Latest planning application for the Westfield Ward

Co op plan changes to Beagle Ridge Drive store layout

Co op Beagle Ridge Drive

Below are the latest planning applications received by the York Council for the Westfield ward.

Full details can be found by clicking the reference highlighted in blue

—-

Address 1 – 9 Front Street York

Proposal Condition 3 – 15/00178/FUL (cladding for new flats)

Reference AOD/16/00334

—–

New Co op Layout click to access

Co-operative Retail Services Ltd 6 Beagle Ridge Drive York YO24 3JQ

Proposal Installation of new refrigeration plant in existing plant enclosure at the rear, alterations to loading bay area, reduce door threshold in rear elevation, brick up louvre, new bollards to front and rear of store, relocation of parking bays and colour changes to shopfront.

Reference 16/02315/FUL

—–

Representations can be made in favour of, or in objection to, any application via the Planning on line web site. http://planningaccess.york.gov.uk/online-applications/

The Council now no longer routinely consults neighbours by letter when an application is received

Last chance to have your say on York’s future housing, jobs and growth

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.

On the west of the City there are a number of controversial proposals notably the plan to build on the playing fields at the former Lowfields school site.

Residents don’t, of course, know what alternative proposals developers are suggesting although one – development of the land a the end of Grange Lane – has become public.

Extract from Focus newsletter 1988

Ironically it is almost exactly 28 years to the day since a proposal to develop land near Askham Grange was first mooted.

At that time, local Councillors were able to successfully fight off the threat and the land has remained in the Green Belt ever since.

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

Go online: http://tinyurl.com/LPGrange to complete the survey and to find a full copy of the Local Plan Preferred Sites document

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

Oliver House redevelopment set for “go ahead”

Officials are recommending that planning permission by granted for the redevelopment of the Oliver House site.

Mccarthy and Stone Bishophill Mccarthy and Stone Bishophill2 Mccarthy and Stone Bishophill3 Mccarthy and Stone Bishophill4

The former elderly person’s home was sold by the Council to specialist developer McCarthy and Stone a year ago. The expectation was that apartments – aimed at older people – would be provided on the well located site.

As well as the £3.2 million capital receipt, the Council is now set receive over £500,000 to spend on providing “off-site” social housing units.

The main demand on the housing waiting list is for smaller properties which, when vacated, will free up family accommodation. The Council may need to act quickly to make use of the receipt or any vacated Council houses may have to be sold on the open market under new central government regulations.

The new Bishophill development will provide 34 homes with associated communal space and car parking.

The Council was heavily criticised for leaving Oliver House unused for over 2 years. Eventually it was sold by tender but it could still be over 18 months before the first homes there are occupied.

Harewood Whin

At a meeting on 15^th September the Council is set to remove the requirement to provide a section of cycle path outside the new waste transfer station on Wetherby Road near Rufforth. The proposed road side path has been superseded by an alternative off road link which opened last year.

York Council to ramp up buying and selling plans

Castlegate

It looks like the Council will be selling its premises at 29 Castlegate later in the year. The building has been in use as a youth drop in centre for several years and before that housed a photographic gallery.

Closure of the youth centre provoked a strong reaction and the Council abandoned its plans to sell the building in 2015. However, a new home for youth activities has now been found at Sycamore House and it seems that the Council will resurrect is plan to sell the building to the York Civic Trust (who run the adjacent Fairfax House and which needs the space to expand).

A meeting on 24^th November will discuss how to ensure that taxpayers get the best possible deal out of the change.

Leeman Road

Elsewhere the Council is expected to discuss in October whether it can buy the Unipart Rail site on Leeman Road. The site is one that will eventually be redeveloped as part of the York Central project.

The Council has so far failed to identify an investment model to drive forward land acquisition in the area. It has allocated £10 million in its capital programme to fund an access route into the site but many taxpayers are unhappy that this risk is not being born by commercial partners – or government agencies – who stand to profit from the development.

Piccadilly

Castle Mills car park

It seems likely that the Council will fund the demolition of its Castle Mills car park on Piccadilly which is described as being in “poor condition”. It is likely to be replaced by a surface level car park until such time as the regeneration of the area actually moves forward.

Regeneration of the Coppergate/Piccadilly area has been stalled for over 15 years.

York Council in circles over roundabout advertising?

The York Council has applied to itself for permission to install small sponsorship adverts on local roundabouts.

The sponsorship scheme was started 15 years ago and provides an income to cover the costs of maintaining decorative planting on the islands.

Quite why the Council has decided to refer the issue to a planning committee – with all that entails in additional time and costs – is unclear. It would have been easier and quicker to delegate the decision to officials (unless any objections were received).

The locations being discussed on 8^th September include:

The Council receives around £25,000 a year from the sponsorship which is managed by a third party. Around 30 sites are available to rent.

Record number of new homes built in York last year

Student units account for 52% of 1121 total

Housing compl,etions 2006 to 2016

2015/16 saw the largest number of new homes provided in York since 2006. 1121 units were provided of which 908 were new build, 218 a “change of use” with one conversion. Six homes were demolished.

579 dwellings for students were provide mainly on sites in Lawrence Street and Walmgate.

