Have your say on York’s future housing, jobs and growth

Residents, businesses, developers and landowners are being encouraged to help shape one of the most important strategies of our generation, by having their say on the Local Plan sites consultation.

City of York Council is currently preparing York’s Local Plan, which will support the city’s economic growth, protect York’s green belt, address the shortage of housing and help shape future development and employment in York over the next 15 years and beyond.

The eight-week consultation runs from Monday 18 July until 5pm on Monday 12 September on the Local Plan Preferred Sites document, which outlines revised figures for housing, employment and sites.

The council has provided a choice of ways for people to have their say, including joining officers at a number of drop-in events across the city, where they will be on hand to help answer any questions:

Acomb Explore Library

3 August – West Offices
9 August – Osbaldwick Sports Centre
11 August – Dunnington Reading Room
16 August – York Sport
18 August – Acomb Explore Library
24 August – Tesco Tadcaster Road
24 August – Oaken Grove Community Centre, Haxby

The proposals include several controversial proposals including a plan to overdevelop the Lowfields school site.

On the other hand the Plan would safeguard land lying between the Westfield ward and the northern by pass from the threat of development

Football gala at Lowfields playing fields. The latest plan threaten to build on the green spaces in the area.

Football gala at Lowfields playing fields. The latest plans threaten to build on this green space.

From next week, every household in York is being sent a copy of a special edition of the council’s newsletter Our City, which provides lots of ways they can feedback during the consultation, including a freepost address.

For further opportunities to feedback, or to find out more information:

Go online: www.york.gov.uk/localplan to complete the survey and to find a full copy of the Local Plan Preferred Sites document

Pop into: any of York’s local libraries/Explore centres or the council’s West Offices to see the proposals throughout the consultation period

Email: localplan@york.gov.uk

Telephone: 01904 552255

Get involved: on Twitter @CityofYork or Facebook @CityofYorkCouncil via the hashtag #YorkLocalPlan

Write to:

Freepost RTEG-TYYU-KLTZ, Local Plan, City of York Council, West Offices, Station Rise, York, YO1 6GA

To find out more about the Local Plan proposals read our news article here

York set to grow by 21% in size

Anyone currently planning to vote on the EU referendum on the basis that they may get more influence over their local community should think again. The report on the latest version of York’s Local Plan makes it clear that any population growth forecasts (including migration numbers) must be in line with government thinking. Councils cannot opt for lower figures – justified by more realistic economic development assumptions – without risking having a Whitehall written plan imposed on them.

The result is that the York Council has published a Local Plan which seeks to build an additional 842 homes in the City each year.

Most of these will go to the economic migrants who will be needed to fill the extra 15,000 new jobs (net 13,000) that the Council says will be created in the period up to 2032. Most of these new jobs will be in professional & scientific sector (+2945) although high growth is also forecast for

retail (+2412),
administration (+1933),
tourism (+1847)
Construction (1353) &
Social care (+1212).

Declining industries are identified as

Manufacturing (-1231)
Public admin and defence (-587) &
Finance & Insurance (– 448)

The Council concludes that it needs to provide an additional 16,820 homes in the period between 1^st April 2012 and 31^st March 2032 (842pa). That is similar in total to the figures included in the 2014 draft when 14,816 were to be built in the period up to 2030. It is higher than the figure suggested a year ago (750).

Significantly it is also more than double the 400 a year average actually built since 2011.

So what has changed?

Then LibDem Euro MP Edward McMillan Scott with Westfield residents opposing the development of Acomb Moor in 2013. The site is scheduled to continue in the Green Belt under plans published this week

The latest proposals represent an improvement on all the draft plans published since February 2011. The 2011 Plan – originated by the then Liberal Democrat controlled Council – did not involve any building on the Green Belt. In total, space for 12,075 dwellings was identified at that time.

An updated critique of Labours “Big City” approach was published 3 years ago.

The new Plan substantially reduces (but does not eliminate) the need to build on land which has traditionally been regarded as Green Belt (and is currently protected as such). Over 407 hectares of green space will be lost under the new proposals. That compares to the Plan published in 2014 by Labour, which would have seen 911 hectares of Green Belt lost.

The new Plan (rightly) re-inserts an allowance for “windfall sites” with an assumption that around 150 of these small brownfield sites will become available each year. This is substantially less than have arisen over recent years and is therefore a very cautious estimate.

After taking into account existing outstanding planning permissions – and the number of homes built since the start of the plan period in 2012 – the Council believes it needed to identify sites for 8277 homes.

In addition, it plans to earmark land to build a further 2540 homes between 2032 and 2037.

We will look in more detail later at the effect that this policy has had on individual sites. However, there is some very mixed news with, on the one hand, sites like Acomb Moor freed from the menace of development, while a new threat has emerged which could lead to building on the football pitches and amenity land at Lowfields school.

