Latest news with #AngusThompson
BBC News
28-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Scotch Corner Designer Village delays leave nearby residents frustrated
Developers behind a luxury retail park say they have signed leases for more than two thirds of units, despite nearby residents claiming there has been no construction work on the site for more than a Corner Designer Village in North Yorkshire, which gained planning permission in 2016, said it was working towards a March 2026 opening 2020, developers said they were expecting it to launch in autumn 2023 but this was moved back to September councillor Angus Thompson said he had regularly contacted the developer for an update and had been told work was due to restart on the site at the end of June. He said: "There has to be an upgrade to Scotch Corner roundabout before the development can work."The roundabout doesn't cope with the volume of traffic at busy times now and it's going to be a 30% or 40% increase in traffic."Resident Neale Brewster, who lives in Richmond, said he drove past the site every day and had not seen any work taking place for more than 18 months."The development started prior to Covid and over the last couple of years they have not done a lot," he said."Nobody has been anywhere near the site, it's just been one person on site most days."Everything seems to have ground to a halt."Mr Brewster said he had worked in the construction industry for 35 years and would be amazed if the development was completed by March 2026."It's an eyesore. It's frustrating because it could be a good source of local jobs," he added. Marketing director of the development Patrick Hanson-Lowe said they had filled 72% of leases and were keen to "bring premium retailers" to the site."We have the groundwork done to ground level and above ground it is about half built. But we have paused to focus on retail," he added."The internal walls on a development like this are moveable, and a retailer may come in and ask for it be different, so we have to be careful we don't overly build it."Thompson said he believed a decision on the National Highways A66 dual carriageway upgrade would dictate progress.A spokesperson for Scotch Corner Designer Village said it would have "absolutely no impact whatsoever" and the company had begun the lease process, and applied for planning permissions "long before the A66 upgrade project began".North Yorkshire Council was contacted for comment. Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
BBC News
13-03-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Solar farm proposal for Selby green belt land rejected
Plans to erect a solar farm which would have covered an area equivalent to 80 football pitches on green belt land have been rejected by local 49.95MW scheme, proposed for an 156-acre (63-hectare) site at Hillam, near Selby, was recommended for approval by planning officers at North Yorkshire solar farm would have provided enough green energy to supply 17,000 homes and displace 107,500 tonnes of CO2 a year, according to the councillors voted to reject the plans due to the loss of "good quality" arable land and the fact the scheme fell within green belt. Setting out their reasons for refusing the plans, councillor Angus Thompson said: "Whilst I fully accept that climate change is a special circumstance, this is good quality agricultural land."I can assure you I'm a retired farmer - I know all about sheep, I know all about arable land - and grade two is good quality arable land and it's in a green belt." Councillor John McCartney said several other solar farms had already been approved for the Selby district, and further appropriation of land to generate solar power was "unacceptable". "The accumulation should say we shouldn't put any more in the Selby district," he stated."I get the point about the grid connections, but there's got to be fairness as well - and just raping the entire south Selby by putting solar panels on it is unacceptable."The meeting heard an application for a solar farm near Malton had recently been given the go-ahead by the secretary of state, after initially being refused by the council, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. Councillors were warned that while the council would stand by the decision to refuse the application, the decision could still be overturned on residents, community leaders and the CPRE, formerly the Campaign for the Protection of England, had all objected to the proposal, with CPRE North and East Yorkshire claiming the development, on Austfield Lane, would not conform to local or national planning to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North
