PLANS for a huge housing development in East Yorkshire have been recommended for refusal due to its proposed location and the traffic congestion it could cause.

Gladman Developments has sought outline permission to build up to 380 new homes, including 25 per cent affordable housing, east of The Balk in Pocklington.

The development would feature a new local centre with a children’s day nursery, a convenience store and a 60-bed care home.

In his report to East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s planning committee, the authority’s director of planning and economic regeneration Alan Menzies said the site was within the open countryside outside the town's development limits as shown on the East Riding Local Plan Policies Map.

He added: “The level of traffic associated with the proposed residential development is unnecessary and would contribute to traffic congestion associated with the junction of the B1257 with the A1079.”

Mr Menzies has recommended the application be refused.

Pocklington Town Council and 44 local people objected to the planning application.

They had argued the site was not earmarked for development in the East Riding Local Plan, said the town “cannot cope with the extra people” and cited a “lack of infrastructure in the town”.

The town council strongly objected, and commented that “the whole of the site is in open countryside and beyond the current development limit for the town which is set in the East Riding Local Plan”.

York Press:

The town’s mayor, councillor David Sykes, said: “Personally I am against it. The proposed site is not on the Local Plan. We’ve got a lot of development taking place.

“I am seriously concerned about the infrastructure. If this went ahead on top of everything else being built I don’t know how the schools, parking, medical services and the roads would cope.”

In a statement with the application, Gladman Developments said: “The proposals provide significant material planning benefits including significantly boosting the supply of housing, enhancing the vitality of the community, 25 per cent affordable homes, provision of a new local centre with retail convenience store, children’s day nursery and 60-bed extra care home, a sustainable urban drainage system, New Homes Bonus of £3.6million, wider economic benefits associated with construction employment, ecological benefits, new green infrastructure and a sustainable location within easy walking and cycling distance of Pocklington.”