Plans for more than 200 homes in Selby have been given final approval despite concerns about the impact on nearby ancient woodland.
The plans will see Persimmon Homes build 215 more homes at Staynor Hall, off Abbots Road.
The site has had outline planning permission for 1,200 homes plus space for businesses, public open space, shopping and community facilities since 2005.
Approval for the 215 homes was deferred by Selby District councillors in November after Selby College said it had “not been consulted in any meaningful way” about Persimmon Homes’ plan to redesign the access road next to their building.
The college has since withdrawn its objection after Persimmon amended their highways plan.
But The Woodland Trust has continually objected. They fear potential damage to the nearby ancient woodland of Staynor Wood and have called for a buffer zone of at least 20 metres.
The charity said in a written statement: “The siting of a large scale housing scheme adjacent to Staynor Wood will result in a range of impacts to the ancient woodland, including noise, light and dust pollution occurring during both construction and operation of the scheme.”
The council’s landscape officer said there remained disagreement about the buffer, but said they were content with the proposed separation.
Council documents stated: “Officers are satisfied that the development of the site will not present a risk of damage to or loss of rooting from the trees within the woodland group.”
Persimmon wrote to the council: “The advice requires a minimum of 15m to ensure that there will be no root damage (which we have already proven there won’t be due to the location of the ditch) and in my view anything beyond the 15m is difficult to justify on account of any impact being largely immeasurable and also due to the history of how the woodland has been dealt with on previous phases of the scheme.”
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Persimmon also submitted an updated plan for improving the condition of the woodland with a series of measures, including screening barriers and rerouting footpaths.
Councillor John Mackman said during Wednesday’s planning committe meeting: “I think the questions have been answered – there’s a 15 metre separation distance and that’s from the outer edges of the tree canopies, not from the tree trunks, so it’s quite quite a significant distance anyway.”
Councillor Charles Richardson said: “I do think this is a huge improvement on where we were a few months ago – it was never going to be easy to get agreement from all parties in that locality. I think the applicants have been very reasonable in the compromise that we’ve got in front of us.”