Early opportunity to view Harrogate draft Local Plan at Pop-Up Café

Consultation on the draft Local Plan will begin on Friday, November 11 but residents will get an early opportunity to discuss the plans on Tuesday.

Harrogate Borough Council will be holding a Local Plan Pop-Up Café at the Harrogate International Centre between 9am and 5pm.

The event will provide the opportunity to preview the sites and policies as well as talk to officers who will be able to answer questions on the plans.

The Local Plan has been designed to provide a firm basis for decisions over issues such as housing policies and the creation of employment land.

Coun Rebecca Burnett, cabinet member for Planning and Sustainable Development explained the Pop-Up Cafe was designed to raise awareness about the consultation.

She said: "Planning officers will be on hand and will be explaining to people what the consultation will be about and giving them an overview of what will be included in it.

"But it's also been designed to help people sign up to the consultation portal that we use. It's like a briefing event really.

"We've had feedback that sometimes people are only aware of a consultation when it starts. But, when the consultation is as complex as this is people may feel they don't have enough time to consider all the information."

The six-week public consultation on the draft Local Plan, will begin on Friday, November 11 and finish on Friday, December 23.

The council will also be holding 10 public exhibitions across the district during the first three weeks of the consultation providing the opportunity to view consultation materials and discuss ideas with council planning officers.

Coun Burnett stressed the importance of local residents and business sharing their views on the plans which will help shape the future of the district.

“The Local Plan is an extremely important document detailing how we can meet the district’s needs for homes and jobs in the future.

“The plan provides details of policies to guide developments, sites for new homes and jobs, options for new settlements for the district, allocations for local green space and development limits for settlements.

"Most people will find something very interesting, even if they are not keen to have a look at the housing side of it or comment on the sustainable house building or environmental policies.

"There's a bit of frustration from residents sometimes that it takes quite a long time for these things to be sorted out.

"I hope that when people do have a look or when they log on, they will see the amount of work that has gone in and the hard work that has gone in to putting this together."