Football gala at Lowfields playing fields. The latest Plan threatens to build on the football pitches in the area.

Of the 11 larger sites identified for development, seven currently fall in the Green Belt. These include:

The Civil Service Sports ground on Boroughbridge Road (292 dwellings),
Derwenthorpe Two (845),
Huntington Monks Cross (968) &
Haxby north (735).

In addition, two new communities are planned.

One is located off Wigginton Road between the City and Skelton (1348) while the other is at Whinthorpe, south of the University near Elvington (3339). The Council papers make no mention of the impact such “villages” – and nearby large employment sites – might have on an already creaking infrastructure.

Some of the smaller housing developments and most of the employment sites are also located in the Green Belt.

Some will feel that the Council should have repudiated the Tory Governments high growth strategy a year of more ago. It may be too late to do so now.

For convenience the changes to land use are summarised below. Detailed maps can be found by clicking here

Green Belt building plans

Non strategic housing site

Sites saved from development

Employment land allocations

York Council moves to legitimise Local Plan decision date

The latest Forward Plan -which indicates when key decisions are scheduled to be taken by the York Council – has been amended to include consideration of a new Draft Local Plan.

The Council has said that it will consider which sites will be allocated for new housing when its Executive meets on 30th June.

Residents were mystified when, last week, Councillors said discussion of the changes was imminent. No item had been placed on the Forward Plan and the Executive’s own agenda – which outlines the issues that will be considered at its subsequent two meetings – was also silent on the issue.

The Council has still not said when its Local Plan Working Group will meet. The all party group has not met since 30th November 2015. It would normally meet to discuss any draft proposals before forwarding them to the Executive for approval.

We understand that Council officials are briefing the owners of major sites in the City this month. They are being told what to expect when the Draft Plan is released next month.

Eyes will be on major sites like Clifton Gate (between Clifton Moor and Skelton) and Whinthorpe (Between Elvington and the A64) both of which have traditionally formed part of York’s Green Belt. If either (or both) were to be slated for development then huge amounts would need to be spend on infrastructure improvements. The former would require a dualled A1237, while the later would require a new access corridor because of existing transport congestion in the area. The source and scale of the funding required must be made clear in any Council decision.

It is little short of outrageous that vested interests will find out the fate of projects worth tens of millions of pounds before ordinary residents and taxpayers are even told when they will be able to first see the proposals.

Revised York Local Plan promised

The York Council has said that it will publish a draft of a new Local Plan next month.

It will be fifth attempt in recent years to come up with a blueprint for the City which seeks both to conserve the natural and built heritage, while making provision for the additional 10,000 or so homes required over the next 20 years to meet the natural growth in population size (excess of births over deaths).

More controversial will be the Councils’ decision on economic expansion targets.

The “Big City” approach of the last Labour Council could have seen an additional 25,000 homes built in the City – most of which would have been occupied by inward (economic) migrants. The proposal attracted 14,000 objections. The policy led to Labour losing control of the Council in 2015 and since then a Tory/LibDem coalition has struggled to find common ground on house building numbers.

The LibDems were elected on a manifesto of conserving the Green Belt.

Labour politicians are now briefing that two Green Belt sites (at Whinthorpe & Clifton Gate) will get the go ahead, albeit with both reduced in size. However, both would have huge cost implications with a new access corridor being required to accommodate the first, while Cliftongate (between Clifton Moor and Skelton) would make dualling the A1237 essential.

The Council has been criticised for not coming up with a firm timetable for decision meetings on the new Plan. The only firm date given for public discussion is 30th June when apparently the Councils Executive will discuss it prior to formal public consultation being launched. Even this date has not been included in the Council’s Forward Plan of key decisions.

The Council statement reads;
(more…)

York Central development – proposals announced

The long awaited report on the development of land behind the railway station has been published by the Council.

It proposes a major increase in the number of new homes to be provided on the site bringing the total to around 2000. It is likely to be a high density development similar to that being constructed on Hungate.

The new proposals hark back to the numbers agreed in February 2011 which envisaged 1780 dwellings being built on the site together with around 90,000 Sq m of office space.

This plan was jettisoned by the last Labour administration who – as part of their “Big City” approach – chose to put new housing on green belt sites. They reduced the housing figure at York Central to only 410.

click to enlarge

The new policy recognises that central brownfield sites offer great advantages, with many facilities, and communication links, within walking distance of people’s homes.

The proposed use of part of the site for additional comparison shopping has been quietly abandoned.

One concern highlighted in the report is that planners think that only about 100 homes per year could be built.

This is an artificial and unnecessary constraint.

A growing economy means that mortgages are again becoming accessible and demand for property is increasing in York.

Building 1800 additional homes over the next 15/20 years is an achievable goal that the Council must go for.

