FEARS are mounting that rapid house building in a Richmondshire town is outstripping the capability to provide school places and deal with waste water.

Members of Colburn Town Council said there are currently plans or ongoing building works for around 600 homes – with a future estimate of another 600 for the town which has just one primary school already at capacity.

At Richmondshire District Council’s planning committee on Tuesday (June 30) reserved matters of appearance, landscaping and scale were approved for two new schemes – one for 47 homes at a former factory site in Colburn, and another for 126 homes between Colburn and Catterick Garrison.

Cllr Angie Dale, planning committee member and chairman of Colburn Town Council, said the problem with school places in the town would only get worse.

She said: “The town is growing too quickly and we don’t have the infrastructure.

“As chairman of the town council I have some major reservations about the larger proposal. We have 622 houses on the cards in our ward, and we are trying to deal with it.

“We have already highlighted education provision as a problem.”

The town council also raised Colburn’s sewerage capacity, saying the sewage plant in the town was considered full around four years ago.

In a report the council added: “The council is not aware of any current plans to increase capacity to deal with further sewage that will be generated by this and other planned developments.

“The traffic flow to the sewage plant is a cause of ongoing concern to the council - increasing numbers of lorries going to and from the sewage plant along a 20mph village road, full of parked cars, school children and families.”

Cllr John Blackie asked to defer the proposals for the 126 home development in Catterick Road, Catterick Garrison, and was supported by Cllr Dale.

Colburn Town Councillor Gareth Sutterby said his main concern was an access road for emergency vehicles between two parts of the development site, which he fears could lead to antisocial behaviour.

He said: “The town council thanks the developers for their continued consultation with the public.

“We remind them though that the access gates for the link road are in poor repair and we ask that the application is deferred until a suitable decision has been made.”

In the report, a police architectural liaison officer stated: “I have some concerns in relation to the emergency link that connects the Arras Lines development to the Sour Beck development, as there does not appear to be any vehicular access control.

“The link provides an additional escape route for offenders and has the potential to generate complaints of antisocial behaviour.”

However, planning officer Peter Featherstone said to defer a decision on the application on these grounds would not be appropriate because they would be discussed when full planning permission was sought.