PLANS to build a hundred homes on farmland off Aldersley Avenue, Skipton, are being recommended for approval.

Despite strong objections from the town council, on grounds of highways, flooding and pressure on schools, the application by Persimmon Homes is being recommended for the go ahead on Monday at Craven District Council's Planning Committee.

The around 14 acre site is outside the development limits of the town, but is identified in the emerging Craven Local Plan as suitable for up to 100 new homes.

If approved, 98 homes will be built, including 20 per cent affordable, and will feature a mixture of terraced, semi-detached and detached properties. Almost half the site will be 'buffers' of open space.

In a long list of objections to the planning authority, Skipton Town Council says it questions the need for a development of such a size in light of the emerging local plan and the number of homes already approved.

It believes impact on the road network has not been properly assessed following the completion of nearby Elsey Croft - another large development - with the 'pinch point' at Shortbank Road a particular concern.

It fears for flooding in the area, that additional pressure will be put on over-stretched schools, and that no play provision has been provided in the scheme.

But, in Monday's report to the planning committee, members will hear that the application, which was submitted towards the end of 2016, is for a sustainable site that is well connected and accessible to services in Skipton and that the council cannot demonstrate a 'robust' five year land supply of homes.

Officers acknowledge that the development will result in a 'significant incursion of urbanisation into the open countryside which will erode its openness and diminish some of the characteristics of the moorland landscape' but that the harm will 'substantially mitigated' by the siting of the housing, the use of topographical changes and the buffers of open space.

North Yorkshire highways authority has raised no objections to the scheme, adding that the scheme had been subject to 'considerable discussion' for more than a year.

The authority has asked for conditions to the development, such as roads and pathways to be built first and restricting the residential conversion of garages.

The education authority has asked for a contribution of almost £330,000 towards primary school education.