Sutton residents were shocked this week to discover there was nothing they could do to stop a housing development from being built.

Villagers came out in force to a public meeting organised by the parish council to discuss the building of 67 homes on the former Silentnight mill site off Bridge Road. But they were astounded to find out that the principal of building houses on the site had already been established and the latest plan by developer Barratt was to simply look at the design and layout of the houses.

Representatives from Barratt, Sutton parish and Craven district councils were quizzed by villagers concerned about how the roads and schools were going to cope with the influx of new families.

But many Sutton residents left the meeting angry and with a feeling that they had achieved nothing.

Craven council's planning and development manager Sian Watson outlined the history of the site which was once home to a former mill and used as a factory by furniture giant Silentnight. She said the site had been earmarked for the split use of housing and light industry in Craven's planning blueprint back in 1995.

Planning permission to build homes was granted by a government inspector at the beginning of 1998 after Silentnight took the matter to a public inquiry.

At Monday's public meeting it was revealed that Barratt wanted to develop the housing part of the site, leaving a large area left for industrial use.

South Craven planning officer Richard Preston said if it could be proved that there were no takers for the industrial part of the site after extensive marketing then that may also be developed for homes in the future.

However, Barratt's land and planning manager Lillian Coulson said the company had no interest in the other part of the site and she explained the other reason for the meeting. "We felt that because you're very much a community and not just a suburb of a local town you would take much more of an interest," she added.

Villagers claimed Sutton would simply not be able to cope with more people and traffic. They were also concerned over the state of the South Craven trunk sewer and its ability to handle the extra waste.

Mr Preston said that consultations with Yorkshire Water and North

Yorkshire county council had not revealed any problems with sewerage or roads. "If Yorkshire Water are not telling us that they want us to refuse this plan then we must assume that they have no objections," he said. "The time for strategic argument has really gone. If the highways authority felt that that the roads hadn't sufficient capacity to take the traffic then they would've said so."

But residents were unhappy that their hands seemed to be tied and development appeared to be going ahead no matter how much they protested.

"If we are to have the traffic from these extra houses where's it all going to go, because Main Street can't cope at the moment?" asked one householder.

And another asked: "Do Barratts really believe that this village can take another 300 people? It's simply not on, I think it's scandalous."

There were also concerns about the look of the houses, from the pitch of the roofs to the stone-rendering on the 'affordable' homes.

Some Sutton villagers called for more bungalows for elderly people instead of other types of houses on the site.

Parish council chairman Steve Morrell said the reason for the meeting was to gauge people's opinion on the plan before council members met on November 1 to prepare their comments to be passed onto planning officers. He said a book was available in the park pavilion for people to write in their comments.

It is not known when Craven district council's planning committee will debate the Barratt plan, although it is likely that it could go to the November 8 meeting.

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