NEW affordable homes have been given the go-ahead despite the threat of a legal challenge.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) has granted full planning permission for the construction of five new, affordable houses in Bainbridge aimed at local people.

Solicitors acting for a small group of residents trying to block the development said that the homes would not be wholly affordable.

However, YDNPA approved the drawing up of a legal agreement to ensure the new homes could be sold – and re-sold – at a price no greater than 70 per cent of their open market value.

The five houses will be built in a field to the rear of the Grade II listed Rose and Crown pub.

The applicant, Horn Blower Developments Ltd, recently built eight homes on an adjacent site.

Yvonne Peacock, YDNPA member, proposed approval, stating affordable houses were needed to help retain families.

She added: “Anybody wishing to buy one of the homes will need to be working here, or have been resident in the national park for three years, or have lived here for at least ten years previously.

“The threat of a legal challenge just highlights how difficult it is to get new houses built even when the authority, the local parish council and most of the community are in support of them.”