposed for agricultural land off Leeming Lane.

Miller Homes wants to build up to 167 houses to the south of Kirby Hill.

Local residents say the scheme would mean a 75 per cent increase in the size of the village in a decade, but without any matching investment in roads, drainage, schools or health services.

Developer Gladman has also submitted plans for up to 250 new homes on a site around 200 yards further south, while details of a third scheme for 85 new homes, by Caddick Land, have also been released.

Residents of Kirby Hill , Langthorpe and Milby say their rural communities are being overwhelmed by “relentless expansion”.

A spokesperson for the campaign group said: “This is inappropriate, unsustainable, and deeply unfair on rural communities.

“Enough is enough. North Yorkshire Council must reject these applications and protect our villages from becoming dormitory estates”

As well as extra traffic on the road, residents are concerned about the loss of good agricultural land, the disappearance of the rural gap between Boroughbridge and Kirby Hill, and the exacerbation of existing issues with the local sewage system.

The spokesperson added: “We already see sewage running down our streets and overflowing into the River Ure.

“Even Yorkshire Water has objected, saying the network cannot cope with any more housing. To add hundreds of new properties is to invite a public health crisis.”

Villagers also claim the planned developments are not in line with current planning policies, which call for brownfield sites to be used before green fields are built on.

The three developments are near the planned Vale of York motorway service area which was approved in 2021 despite major opposition from local communities.

The campaign has been launched just weeks after residents of nearby Dishforth criticised plans for almost 100 new houses, saying the scheme would turn the village into a “town with no services”.

Both campaign groups have highlighted the impact of a new government target of more than 4,000 new homes a year for North Yorkshire – up from 1,384.

The county’s inability to demonstrate it has enough housing schemes in the pipeline to meet this target over the next five years makes it easier for developers to get schemes approved, even if the sites are not allocated in the local plan.