Harrogate Borough Council Planning Committee landed a further blow to the hopes of North Yorkshire County Council’s plan to build a waste incinerator at Allerton park. Despite a recommendation from officers not to recommend rejection of the proposal elected members voted against. 

The reasons given were concerns over the scale of the proposal, highway issues, adverse affect on the countryside and inadequate information generally. Harrogate Borough Council are consultees only and the final decision will be made by North Yorkshire County Council unless the Department of Communities “calls the application in” for decision.

Earlier the Highway Agency in an unespected move had asked for a six month delay in the decision process to allow the highway implications of the proposal to be fully explored. This means that the application is not likely to be considered by the North Yorkshire Planning Committee before August this year.

Commenting on the decision the developers claimed that the discussions with all concerned are “still on track”.