Infrastructure problems remain for the site and the Council has been wise to elicit the support of the Homes and Communities Agency for its housing plans while also seeking Enterprise Zone status to support the growth of office based jobs.

Significantly, the Council has so far failed to seriously debate the actual amount of economic growth that the City could sustain over the next few decades without compromising its character (and transport systems).

It is this relatively high expectation of growth which fuels the demand for more housing most of which will be occupied by inward migration (a total of around 6000 homes are required to meet natural growth over the next 20 years).

The Council claims that high growth in relatively well paid office based jobs is needed to offset the low wages paid in the care, retail and tourism sectors. Growth in care – against the background of an aging population – is inevitable while the Council continues to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds promoting tourism.

Members of the Local Plan Working Group (LPWG) will be asked to consider and provide comments on work to-date at the meeting which takes place on Monday 30 November.

The group will give feedback on their thoughts and recommendations on the emerging plan policy, ahead of an Executive meeting on 15 December – to inform the overall approach to the development of York’s largest brownfield site.

Further detail of the developing project will be included in an upcoming Executive paper. The proposed policy “recognises the significant economic and regeneration benefits which could be achieved for York and the broader region“.

The LPWG will take place on Monday 30 November at West Offices from 5.30pm.

Click here to read the report

Study forecasts an extra 700 jobs a year being created in York

A York Council working group will meet this evening to discuss the numbers to be used in drawing up a new Local Plan.

Attention is likely to focus on the number of additional houses being provided to accommodate 900 additional foreign migrants which the Office of National Statistics say will come to the City each year.

Population forecasts click to enlarge

While many of these are transient, and simply reflect the increasing number of foreign students that have passed through local Universities over the last decade, there will be some scepticism about whether the expansion of higher education in the City can – or should – continue for the foreseeable future.

York has slipped out of the “top ten” UK Universities this year. There will be some who believe that is a consequence of chasing lucrative overseas student numbers.

A more convincing paper has been provided for today’s meeting by Oxford Economics (OE). It is an update of the paper that they produce a year ago. The employment forecasts have been reduced. This means that less land will need to be allocated for economic development over the next 20 years.

OE are forecasting that there will be 11,200 gross (10560 net) jobs created in the City by 2031 with the economy growing by 50%.
.

Employment forecasts click to enlarge

The economists forecast a growth in population from 203,701 in 2014 to 223,786 in 2031 (0.6% pa)

There are currently 763 job seekers registered in York. Even allowing for some hidden (long term) unemployed and a reduction in outward commuting from the City, it does look like the York may face a labour shortage over the next few years. Hence the pressure for more inward migration.

Unless sustainable growth assumptions are used, it looks like York’s economy may overheat, with falling investment levels a likely consequence.

A net increase in jobs of 700 pa would generate a demand for less than 600 additional homes each year.

This is a paradox that the Council will have to reconcile housing and employment needs in its next draft Local Plan.

Local Plan: “New” housing land figures released

The York Council has released what it claims are new figures intended to quantify the demand for housing development land in York.

The most recent Office of National Statistics population forecasts for the City show a marked reduction compared to the assumptions used when Labour published their version of the Local Plan three years ago.

Their plan to build 23,400 additional homes, mainly to accommodate foreign immigration demand (see table 5), prompted a “Big City or Our City” debate at the last local elections in May 2015. Labour’s ideas were rejected at that poll and the expectation is that the York Council will revert to a more reasonable annual building target of around 575 homes per year

Population increase drivers. Click to enlarge

Population growth forecasts, produced by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), have reduced dramatically in recent months. They currently show the City’s population growing from 203,000 to 224,000 (approx 21,000 people) between 2012 and 2031.

With an average of 2.2 people residing at each dwelling, that is equivalent to a requirement for about 500 additional homes each year. To this should be added an assumption about economic growth (which generates additional housing demand)

The new report will come as a disappointment to many. It fails to examine the capacity of the City to absorb growth without fundamental damage to its character.

The jargon littered papers conclude that 758 additional homes are required each year.

The report does make some progress on two issues:

It accepts that there is a 5 year supply of land available to satisfy immediate housing demand requirements. The list of sites considered to be available (most already have planning permission) can be found by clicking here
Officials now accept that part – around 140 additional homes pa – of the housing demand will be satisfied from “windfall” opportunities. These are sites which the Local Plan either does not schedule for housing or a combination of very small sites. Most of the planning permissions granted in recent years have been for windfall sites not identified in the 2013 Plan.

The Council seems still to be some way from finding its way through a mass of contradictory evidence.

Local Plan – Now officials forecast a 14% increase in York’s population over the next 20 years……… that is 31,000 extra people!

