Voice your Opinions on the Proposed Sites.

As many of you will be aware, Castle Howard have submitted several sites to Ryedale District Council as part of the Local Plan review. These sites, whilst only in the initial stages of the planning phase, could result in the development of 300 houses in Slingsby, almost doubling the size of the village.  It is really important that the Slingsby community and residents voice their opinions, even at this early stage. 

If the proposed sites went ahead, along with the 70+ houses already further along in the planning process (The Balk site and the Castle Farm and Heights Farm site), it would have a significant impact on Slingsby as a village. Some of these impacts may be negative but there is also an opportunity to identify some positive possible outcomes of such a considerable change to the village. Therefore, it is vital that as many people as possible have their say.

Sending a letter to the planning team at Ryedale District Council will help to get your message across and the more letters they get, the louder Slingsby’s voice will be heard, so please do put pen to paper!

It’s important that you make your comments individual and relevant to what you think, rather than everyone just sending in the same letter. Some topics that might be of particular interest to you and your family could include:

• Impact on existing amenities, such as school and sports club, play area and tennis courts which are much loved by the community and would not be as accessible or secure if located/re-located elsewhere
• Impact on existing infrastructures such as drains, wi-fi and roads, especially concerns about traffic, access points, pollution and impact on health; concerns about accidents on the B1257
• Impact on the immediate local environment, including heritage such as the castle and church but also wildlife, trees and plants
• Impact on flooding especially from new houses into the Beck and impact on Fryton, The Lawns and Railway Street or from any development on the other side of the B1257 on the entire village
• Alignment with the Slingsby Village Design Statement especially the protected views identified by the community: uninterrupted views between Slingsby and Fryton, especially E towards the three iconic buildings the castle, church and Old Rectory, and the view NE from the B1257 across fields to castle, church and Old Rectory.
• Impact on Slingsby as a whole, how would significant additional houses change Slingsby?
• The need for affordable or housing association homes for local families and youngsters
• The potential impact of additional second homes or holiday homes
• The need for additional amenities, such as shops, doctors’ surgeries etc if the above went ahead. 
• And any other impacts that are relevant to you. 

The full details of the proposed development sites here in Slingsby can be found here; https://www.slingsbyvillage.co.uk/news/review-of-the-ryedale-plan/ 

But in short, site 298 covers the playing field and the land west adjacent to the playing field [NB. This site was withdrawn and replaced by site 305 in late July 2022]. Sites 301A, 301B and 301C are the sites south of the village over the main road.

For further information visit www.ryedale.gov.uk/information/review-of-the-local-plan/our-consultations-on-the-plan-review/

And here is a link once again to the village design statement, including what people in Slingsby said mattered to them in 2016 (Appendix A).

Where to send your letter:

You can email your letter to [email protected] 

A good old-fashioned letter often adds a bit more weight.  The address is below but please reference the local plan and the Slingsby site numbers. 

Planning and Regulatory Services

Ryedale District Council

Ryedale House

Malton YO17 7HH

Alternatively, you could pop your letter in the postbox at the Slingsby Sports Club and mark it ‘RDC Planning’ and it will get hand delivered. 

At the moment, the exact timescales are a little vague but we are assuming the next stage of development meetings at RDC will take place in late summer, so the more letters we can get in by the end of July, the better!

Look out for more information about what Slingsby can do as a community to play our part in this potentially significant development in our village.

LATEST SITE SUBMISSION HERE [posted 29072022]

This Saturday (25th June), Community First Yorkshire are hosting the ‘Good Life, Ryedale’ event at Hovingham Village Hall. Hovingham’s Project Purple are running the café and there will also be several stalls by local organisations. On the same day there will also be ‘Coffee In The Garden’ running alongside this, and visitors are welcome to both events. More information is included on the flyers below and through this link.

Friends of Slingsby School are looking for Stall Holders for events coming up this year. See the attached flyer for more information, deadlines and contact details:

Those who attended the Parish Assembly on 23 May (to find out about Castle Howard’s outline proposals for development in Slingsby) will have heard our Village Design Statement being mentioned from the floor. Some may have got the impression that Castle Howard planners were unaware of the existence of this detailed document. It is however fair to assume that even some residents will not be aware of the Village Design Statement, so we are providing here a link to it on the Ryedale District Council website: SLINGSBY VILLAGE DESIGN STATEMENT.

It was adopted by Ryedale as a Supplementary Planning Document in 2016 and so has particular status under planning rules. Supplementary Planning Documents such as this build upon the Ryedale Plan and are a material planning consideration.

Following a survey of residents, the Village Design Statement seeks, among other things, to designate and protect particular iconic views which are highly valued (such as the one across the sports field towards the Church and Rectory). These views would be adversely impacted by the proposals. This aspect of the Village Design Statement is perhaps the most relevant when Ryedale come to consider the submitted sites in Slingsby.

Background information about both the Village Design Statement and the Parish Plan has long been available to view on the Community page of our village website.

More about how to respond to the consultation can be found in the village website’s guide

Key Castle Howard documents supporting their Slingsby development proposals are on the Ryedale District Council website HERE.