TAXPAYERS HAVE footed a bill of almost £250,000 for a planning blueprint for one of Yorkshire’s property hotspots that has since been withdrawn after an inspector raised concerns thousands more homes were needed in future.

As part of details released to the Yorkshire Post under the Freedom of Information Act, Harrogate Borough Council said spending so far totalled £245,000 – although this figure does not include staffing costs.

After voting to withdraw its Local Plan, which earmarks sites suitable for future development, the authority will now have to go away and draw up a new document offering extra sites for houses and jobs, which will then be considered by an inspector.

Reported by the Yorkshire Post. You can read the full story here. 

Matthew Burgess
http://www.mattburgess.co
I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.