It look’s like the new Council will have to make major changes in the Council’s planning department. Officials there seem to have been brainwashed with the flawed thinking of the last discredited “Big City” Labour administration.

With an average of 2.2 people residing at each dwelling, that is equivalent to a requirement for about 470 additional homes each year.

Even a population growth of 1000 a year will have a major impact on the City’s infrastructure and Green Belt setting.

A report being considered on Thursday suggests that the City’s population should grow by 31,000 between (the base date of) 2012 and 2031.

That could mean the City having to find space for 758 additional dwellings each year. It has built, on average, less than 400 a year since 2011.

The number of births in the City exceeds the number of deaths by about 1000 a year – also implying a demand for about 470 additional homes

So there still appears to be little agreement on numbers.

Assuming that the City will want to cater for some sustainable economic growth, then a target of 575 additional homes being provided each year still looks to be about right.

That was the figure agreed in the Draft Local Plan published in February 2011 – the Plan that Labour scrapped when they seized control of the Council.

York looking a lot different this morning

Residents who went to bed last night knowing only the General Election outcome, will blink when they read the York Council poll results this morning

Labour have had their worst election result since the unitary authority was formed in 1997.

Half the Labour Cabinet have lost their seats including the prime architects of the “behind closed doors” decision making processes introduced 4 years ago. Cllrs Tracey Simpson Laing, Dave Merrett and Lindsey Cunningham have followed James Alexander out of the door.

The new Council is well and truly balanced with Labour scraping back with 15 seats to the Tories 14 and LibDem 12. There are also 4 Greens and 2 Independents on the Council. Significantly the Tories got the largest number of votes (but not by many) while the LibDems share, at 24%, was three time the national average achieved by the party

The new Council needs to take time to make sure that it comes up with a decision making structure that is open, considered and sensitive to resident’s views.

The Council will have to decide how much time to spend calling the previous, secretive, Council to account. Labour and their allies halted plans for an inquiry into the Lendal Bridge/Coppergate shambles, secrecy still prevails on failed social care projects, delays to major schemes like the community stadium were never properly explained, while the £185,000 loss on the “Grand Departy” was swept under the carpet.

The Council will need to consider carefully how much time to spend looking under dirty floor-coverings.

“Labour” is a toxic term for many residents when used in the local government context in York. The three Labour Councillors who left that Group, in protest at the mismanagement, all lost their seats yesterday. They will have the consolation that fewer errors were made by the Council in the period since last October when they took their courageous step.

New personalities are needed to lead the Council.

The Council will also need to review its senior officer team in the light of the decision of the Chief Executive to accept a new post elsewhere.

While many may feel that something like the old committee system would satisfy these objectives, there will be opposition to what they may term “turning back the clocks”.

It will be the first test for the newly elected Councillors.

Consensus government does by definition require compromise.

Housing numbers still a guessing game

The final York Council meeting last week approved a Tory motion covering the vexed question of how much land should be reserved for house building over the next 20 years.

There have been many different house building predictions floated over the last four years.

The final decision of the Liberal Democrat led Council was to approve a Council Plan allocating space for 575 additional homes a year. These would all have been built on sites which either already had planning permission or on “brownfield” previously developed sites. The plan assumed that 10% of sites would be “windfalls” – sites like the former Press building which unexpectedly became available for residential development.

That Plan was later jettisoned by a new Labour administration that by 2012 had come up with a figure of between 1200 and 1400 homes per year. This was far beyond the natural growth of the City (homes for existing York residents) with 80% of the 40,000 new homes likely to be occupied by inward migrants.

Most of the homes were to have been built on Green Belt land.

It led to a public outcry with residents launching an “Our City, not Big City” campaign.

Eventually in October 2014 the Labour Leadership was forced to resign and their Draft Local Plan numbers were abandoned.

However the new Council to be elected on May 7^th will need to adopt a new Local Plan. With the latest ONS figures painting a very different picture of housing need in the City, the Conservatives were right to say that much lower house building numbers were now justified.

However their web site paints a confused picture.

click to enlarge

On it they talk about a need to build 830 additional homes per year. That amounts to 16,600 additional houses during the next 20 years, and means the City would expand in size by 21% by 2035. Over 50% of the new homes would be likely to be occupied by inward migrants.

It appears that some Councillors have misunderstood the latest ONS population projections.

The latest figures say that York would have a natural population growth of 19,000 people between 2014 and 2030. This generates a demand for 540 extra homes each year.

Anything above that figure caters for (in many peoples view unsustainable) economic growth

So it looks like the Tories are now also planning a “Big City” growth plan. Inevitably this would mean building on large parts of the Green Belt.

NB Over 50% of new planning permissions are currently being given for “windfall sites” All are “brownfield”

On average, over the last three years, 382 new homes per year have been built in York

« Previous
1
…
3
4
5
6
7
…
9
Next »