Member Article

DEVELOPMENT COMPANY UNVEILS ITS SELF-BUILD VISION FOR HARROGATE

The transformation of a disused North Yorkshire golf club near Harrogate, into a new sustainable housing development, would offer self-builders an opportunity unlike anything else in the UK, according to the developers behind the scheme. A planning application for Flaxby Park was submitted in December 2017 and includes 2,750 high quality homes, a retirement village, two primary schools, a GP surgery, sports facilities, a new village centre, as well as lots of open space. The development would also offer a substantial self-build element and improvements to transport links are proposed including a new rail station. The site’s 430 acres of landscaped parkland, which is close to the A1 and less than four miles from Knaresborough, was acquired in 2016 by Flaxby Park Ltd. The company is owned by internationally renowned businesswoman and philanthropist Ann Gloag OBE and regeneration experts Chris Musgrave and Trevor Cartner, who are also behind the North-East’s highly successful Wynyard Park development.
One of the most popular parts of Wynyard has been its self-build opportunities, with 60 plots across three very desirable sites within the park selling off plan. This success would be replicated at Flaxby, on a scale never seen before. Development director Matt Johnson, from Flaxby Park Ltd, says: “Our business model for self-build at Wynyard is proven, with the plots, which are set within mini-gated communities, appealing and being achievable to a wide range of people keen to build an exclusive high-end home that they have designed themselves. In the Harrogate District, self-build opportunities are few and far between, but they will be a key feature of Flaxby Park.
“Our intention is to deliver a number of service plots for the self-build and custom build markets. All our self-build areas will maximise the natural contours of the surrounding landscape and will comprise of exclusive pods of developments cells, with no more than 15 properties in each area, all privately accessed via a secured entrance gate. “We will provide all the infrastructure, from roads to utility connections, and the buyer gets detailed planning to build their own dream home. A design guide will ensure consistencies are maintained in fundamental aspects of the properties, such as the developable footprint ratios of plots, ridge heights and construction timeframes.
“When this is combined with Flaxy Park’s exceptional design, which will draw on the principles found in many of North Yorkshire’s finest villages, as well as large areas of open space, it will be a very special place to live, that offers self-builders a completely unique opportunity.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emma Mortimer .