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  3. Planning policy
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  5. Ryedale planning policy
  6. Planning policy explained

Planning policy explained

Responsibility for planning in the former Ryedale District area is split between North Yorkshire Council and the North York Moors National Park (NYMNP).

For more information about the National Parks, please follow the link below.

North York Moors National Park

Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Part of the western area of former Ryedale is within the Howardian Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. We make the decisions on planning applications but consult with the Howardian Hills Manager.

Howardian Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty website

Work is being led by Natural England to explore the possible designation of the Yorkshire Wolds as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The lead authority on this work is the East Riding of Yorkshire Council. Part of the proposed area is within the North Yorkshire Council boundary. For more information, please visit:

Yorkshire Wolds Designation Project

Ryedale's adopted development plan

Our development plan comprises a number of documents, these include:

  • Ryedale plan - local plan strategy. This sets out how much new housing, employment and retail development should go where from now until 2027. It also guides other forms of development and protects key environmental and historic features in Ryedale
  • Ryedale plan - local plan sites document. This makes site-specific policies and identifies areas of land for specific uses (we call these allocations)
  • Policies maps. These provide a visual representation of planning policies within settlements
  • Helmsley plan. This provides the site-specific policies and allocations for the whole town of Helmsley
  • regional spatial strategy

All of these documents can be accessed via the page below.

Our development plan policies

Other supporting documents 

  • Supplementary planning documents

 


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© 2026 North Yorkshire Council

The council provides services across North Yorkshire including Harrogate, Ripon, Scarborough, Whitby, Northallerton, Thirsk, Selby, Tadcaster, Malton, Pickering, Richmond, Skipton and more.

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