959 housing sites missed from draft Local Plan

Green Belt campaign logo

Nearly two thirds, of the homes granted planning permission since Labours draft Local Plan was drawn up, have been for sites omitted from the Plan.

A total of 1831 new sites for homes have been agreed since October 2012.

This is in addition to the 3231 sites which already had planning permission.

That means developers could now erect 5062 homes in the City – a 6 year supply of land, based on average house building rates over the last decade.

Of the total new permissions granted, 1678 were for brownfield sites. The vast majority – including the former Press offices in Walmgate – were not identified for residential use when the draft Local Plan was published 12 months ago.

The Council’s plans continue to under-estimate the supply of brownfield land. The plan should identify any site – of more that 0.2 ha in size – with potential for housing. The draft Plan failed to do so. The additional sites which will be considered on 17th April also fail to do so. The Council has said that it does not know how many additional homes could be accommodated on the new sites due to be considered on 17th April.

It is an important issue as the Council has not made any allowance for “windfall” sites in its calculation of the total build requirement for the next 15 years.

Nor has it identified the potential for conversion of existing commercial property with some very large opportunities – such as Ryedale House, Stonebow and Hillary House – excluded from the calculations.

Promised conversions, of the upper floors of shopping premises, have also been excluded.

A full list of the permissions granted can be downloaded from here

The figures are likely to be of considerable significance when the Local Plan reaches the Examination in Public Inquiry stage.

The make up of the Draft local Plan base numbers is as follows:

The Local Plan Preferred Options was based on a position at 1st October 2012. The total number of residential net outstanding consents (commitments) at that date was 3,231 dwellings. This is detailed in Chapter 10 of the LPPO document (Housing Growth and Distribution). The table below splits this figure into site categories.

(more…)

York Local Plan – confusion increases

No sooner had the agenda for York’s Council meeting – to be held next Thursday – been published, than meetings to discuss the Local Plan have appeared in the Council’s diary of events.

The Council agenda had included several questions critical of the delays, and lack of clear milestones, in the preparation of the Local Plan

Yesterday we reported that the Forward Programme of decisions – a legal requirement for all major issues – did not include any reference to an update of the Local Plan.

Residents protest against Local Plan

Residents protest against Local Plan

So far, residents have not even had an opportunity to speak out about Labours plan – announced a year ago – to increase the size of the City.

Now a mysterious “special” meeting of the Councils “Cabinet” has been scheduled for Wednesday 23rd April. The Councils web site has been amended today to say that;

“During the consultation additional information on sites was submitted by landowners and developers. Before making any final decision on sites to be included in the Local Plan, the Council would like to understand the public views on this additional information. Reports relating to this will be considered at the Local Plan Working Group and a special cabinet in late April and this will be followed by public consultation”.

Whether landowner’s comments will do anything to reassure residents about the Councils expansion plans remains to be seen.

The Council has still not published the 4000+ objections made by residents to the original plan.

Any new information is due to be considered by the (all party) “Local Plan Working Group”, a meeting of which has now been scheduled for Tuesday 22nd April. As this is the day before the Cabinet meeting, it is unlikely that the working groups views – much less any views expressed by residents – would be reported to a meeting which is taking place the next day.

Legally the Cabinet cannot take any decisions on “key” matters – like the Local Plan – without giving 4 months notice in their Forward Programme.

They have still not published a timetable of milestone dates which will lead up to the inevitable Public Inquiry into their plans, which is now unlikely to take place before next year.

Lib Dems demand answers over Local Plan

Liberal Democrat councillors are calling for an urgent update on controversial plans to build 22,000 houses in York.

 Labour run City of York Council’s Draft Local Plan proposes building 22,000 houses over the next 15 years, including thousands on Green Belt land. Public consultation on the plan closed in July last year and over 14,000 responses were received – the vast majority in opposition to the proposals.

Green Belt land off Moor Lane still under threat

Green Belt land off Moor Lane still under threat

However, eight months after the consultation closed the full responses have still not been published and there has been no opportunity for councillors or residents to publically discuss the plan or the public reaction.

No dates for meetings have been included in the Council’s Forward Programme of decision dates (published this week) which covers all major issues scheduled to be considered during the forthcoming 4 months

Cllr Ann Reid, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Planning and Sustainability, commented:

“Thousands of residents took the time last summer to study the plans and respond to the consultation. It is ridiculous that eight months later these views have still not been fully published and the concerns raised have not been addressed.

“Labour should immediately publish these responses in full and organise a meeting of the council’s cross-party Local Plan Working Group. They need to give opposition councillors and residents the chance to discuss the issues and their concerns. Labour need to tell residents what is going on and publish a detailed timetable. At the moment residents are being kept in the dark and feel they are being ignored.

“The whole process is being shrouded in secrecy by Labour and in the meantime planning applications on the Green Belt, such as Becks Lane in Strensall, are being approved on an ad-hoc basis. We also know that the council is already talking to developers about building at other key Green Belt sites.”

At  the meeting of York’s Full Council next week (Thursday 27th) Cllr Reid will ask the Labour Cabinet Member for Transport, Planning and Sustainability the following questions:

  •  When will a timetable of meetings be published at which residents can make representations on the (revised) Local Plan proposals?
  • Why is it taking so long to publish – as promised – the written comments and objections which the Council received following its initial consultation on the Draft Local Plan last year?
  •  What is the proposed timetable for the preparation of the Local Plan up to, and beyond, the Examination in Public (Public Inquiry)?