Agenda and minutes

At this point in the meeting, Members are asked to declare:

·        any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests

·        any prejudicial interests or

·        any disclosable pecuniary interests

which they may have in respect of business on this agenda.

At this point in the meeting, Members were asked to declare any personal, prejudicial or pecuniary interests they may have in the business on the agenda. None were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting of the Local Plan Working Group held on 29 January 2015.

Resolved:           That the minutes of the last meeting held on 29^th January 2015 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

At this point in the meeting, members of the public who have registered their wish to speak, regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the remit of the Working Group, may do so.  The deadline for registering is 5.00pm on Monday 28 September 2015.

Filming or Recording Meetings

“Please note that an audio recording may be made of this meeting and that includes any registered public speakers, who have given their permission. This recording can be played back at http://www.york.gov.uk/webcasts

Residents are welcome to photograph, film or record Councillors and Officers at all meetings open to the press and public. This includes the use of social media reporting, i.e. tweeting.  Anyone wishing to film, record or take photos at any public meeting should contact the Democracy Officer (whose contact details are at the foot of this agenda) in advance of the meeting.

The Council’s protocol on Webcasting, Filming & Recording of Meetings ensures that these practices are carried out in a manner both respectful to the conduct of the meeting and all those present.  It can be viewed at http://www.york.gov.uk/downloads/file/6453/protocol_for_webcasting_filming_and_recording_of_council_meetingspdf

It was reported that there had been one registration to speak under the Councils Public Participation Scheme:

Robert Arnold spoke on behalf of The York Action Group Alliance. He advised that the Alliance were concerned that in satisfying York’s housing need, the Council does so by not destroying the green belt and by not overloading infrastructure and services. He referred to The Alliance’s Manifesto which contained issues which the Alliance felt  reflected the views of local people following a consultation carried out in 2014. In relation to the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) recommended figure of 758 houses a year, the Alliance do not believe that the figure should be increased or decreased. He suggested that using methods to inflate the figure such as looking at previous under provision was not acceptable.

There had been one registration to speak on agenda item 5 – Economic Growth:

Edward Everard spoke on behalf of York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce. He advised that the chamber works closely with the Council on all matters concerned with the regions economy and has taken an interest in Local Plan issues. He stated that the low rate of housing development in the city in recent years had impacted upon economic growth. In relation to agenda item 5, he advised that York needed to respond to economic growth opportunities. A move away from the manufacturing towards the service sector had led to lower productivity and lower wages and this would be the key challenge for York going forward. In relation to the Officers report, Option 1, he considered that this was not acceptable but the other scenarios were more positive and should be considered for addressing future employment land needs. Before making further decisions he suggested that the Council should step back and set out it’s visions and aspirations of how the City should look in order to establish how much employment land is needed and where. The Chamber would be happy to continue to work with the Council.

The purpose of this report is to update Members on the report regarding the Objective Assessment of Housing Need (OAHN) produced by consultants Arup to inform the preparation of the emerging Local Plan.

Members considered a report which provided them with an update on the Objective Assessment of Housing Need report produced by consultants Arup to inform the preparation of the emerging Local Plan.

The Head of Planning and Environmental Management addressed Members to advise that the purpose of the report was to update Members on the Objective Assessment of Housing Need (OAHN) produced by consultants Arup and that this was part of the evidence base for the emerging local plan and would  be used as a starting point to establish the amount of housing land required in the Plan. The report was not setting policy and the recommendation reflected this.

Members received a presentation from Christopher Tunnell, Director at consultants  Arup. The presentation is attached to the online agenda for this meeting for information.

A number of points were discussed in detail as follows:

·        The impact of the student population in York – The representative from Arup advised that the Universities had now confirmed that they expected student numbers  to continue to grow at the same rate over the plan period having a resultant impact on the housing market of 10 dwellings per annum. As such, there is no evidence that the figure should be adjusted to take into account student numbers. Officer indicated that they would being a further paper back to LPWG looking at the student population issue in more detail in terms of student numbers, student accommodation choices and future options.

·        A Member queried the impact of international migration and requested that figures be provided clearly, in the same format as in the December 2014 LPWG,  showing the impact that international migration has upon York’s housing figures. Officers confirmed that they would provide a table showing the components of population change including percentages. Arup also confirmed that migration was a national policy issue and that limited evidence at local level to challenge figures.

·        A Member pointed out that the analysis of market signals was limited in the report and it did not show how affordability had changed over time or provide comparison with regional and national averages. It was confirmed that further analysis of affordability will be undertaken and that a new Strategic Housing Market Assessment will look at the issue in more detail. At present the data available did not show a worsening trend in respect of affordability in York so an adjustment to the housing figure to reflect market signals was not recommended by Arup. Officers confirmed that the SHMA would be reported back to LPWG.

·        A Member queried the start date of the Plan at 2012 and asked whether the plan start date could be 2015 so that undersupply would not have to be considered in previous years. It was confirmed that the date was 2012 because that was the start date of both the 2012 based population and household projections which the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and practice guidance (NPPG) advise should be the starting point for the objective assessment of housing need.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Working Group are invited to consider the evidence of demand for employment land and the options set out as a starting point for determining the amount and type of employment land required to be identified in the Plan.

Members considered a report which outlined the evidence of demand for employment land and a number of options as set out in the report, as a starting point for determining the amount and type of employment land required to be identified in the plan.

Members received a presentation outlining the report, the slides are attached to the online agenda for information.

The following discussion point was raised:

·        A Member queried how the outcome showing a potential average wage decrease across the city was calculated. Officers clarified that this was a result of projecting forward growth in employment sectors and relating this against the applicable sector’s wages. Officers confirmed that this would not necessarily come to fruition as subject to Member choice of how to proceed with forecasted sector growth.

A member suggested that a further scenario could be a combination of scenarios 1 and 2.

Officers advised that the report suggested that work continued to develop the evidence  around both the baseline and scenario 2. If only scenario 2 was chosen then it would be important to provide satisfactory evidence of the probability of the investments required to  deliver the scenario coming forward such as York Central.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Recommended:           That the Executive accept the analysis as presented and endorse Option 4 as highlighted in Paragraphs 52 and 53 of the report.

Reason:                        To provide a basis for undertaking further work on the development of a NPPF compliant Local Plan. This will include a further assessment of both scenarios covered by the recommendation and the development of a potential portfolio of sites. All this will be presented to the Local Plan Working Group at a future meeting.