York Local Plan – new housing figures raise more questions

New figures provided by the York Council cast further doubts on the soundness of the Labour Local Plan for the City.

The Council recently revealed a new raft of sites which it is considering for housing development.  Following an intervention from LibDem Councillors the Labour Leadership was forced to agree to publish the numbers of homes that it hopes to fit on each site.

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That may come as little comfort to residents.

Estimates of the capacity of some sites included in the original Plan – published 12 months ago – proved to be very wide of the mark with sites like Our Lady’s in Windsor Garth slated to accommodate 60% more homes than allocated in the original plan.

Now the Council has been asked to respond to criticisms that it failed to identify nearly 1000 sites for homes which were subsequently granted planning permission between 1st October 2012 (the original plan base date) and 1st April 2014.

1793 additional homes were given the “go ahead” by the Planning Committee during that 19 month period.

As previously reported, 959 of these were on (mainly brownfield) sites of over 0.2 htr which should have been separately identified in the draft Plan …….but weren’t.

Permission for 144 homes was given through the conversion of existing commercial buildings like Hilary House.

Stonebow House missing

There is no mention in the Councils plans for buildings like Stonebow House or the Ryedale House building in Piccadilly.

Objectors fundament criticism  remains that Labour’s plans for 22,000 additional  homes is not only unnecessary (there are only 2000 people on the housing waiting list in the City) but they are also unsustainable.

 Expanding the City in size by 25% in just 15 years would have disastrous consequences for local infrastructure.

Transport systems would simply be unable to cope

NB. The high levels of planning permissions granted in recent months is the equivalent of a supply of over 1100 homes per annum.

That is markedly higher than the 575 agreed by the then LibDem led Council as necessary in its March  2011 Local Plan.

York crime and policing update

York police issue urgent appeal to find missing man

York police have issued an urgent appeal to help trace a York man who has gone missing from his home in the Heworth area.

41-year-old Mandeep Ahluwalia was last seen by his mother in the city on the afternoon of Friday 16 May 2014 and has not been seen or heard from since.

He also left leaving his car, bank cards and mobile phone behind.

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#AskTheChief webchat: your chance to quiz the Chief Constable

North Yorkshire Police’s Chief Constable Dave Jones is hosting a live webchat to give residents the opportunity to ask any questions about crime and anti-social behaviour in their communities.

Mr Jones will be online between 5pm and 6pm on Monday 19 May 2014.

To join the latest webchat visit www.northyorkshire.police.uk/webchat.

You can also set yourself an email reminder in advance so you don’t miss it.

Residents who are unable to take part in the live webchat are encouraged to send their questions to the Chief Constable in advance via the North Yorkshire Police Twitter account @NYorksPolice, using the hashtag #AskTheChief, or the Facebook page www.facebook.com/NorthYorkshirePolice.

He would like to discuss people’s experiences with North Yorkshire Police and to hear suggestions about how the policing service in the county can be further improved.

Mr Jones said: “As Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police, I believe it is important for me to engage with our communities and find out their concerns.

“This will my fourth webchat of 2014. I have found that they are a valuable way of receiving feedback from residents, helping me to understand the issues which are important to them so that we can improve the service we offer.

“I look forward to answering as many of your questions as possible between 5pm and 6pm on Monday, so please try and join me online.”