City of York Council officials advise planners to reject nature conservation application for Derwenthorpe despite support from Dame Judi Dench

1:30pm Wednesday 9th December 2009

By Mike Laycock

Pleas by Dame Judi Dench for the proposed site of a model village to be turned into a nature reserve look set to be rejected by York councillors.

The Oscar-winning actress revealed in September she had been following with great interest the situation at Osbaldwick, where the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has been trying for a decade to build the 540-home Derwenthorpe.

She said in a letter to City of York Council she wanted to support a planning application by anti-Derwenthorpe campaigner Mark Warters, for a change of use of the site to a nature conservation area.

"The preservation of an area so obviously well regarded by the local community, as a nature reserve, is a cause worthy of my support," she said.

But now officers are recommending the planning committee to refuse the application when they meet next week.

In a report, development control officer Billy Wong writes the proposal would have an adverse effect on York's future housing supply, and undermine the Government's objective of providing enough housing to meet needs and demands.

He concedes in a report that there is a shortfall in natural and semi-natural open space in the eastern part of the city's urban area.

However, he adds: “Nevertheless it is not considered that such a shortfall should be addressed by losing a significant housing site in an area considered by the Secretary of State as a sustainable location for housing.”

He said the application had received 12 letters of support, and was also backed by Osbaldwick Parish Council, the Meadlands Area Residents Association, and the York Natural Environment Trust, which said: “This application offers potential benefits for York that go far beyond its immediate parameters.”

MrWarters, who is chairman of Osbaldwick Parish Council, but acted in a personal capacity in lodging the application, which cost him £335 out of his own pocket, said he was not surprised by the recommendations but was surprised to hear from The Press that the matter was being considered next week.

He said he had never received a letter of validation after submitting the application, and had not been informed by the authority it was to be discussed next week, which he thought was discourteous.

An investigation by the European Commission into the way the council allocated the land to the foundation without carrying out a tendering process is still ongoing.