The agenda for the planning committee meeting which may determine the fate of York’s community stadium has been published.
No reference is made in the papers to the erroneous public notice published in The Press.
The committee are being recommended to approve the application at its meeting on 27th March but – because of a mistake over the deadline for objections – a Council official is to be given delegated authority to formally approve the scheme on 31st March.
It is without precedent for an official to be given this level of delegated power on such a significant scheme.
Normally, any delegated authority is required to be exercised in consultation with the spokesmen of the various groups represented on the Council.
The decision will then be referred to the Secretary of Sate to decide whether the application should be “called in”. Given the upcoming General Election, an early decision on this seems unlikely.
The scheme will remain deferred until the Highways Agency formally lifts its holding objection.
As we have said before, it seems unlikely that the plans will be determined before June. It would be very much later if the Secretary of State orders a Public Inquiry (although this seems unlikely).
Only 29 objections have been received to the proposals so far. Most relate to the impasse on the use of the Stadium by the Knights Rugby team. The Planning Committee has few powers in this regard although it must ensure that any displaced sports (in this case athletics and Rugby League) have an accessible alternative facility available to them.
Not surprisingly Vue Cinemas – who have premises at Clifton Moor – object suggesting that the proposed new cinema may represent an over-provision in the area.
The officer report says,
“The analysis of patterns of usage show that the Vue cinema at Clifton Moor has the most dominance with 55% market share for York zones 1-3 and 34% market share for the whole of the study area. It would seem likely then that, given the directly comparable format of the new proposal at Monks Cross, the greatest impact would be felt at the Vue facility. Vue has no policy protection given its out of centre location”.
The officer report is very weak in assessing the impact that an additional 5,324 sqm of retail space could have on the City centre in the long term.
The possibility that some of the units to be located under the stadium stands could also become retail outlets in the medium term also appear to have been overlooked.
The retail part of the development is clearly in conflict with the draft Local Plans published in 2011 and 2012.
It is these issues that the Secretary of State will need to consider.
The Community Stadium project is running 2 years behind the schedule agreed in 2010.
