The recently published development sites which Castle Howard Estate have put forward for the review of the Ryedale Plan included (among four sites) the Slingsby Sportsfield. This has understandably caused a lot of concern in the community, since an essential village amenity and a heritage site are affected.
We have received the following message from Castle Howard. It aims to allay concerns regarding inappropriate development. We are publishing it here, without comment, so that you can decide for yourselves if that aim has been achieved.
Please attend the Parish Assembly on Monday 23 May at 7.30 pm in Slingsby Village Hall, so you can hear Jasper Hasell, Castle Howard Estate Chief Executive, explain more about the Estate’s intentions. There will be ample opportunity for you to ask questions and express your views.
Matthew Wood, on behalf of the Senior Management Team, writes:
“We are aware of the concerns raised by the community with regards the potential development of Slingsby sports field, which forms part of one of the sites that has been identified for consideration under Ryedale’s Local Plan review. We would like to offer reassurance if this were to be chosen by Ryedale District Council (RDC) as a development site, this would not jeopardise the provision of sports facilities in the village. Any development will ensure the enhancement of existing sports facilities and it has never been our intention to jeopardise this provision. Indicative concept plans have already been shared with RDC to confirm this when the land was submitted for consideration, however the council only issues red line plans outlining land submitted, which may have confused matters in this instance.
We are sharing here an indicative concept plan that shows the retention of the sports field, with development on land to the west, with access from the High Street, to the south of Slingsby Castle which we hope provides some reassurance. Please note that this plan is indicative only. It was been produced to accompany a red line site plan submission to RDC to show how different uses could be accommodated on the site, rather than to indicate proposed locations of building types, roads and green space. It is not a fixed plan and further design work would be undertaken if the land is allocated.
At this stage, all sites submitted are under consideration by RDC and hold no planning status. Only if a site receives allocation from RDC would more detailed work be undertaken on site layouts, house design, access, services and so on. We are happy to share our thinking at this early stage and hear thoughts and comments from the community which will help to shape any future plans. Castle Howard is committed to the enhancement of services and the sustainability of communities through any development that takes place on estate owned land.
Estate Chief Executive, Jasper Hasell, will be presenting further information on the estate’s vision and the sites under consideration on Monday at the Parish Assembly meeting and will be happy to answer questions then. In the meantime, we are pleased to share our draft vision document as background reading.
Kind Regards, Matthew Wood“
INDICATIVE CONCEPT PLAN:
We will publish CASTLE HOWARD’S DRAFT VISION DOCUMENT in a separate post on the Village website (owing to the document’s size).
We hope to see as many residents as possible at the Parish Assembly in the Village Hall on Monday 23 May at 7.30pm.
For a reminder of the four proposed sites, see our earlier post here.