New Monks Cross development gets green light – by a single vote

Fears about the survival of the great crested newt population at Monks Cross did not prevent councillors from approving plans for two industrial units on a patch of green land.

The Tonsley York Trust made the application for the land, currently covered with vegetation, trees and ponds, sandwiched between McDonald’s and the Go Store self storage unit on Monks Cross Drive.

Eamonn Keogh, for the developer, said the units were the second phase of a wider industrial development, with ten of the 11 units adjacent to the site already let.

He said the units, designed to be used for light industry or storage and distribution, would benefit the local economy and be well suited to smaller businesses.

Cllr Jonny Crawshaw and Cllr Rachel Melly questioned how many jobs would be created, particularly if the units end up as storage.

They also raised concerns about the great crested newt population, of which there are “significant populations” in the area, according to planning documents.

Cllr Crawshaw added: “We have a population of a protected species which is apparently surviving despite all the development that has gone on around it.

“But we’re now saying that because of all the development that’s gone on around it, we’re going to actually flatten the last remaining bit of breeding ground.”

Protected species

Great crested newts are a European protected species. The animals and their eggs, breeding sites and resting places are protected by law.

The developer has agreed to pay toward providing a habitat elsewhere in York.

Cllr Tony Fisher said the newts would soon be surrounded anyway, as planning permission for 970 homes to the north was granted on appeal last month by a planning inspector.

He added: “If they’re kept on that little site, they’ll become an island population and that will obviously limit their ability to migrate, so I don’t think it’s a suitable site under the present conditions.

“Whilst I have some regrets about losing the population on this site in Huntington, they can be moved quite successfully somewhere else – it’s been done many times before.”

Cllr Keith Orrell said there were many great crested newt populations in the wider area, which they could move to, including the ponds around Vangarde shopping park.

The planning committee was evenly split for and against the proposal, with chair Cllr Andrew Hollyer’s casting vote in favour resulting in approval.