Figures released by the York Council suggest that a significant part of the surge in provision (over 100 units) resulted from a legal relaxation which makes it easier to convert offices into residential accommodation. The change, allowing for the office to residential conversions (together with certain retail, financial services and existing agricultural buildings) without the need to apply for full planning permission, has now become permanent.

Significant numbers of new homes were provided at:

Derwenthorpe, Osbaldwick (Phases II, III & IV) provided a total of 100 completions,
Sessions Former Print Works (18)
the Former Civic Amenity Site Beckfield Lane (18),
Burnholme Social Club (22)
Fox and Hounds 39 Top Lane Copmanthorpe (28) and
the first homes at the Windy Ridge/Brecks Lane Huntington Site (24)

The figures will strengthen the case for including a significant allowance for homes provided on windfall sites in any Local Plan calculations. Of the completions last year, over 100 (20% of non-student developments) were built on small sites that could not be separately identified in a Local Plan.

Planning permission for 680 additional homes was granted during the year.

Of these 166 were for off campus student accommodation. Many of the others were for office to residential consents, the largest (58) being on the Land Registry site on James Street

The average annual number of planning consents over the last decade is 785.

This is broadly in line with the assumptions being made in the latest version of the Local Plan.

Developer eyes land next to Chapelfields

According to papers seen by Ward Councillors, a developer is still hoping to build on land at the top of Grange Lane. The news came only days after the Council announced that all existing Green Belt land lying between the built up area and the A1237 northern bypass would continue to be protected.

The confirmation of the existing Green Belt boundaries was made possible after the LibDems identified sufficient “brownfield” (previously developed) land to meet housing needs for the foreseeable future.

In total around 12,000 additional homes will be provided over the next 20 years under the new Local Plan

It means that building works will be concentrated on sites like the rear of the railway station.

However developers can appeal against this decision and they may have the support of the Labour party which originally tabled proposals which would have seen the City increase in size by 25%.

Local Councillor Andrew Waller has criticised the Grange Lane plans.

“Development on this site would exacerbate traffic problems in the area which are already acute at school arrival and leaving times.

The fields between Chapelfields and the ring road provide a soft boundary between the open countryside and the City and include some informal recreational walks.

They shouldn’t be sacrificed so a private individual can make a quick profit”.

“I hope that residents will write to the Council supporting the existing Green Belt boundaries”.

Response forms are available on the Council’s website (www.york.gov.uk/localplan ) or are available from the Council’s West Offices reception or from Acomb library.

Oakhaven on York Road to become homeless hostel

Oakhaven

The York Council has finally an admitted that the former Oakhaven elderly persons’ home will be turned into homeless person’s accommodation.

No external alterations are proposed to the building and internal changes are minimal. Currently the property has 27 bedrooms. The proposal is to change it to 10 one bed flats and 5 two bed flats.

Oakhaven has been empty – apart from some police training use – since it was closed last year.

The Council had talked euphemistically about the buildings being used to “house local families”. It turns out that the flats will replace the Ordnance Lane facility which is being demolished. Those units cater for homeless families and some individuals. Occasionally they have housed teenagers on remand.

There are already two buildings being used to house homeless people in this part of the City (Holgate Road and Howe Hill)

Inevitably there are problems with any transient use. Noise and chaotic lifestyles do not always sit well with quieter neighbourhoods or – in the case of the Front Street area – a recovering shopping precinct.

Most homeless families, of course, simply want to be moved a permanent home as quickly as possible. That should be the Council’s main target.

The Council’s planning committee is being recommended to approve the use of the building as a homeless hostel for up to 18 months.

The Council has said that in 2018 it will build an extra care elderly people’s facility on the site.

The same Council department recently reneged on its promise to redevelop only 50% of the Lowfields school site

Hob Stones planning application changes now on York Council web site

Details of the proposed changes to the Hob Stones development on Windsor Garth can now be found on the Council’s web site

The planning application can be read by clicking here

An explanation for the proposed changes from the builder can be found by clicking here

Residents have until 9^th August to record any objections.

Unfortunately, the applicant appears to have attempted to drown the application in a sea of documentation much of which replicates the papers submitted 3 years ago. Hopefully the Council will reorder the papers to make it clearer just precisely what changes are being proposed.

click to access

York central development – consultation results published

The results of a public consultation survey undertaken by the Council earlier in the year on the York Central development have been published.

click to enlarge

Around 1224 responses were received to a survey which was criticised at the time for lack of clarity on project costs and the absence of demand information.

Many respondents said they couldn’t answer the questions although some pressure groups did use the survey to make points about access arrangements, green infrastructure and the future of the Railway Institute building.

The Council has already published a Draft Local Plan which would see 1500 homes built on the site. Potentially that would leave space for 80,000 sqm of office accommodation.

A draft planning document for the site is expected to be published in November.

Separately a Council report says that York taxpayer’s liability for the project may be less than the £10 million budgeted. They expect the Leeds City Region to stump up £2.55m of this sum as a “loan” although it is still far from clear what the final cost will be to taxpayers.

The Council has so far spent £1.3 million on the project. To that will be added the costs of buying land to facilitate development.

Further details will be published in November.

« Previous
1
…
11
12
13
14
15
…
27
Next »

York commentary archive site