North Yorkshire council votes not to approve publication of local plan

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's draft local plan was agreed by the Council's cabinet in September 2013.  The plan proposed the construction of 4,050 new homes in the borough by 2029, including a new community of 700 homes at a 49 hectare site to the south of the coastal resort of Marske, with a further 300 homes to be added at the site after the plan period.

The Council held a full council meeting on 31 July to approve the publication of the plan and its submission to the secretary of state for communities and local government for examination. However, councillors voted not to approve the document, by 29 votes to 28, the report said.

According to the report, councillors particularly disagreed over the policy allocating the 'New Marske' site for development. The policy attracted a large number of objections during consultation in October and November 2013. The consultation report (1901-page / 9.0 MB PDF) listed objections including damage to the character of the area, a lack of infrastructure to support the development, high local unemployment rates and the proposed loss of high quality agricultural land.

In the agenda for the full council meeting, the cabinet had raised concerns that a decision not to approve publication of the plan would mean that "the Council would lose some control over planning decisions and the Council would be more likely to lose any planning appeals until it had adopted a local plan".

The agenda item suggested that a vote against approval "would likely delay adoption until 2016/17" and "incur significant additional expense".