Gladman ramps up Tadcaster housing push
Proposals from the land promoter for 450 homes in the North Yorkshire town have progressed, with a second consultation now live.
The Eleven Arches project, for agricultural land off Wetherby Road, were first put out to consultation in 2022 by the Cheshire-based firm.
Gladman, which is working with landowner the Grimston Park Estate, promises a mix of homes and a new riverside public park just a short walk from the town centre.
The team behind the plans have revealed more details about the vision as they call on people to get involved in a second stage of consultation.
Gladman said that the River Wharfe-side scheme is “aimed at reversing the chronic lack of local housing choice”, declaring that only 25 homes and two affordable homes have been built in Tadcaster since 2011, leading younger people to leave the town, famed for its brewing industry.
Both older people and young will be accommodated in the masterplan, Gladman said, with 40% of the properties being affordable homes.
More than two-thirds of the overall site will be parkland – around 50 acres – with new footpaths and cycleways, along with reforesting and an orchard installed. There will be a new playground.
Traffic calming measures will be introduced to Wetherby Road, and a drop-off point inserted for the nearby primary school.
Although within North Yorkshire, the site lies within the current Leeds Green Belt. On the consultation site, Gladman said:
“The Green Belt has heavily constrained the growth of Tadcaster, with areas that are not Green Belt often susceptible to flooding.
“We’re proposing a new Green Belt boundary, partially releasing land to provide a logical, coherent extension of the town. Our plans will also seek to enhance land remaining within the Green Belt alongside greatly improving public access to new areas of open space.
“As part of the planning process, we’ll need to demonstrate very special circumstances for this, which we believe there are.”
Katherine Putnam, planning director at Gladman, said: “We had a fantastic response to our first community consultation last year – people really get the effect that lack of housing choice is having on the town, particularly on younger generations. We’ve since worked really hard to take on board the feedback.
“Our plan for Eleven Arches is for a mix of homes that squarely meets the local need. That’s not just the 40% affordable homes that are in acute short supply, but larger homes suited to families and homes specifically for the elderly, allowing people to downsize and free up existing properties in the area.
“Eleven Arches is also a rare chance to deliver a new public park for Tadcaster. We’ve planned the site so that the majority of the land is not only left as green space, but proactively enhanced – whether that’s making it more accessible; introducing new wildlife habitats and planting; or creating new spaces where people can sit and spend time. Overall, an addition to Tadcaster that will benefit existing residents as well as new.”
Consultation will run until Friday 22 September, with plans submitted to North Yorkshire Council soon after.
Further information on the scheme, including details of drop-in sessions and walking tours, can be found on the consultation webpages.
This article is completely one sided. The community is NOT fully behind this development. The houses are planned on well used, wide open green belt which adds so much value to the character of this town. There are many underdeveloped areas in the town so sacrificing this beautiful land is completely pointless. The school drop off will not work for young primary school children who need to be escorted to classrooms so congestion is still expected to increase on an already hazardous 20mph road, with traffic from an additional 450 houses and poor public transport links. The flooding on this land gets worse every year and is being underestimated. There will be so many flood defences that I doubt there will be anywhere left to walk. We need to the Council to put every effort into now rejuvenating the town centre via the Local Plan where so much resource has already been spent. Please don’t sacrifice this beautiful land for the sake of some additional car parking spaces!
By Anonymous
Turning this land into a park would ruin it. The wildness of the watermeadows and the lack of development are what make it unique. I have walked on this land for almost 60 years…. I wish you would just leave it alone. Today the whole area is under several feet of water….. your plans are ridiculous and not wanted.
By JA
The above plans are obscene. The location is a flood plain for heavens sake. The town has flooded catastrophically in the past and ANY tampering with this land could well exacerbate flooding elsewhere. Any person purchasing a property on this development is asking for trouble down the line and while the purchase of the property would be their own misguided choice, my personal view is that the Developers should be held entirely liable for the damage and stress caused by the almost inevitable floods. It would be interesting to learn which insurance companies would be willing to take this potential development under their banner, and if they do, having been assured that there is no, or hardly any, risk by such a low rating, how long they would continue to insure once the number of flooding events mounted up.
By Anonymous
At the end of the day residents will be getting a waterfront view, so take it how you like yeah
By Anonymous