THE deputy leader of a Yorkshire council has hit out at fellow Tory councillors after they turned down his application to build a bungalow for an elderly relative on his family’s own land.

Selby District Council officers had recommended that Cllr Richard Musgrave’s bid to build a dormer bungalow with a double garage and driveway in Bolton Percy was approved.

But a majority of councillors on the planning committee voted to reject the proposals, with chairman Cllr John Cattanach, Conservative, saying it was “right in planning law to do so".

Introducing the plans to the committee, Conservative Cllr Musgrave, one of the four joint applicants, said: “The site currently forms part of our gardens’ shared drive to our properties and as you will have seen on the photographs, it is surrounded on all sides by residential development. 

“Very few bungalows are built in the district, so this proposal will help address two forms of development – self-build and bungalows, that are currently under-supplied in the district.”

Objectors to the application, including the parish council, stated that they considered the scheme to be contrary to the council’s development plan, it being “outside the development limits of the village”, adding that the scheme was “unacceptable given its open countryside location".

According to the council report, the bungalow did not meet the requirements of some planning policies, but did “represent an acceptable form of development given the site context".

Moving refusal of the application during a speech of nearly 10 minutes, Cllr John Mackman, Conservative, said the application did not meet “stringent” planning policy requirements.

“It proposes development in the countryside, outside development limits, on green field land and which does not comprise the filling of a small linear gap in an otherwise built-up frontage,” he said.

Cllr Donald Mackay, of the Selby Independents and the Yorkshire Party group, said he could not support the application due to flooding concerns, despite council officers saying it would “not have a significant impact on flood risk, drainage and the sewerage system".

But Cllr John Richardson, Conservative, said he was “struggling to see why the proposal was unacceptable".

Selby District Council will cease to exist next year, with elections for the new North Yorkshire Council, which will see fewer councillors covering the same geographic area, taking place this May.

In a statement after the meeting, Cllr Musgrave said: “We would like to build a bungalow for an elderly relative, and we were pleased that the council’s officers, having assessed the material considerations, recognised our proposal’s merit and recommended approval.

“It was therefore a surprise that the planning committee didn’t follow that professional guidance. It’s especially disappointing that one councillor read at length from out of date policies and the committee’s outgoing chair made several factual errors.”

He added: “We now have a number of options available to us and are considering which is the best route to take.”