Brownfield sites for nearly 2000 additional homes have already been found since Labour launched its attack on the Green Belt in April.
Many alternatives to green field development were listed in the LibDem response to the Council’s Local Plan which was submitted last week.
Ashbank – will be converted into flats
Even more potential brownfield sites are now emerging with an application being considered on Thursday to provide 9 homes at the former Ashbank care home site on Shipton Road. The property is owned by the Council.
A further application will see 12 homes built on the site of the Yearsley Grove pub on Huntington Road
The same planning committee will consider a proposal to construct 37 new homes on the site of the Burnholme Club in Heworth. This was a site identified for housing in the Local Plan (Ref H17) but for only 19 homes.
Taken with other sites – like Our Lady’s – there seems to have been a systematic and cynical attempt by York Council leaders to deliberately underestimate the capacity of brownfield sites in the City.
In the latter two cases the actual planning proposals almost double the number of units allocated for the sites in the Local Plan.
No explanation has been forthcoming from the Council on these major anomalies.