Independent report into housing in York published

Local Government Association (LGA) report says the house-building rate in York is comparable to rest of the country.

The net new supply in York increased the existing housing stock by 1.5% during 2017/18.

This is much higher than the England average of 0.9%, suggesting the level of local supply is unlikely to be an issue. The Government’s national target of 300,000 homes per year is equivalent to 1.3%.

Population growth in York is set to average 686 people per year from 2020 to 2041, with projected average annual household growth of 430 households over the same period. This is significantly lower that the Council is forecasting in its draft Local Plan

According to the report, which was published this week, the average house price in York in 2018 was £254,000. The median ratio of house prices to local earnings is 8.8. This is higher than the England average of 8.0, suggesting high house prices are likely to be an issue for some

Private rents in York in the 12 months to September 2018 ranged from £565 per month for a lower quartile one bed to £2,058 for an upper quartile four (or more) bed property. The overall median private rent was £745, which is approximately the same as the England average of £690, suggesting that high private rents may also be an issue.

House prices in York in December 2018 are higher than their 2007/08 peak by 25.4%, compared with England at +27.3%.

Employment in York improved from 75.3% in 2014/15 to 78.7% in 2017/18; unemployment changed from 3.6% to 3.1%; and economic inactivity changed from 21.7% to 19.4%.

Gross domestic household income in York was £18,070 per person per year in 2016, compared with £14,133 in 2006. By comparison the figure for England changed from £15,349 to £19,878 over the same period.

The overall population in York changed by +0.6% due to migration in the 12 months to June 2017: +0.2% from domestic sources and +0.4% from international.

By age, the largest single contribution to growth was from 19-year olds.

The average life expectancy for people born in 2015-17 in York is 80.2 years for men and 83.5 years for women.

The equivalent national figures are 79.6 and 83.1 respectively.

The report confirms that second home ownership, empty homes and inward migration numbers are not significant issues for the City compared to the rest of the country.

The full report can be read by clicking here

Independent probe into failings at York Council

York Councillors are being asked to appoint an individual investigator to look into allegations of malpractice at the York Council.

A decision on an appointment will be made at a meeting next week

The meeting will be held in private

No estimates of the likely cost of the new investigation have been published but it is likely to involve the use the Local Government Association.

It is the latest in a, long line of mishaps at the Council. Relations between officials and some members of the ruling coalition have been tense since two prominent Liberal Democrat Councillors were sacked from the Council Executive by the then Leader David Carr.

The LibDems were subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing although the costs to taxpayers of the investigation were estimated to be around £100,000.

Cllr Aspden was only reinstated as the Councils Deputy Leader last week

Cllr Carr was himself sacked as Council Leader and faced a disciplinary hearing which was held behind closed doors. The results of the meeting were not publicised but it is understood that Cllr Carr claimed that he was only following officer advice

Cllr Aspden – who lost his responsibility allowance while suspended from the Executive – said, after being cleared, that he would consider whether to seek compensation.

 

Council Leader under pressure to publish secret report

Councillors from all parties have written to the York Council Leader (David Carr) asking him to reveal the contents of a secret report compiled by the Local Government Association (LGA).

The report looked into the behaviour of some York Councillors and officials at a stormy meeting of the Audit and Governance Committee which took place on 22nd February.

The report is thought to criticise the way that Council officials handled the meeting when it was considering a report on the appointment of consultants by the previous Labour administration.

An internal report had revealed that around £174,000 had been spent when appointing consultants outside the Councils procurement regulations i.e competitive tenders for the work had not been obtained.

Councillors voted to discuss the issue in public, prompting the then chair of the committee to walk out followed by another Labour Councillor.

Subsequently an investigation into the meeting was conducted by the LGA. The expectation was that the further report would have been presented to the last meeting of the Audit committee but the Council Leader intervened to prevent its publication.

Cllr Carr has so far refused to publish the report, despite promising members at a full council meeting in July that he would.

In the letter the councillors say:

“As members of City of York Council and its Audit and Governance Committee, we are writing openly to you to express our concerns over the lack of openness and transparency with the above report.

We would like you to confirm that:

  1. The report will be published for the Audit and Governance Committee as soon as possible, if necessary with the full version seen in private session and a redacted copy being public.
  2. You re-affirm your commitment to working in an open and transparent manner, whilst protecting the rights of members and officers by not prejudicing the outcome of any report.

We hope that you as Leader and City of York Council will learn from past events at Audit and Governance and push forward towards greater openness instead of just trying to fulfil minimum expectations with Members and the public. When writing public reports, we should carefully balance the legitimate public interest in disclosure against data protection concerns, working with redacted or summarised reports with private annexes rather than excluding whole reports as confidential.”

It is highly unusual for members of all the political  Groups represented on the Council to jointly produce such a letter.

It places further pressure on a Council Leader who has been increasingly isolated since he took unilateral action to sack two leading LibDem Councillors from the coalition Executive at the beginning of September.

The Council’s Standards Board has since made little progress in dealing with the allegations – also understood to be related to the procurement report – against the two Councillors.

Some sources within the Council are now saying that – unless progress on the reports is made quickly – an ultimatum is likely to be issued.

Either Cllr Carr goes or the coalition collapses.