Public consultation papers on controversial development plans will include housing numbers after Liberal Democrat councillors forced a dramatic U-Turn tonight.
Labour run York Council’s ‘Draft Local Plan’ outlines proposals to build 22,000 houses on sites across York. Last month the Labour Cabinet approved a report for public consultation which earmarked further sites and recommended boundary changes on some sites identified last year.
However, the consultation papers excluded housing numbers for the new and amended sites. Liberal Democrat councillors Nigel Ayre, Ann Reid and Carol Runciman ‘called-in’ the decision for further review and at tonight’s CSMC (Corporate and Scrutiny Management Committee) meeting the cross-party committee voted to include the housing numbers.
Cllr Ann Reid, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Planning, said at the meeting:
“The principle of consultation should be that residents are given as much information as possible about the proposals being put forward. We believe that housing numbers are central to this consultation and should be published. Whether one of these sites is for 20 or 200 houses will make a huge difference to how residents view it.”
Speaking after the meeting Cllr Reid commented:
“I am pleased that common sense has prevailed and residents will now be able to see the housing numbers proposed for each site. The Labour Cabinet should never have tried to hide the housing numbers from residents in the first place. Labour’s argument that including the numbers ties the hands of developers was nonsense, especially as housing numbers were published for sites in last year’s consultation.”