RESIDENTS have until December 22 to comment on Ryedale District Council’s Sites Document, which includes details of sites for new housing and business growth.

These sites will meet the needs for development already identified in the earlier stages of the council’s Local Plan.

Included in the plans are two new housing sites in Malton and Norton - one of these is the current site of the council’s offices - and in Norton for land between Beverley Road and Scarborough Road, behind Karro Foods.

Two housing sites are proposed at Pickering, three smaller sites in Kirkbymoorside and two in the villages of Slingsby and Amotherby.

The plan also allocates additional employment land close to Thornton Road industrial estate in Pickering and identifies land at Eden Camp in Malton as a broad location for further employment growth.

Alongside proposals for where development should happen, the plan sets out areas that should also be protected from development. These are known as ‘Visually Important Undeveloped Areas’ and are located at Malton, Old Malton, Norton, Welburn, Slingsby, Hovingham, Ampleforth, Pickering and land between Amotherby and Swinton.

Chair of Ryedale’s Planning Committee, Cllr Fiona Farnell, said: “This is about turning our long-term targets for housing and business growth into reality, by identifying the sites where new homes and business development should take place.

"By doing this we can also ensure that

One of Ryedale District Council’s long-term ambitions is to support sustainable development and this document is a key way in which we’ll deliver on our ambition. It’s really important that you also have a say about these proposals, to make sure they meet the needs of our area now and into the future.”

You can look at the Sites Document and maps on the council’s website: www.ryedaleplan.org.uk/local-plan-sites