A MASSIVE housing development scheme on a greenfield site on the edge of Harrogate has been rejected by borough councillors.

Proposals to put 600 homes on land off Penny Pot Lane were unanimously turned down by the borough council's planning committee, at a meeting which saw an application for 124 homes on Crag Lane, Harrogate refused, and an outline application for as many as 135 homes on Otley Road, Killinghall, withdrawn from the agenda at the last minute.

The two refused applications will now face further hearings, while the council has confirmed that developers for the Otley Road site had offered to make a financial contribution towards schools provision in the area, meaning it could go back in front of a planning committee for a further decision.

The Penny Pot Lane proposals for 600 homes were put forward by Persimmon Homes, and has already had a similar application turned down earlier this year. That application is currently being appealed, while the application refused this week will now have to go before the local authority's planning referral committee on November 2.

The Crag Lane application, submitted by Taylor Wimpey homes, was also already refused by the same committee earlier this year and the similar scheme is due before a planning appeal next month.

But a spokesman yesterday confirmed that the developers had since agreed to make a contribution to the county council to help improve schools provision in the area, meaning it could go before councillors again soon.