THE developer behind plans for a 925-home estate asked a council to consider lending it £5m of public money, it has emerged.

Executives of North Yorkshire and Darlington housing association Broadacres, which owns 75 per cent of developer Mulberry Homes, asked senior Hambleton District Council officers in August whether funds to help it build a junction on the A168 dual carriageway, near Thirsk, would be available.

The informal approach came two years after the authority gave outline planning permission for the Sowerby Gateway estate - 925 homes, a neighbourhood centre, an extra-care facility, a primary school and various community facilities - and consent for work to start on 107 homes and commercial development, on the condition it built the nearby four-way junction.

It is understood the authority's leaders, who were pressing the developer for answers over why it had not fulfilled its obligation to build a four-way junction at the nearby A168 by September, were dumbfounded by the plea for funds.

Immediately rejecting the advance, the council said it could not lend money to any private developer.

The junction delays related to an increase in the cost of the junction, from the £2.3m Mulberry Homes had budgeted for, to about £7.5m, after the developer had to buy additional land to extend a slip road.

The council was told the developer wanted more time to build the junction and also might want the council to reconsider a key element of the scheme – that 40 per cent of the estate would be affordable housing.

Councillor Mark Robson, leader of the council, which hopes the estate will help meet housebuilding and affordable housing targets, was angered by the update from Broadaces, which states on its website that its values include to “keep promises and commitments”.

He said: "I am more than displeased. They got permission for something and they are going back on their word."

Joe Salmon, of campaign group Stuff, which opposed the location and scale of the development, said: "Having approved the scheme against considerable opposition by my group and others, the one thing we were adamant about was that HDC had to ensure that adequate traffic management arrangements were in place."

A Mulberry Homes spokesman said it had made "an initial inquiry" about a loan from the council.

He stressed the junction issues would have no effect on the building of the homes and other infrastructure related to the development.

He added the 40 per cent of affordable housing in the first phase was "much higher than most new developments of this kind".