Agenda and decisions

To receive any apologies for absence.

At this point in the meeting, Members and co-opted members are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary interest, or other registerable interest, they might have in respect of business on this agenda, if they have not already done so in advance on the Register of Interests. The disclosure must include the nature of the interest.

An interest must also be disclosed in the meeting when it becomes apparent to the member during the meeting.

(1)     Members must consider their interests, and act according to the following:

(2)     Disclosable pecuniary interests relate to the Member concerned or their spouse/partner.

(3)     Members in arrears of Council Tax by more than two months must not vote in decisions on, or which might affect, budget calculations, and must disclose at the meeting that this restriction applies to them. A failure to comply with these requirements is a criminal offence under section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered to speak can do so. Members of the public may speak on agenda items or on matters within the remit of the Executive.

Please note that our registration deadlines are set as two working days before the meeting, in order to facilitate the management of public participation at our meetings.  The deadline for registering at this meeting is 5.00pm on Friday, 10 April 2026.      

To register to speak please visit www.york.gov.uk/AttendCouncilMeetings to fill in an online registration form.  If you have any questions about the registration form or the meeting, please contact Democratic Services. Contact details can be found at the foot of this agenda.

Webcasting of Public Meetings

Please note that, subject to available resources, this meeting will be webcast including any registered public speakers who have given their permission. The meeting can be viewed live and on demand at www.york.gov.uk/webcasts.

To approve and sign the minutes of the Executive meeting held on Tuesday, 3 March 2026.

There are currently no items scheduled on the Forward Plan for the Executive Meetings in May and June 2026.

To receive a report from the Director of City Development presenting a strategic approach to events and accessibility of the city centre.

Resolved (unanimously): That the item be deferred to enable the proper consideration of further information and advice received from North Yorkshire Police on 14 April 2026.

To receive a report from the Corporate Director of Adult Social Care and Integration which seeks Executive approval of the York Carers Strategy 2026–2032.

Resolved (unanimously): That Executive approves the York Carers Strategy 2026-2032.

Reason: To provide a clear, co-produced framework for improving support to carers, aligned with statutory duties, corporate priorities and the Council’s improvement work following the CQC assessment.

To receive a report from the Director of City Development presenting a revised and accelerated approach to refreshing York’s Local Plan.

Resolved (unanimously):

That Executive

i)              Approves and publishes the Plan-Making Activity Schedule, inclusive of the Local Plan Timetable (Annex A of the report);

ii)             Approves formal notification of plan-making by June 2026 with delegated authority to the Director of City Development to issue the notification;

iii)           Approves the Statement of Community Involvement (Annex C of the report);

Reason: To enable the Council to benefit from government funding for local planning authorities that commit to start their local plans by 30 June 2026 and complete Gateway 1 by 31 October 2026 in accordance with the requirements of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) Regulations 2026 and legislative framework.

iv)           Delegates authority to the Director of City Development, in consultation with the Member for Housing, Planning and Safer Communities:

a)   To approve and update, when necessary, a Local Plan Consultation and Engagement Strategy;

b)   To approve updates to the Local Plan timetable, when necessary;

c)    To approve and publish the statutory ‘scoping stage’ consultation;

d)   To approve, publish and submit the required documents and statements for statutory Gateways 1, 2 and 3;

e)   To approve all evidence documents, reports and supporting data and analysis for publication;

f)     To formally submit the proposed City of York Local Plan for Independent Examination once Gateway 3 is successfully completed.

Reason: To ensure the efficient delivery of the local plan

programme and timely decision-making during the 30 months

preparation period and its submission following completion of the

formal stages of preparation.

v)             Authorises Officers to prepare a work programme for discussing Local Plan preparation at Planning Policy Advisory Group.

vi)           Instructs Officers to report to Executive for approval on the proposed Local Plan content and evidence for statutory consultations during the 30-month preparation period.

Reason: To ensure detailed political oversight and consideration

at key stages of the local plan programme.

vii)         Delegates approval of consultation strategies for non-statutory guidance to the Director of City Development.

Reason: To continue effective implementation of the adopted

Local Plan (2025)

To receive a joint report from the Director of Housing and Communities and Director of City Development which seeks approval for a new long-term Delivery Strategy.

Resolved (unanimously):

That Executive

a)   Approves the Delivery Strategy for the HDP, including an initial phase of five sites (Ordnance Lane, Castle Mills, Willow House, Lowfield Plot A and Manor School), via the appointment of a long-term Strategic Delivery Partner and client-side multidisciplinary professional team.

b)   Agrees that the Delivery Strategy, subject to future Executive approvals, may be used to support the delivery of additional sites in the HDP, as well as strategic sites that may come forward through the Council’s wider asset programmes and One Public Estate partnership work, including major public?sector land opportunities and significant brownfield regeneration schemes.

c)    Approves that prior to entering into any major construction contract in the HDP, a business case will be brought back to Executive for approval.

d)   Agrees to delegate authority to the Director of Housing and Communities and/or the Director of City Development (as appropriate based on the site) (in consultation with the Director of Finance and the Director of Governance) to take such steps that are necessary to procure and appoint the Strategic Delivery Partner, multidisciplinary professional team, and demolition of buildings at Willow House, and to determine the provisions of and enter into the resulting contracts (including any and all partnership agreements, pre-construction services agreements and early / minor / enabling / demolition works contracts) and any other necessary legal documentation (including any and all planning agreements and/or highways/land agreements as required; however, for the sake of clarity this delegation is not for any requirements of either the Local Planning and/or Highways Authority), and the provisions of any subsequent modifications and/or extensions thereto, in accordance with the Council’s Financial Regulations set out in Appendices 10 and 10a of the Constitution (the “Finance Regs”), the Contract Procedure Rules set out in Appendix 11 of the Constitution (the “CPRs”) and (where applicable) the Procurement Act 2023 (the “Procurement Act”) and the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (the “PCRs”), within approved budgets and subject to the availability of funding.

e)   Agrees to delegate authority to the Director of Housing and Communities and/or the Director of City Development (as appropriate based on the site) (in consultation with the Directors of Governance and Finance) to agree and enter into any land assembly, access, highways, easement, wayleave, title regularisation, or minor freehold/leasehold disposal necessary to deliver individual schemes (and the provisions of any subsequent modifications and/or extensions thereto), where consistent with an Executive?approved business case and statutory requirements.

f)     Agrees to delegate authority to the Director of Housing and Communities and/or the Director of City Development (as appropriate based on the site) to negotiate and enter into any Section 106, Section 278, Section 38, utilities, adoption, estate management, collaboration or development agreements required to implement schemes (and the provisions of any subsequent modifications and/or extensions thereto), following Executive approval of the relevant business case.

g)   Agrees to delegate authority to the Director of Housing and Communities and/or the Director of City Development (as appropriate based on the site) (in consultation with the Director  ...  view the full decision text for item 9.

To receive a report from the Director of Housing and Communities which asks Executive to approve the method of allocating ward funding.

Resolved (unanimously):

That Executive approves

a)   Model D (7) for implementation for the next financial year.

b)   Enhancement of the ward funding arrangements as outlined in paragraph 30 of the report:

·      Structured ward funding bid programmes held on a quarterly basis followed by City Wide Funding releases.

·      Flexibility to carry forward projects and funding at year end:

1)    To continue to allow approved projects not yet started to be carried forward into the new financial year (this has been in place since 2024/25); and

2)   To allow 20% of the year’s budget to be carried over at the end of the financial year so if there is insufficient funding for an application at year end, it can be topped up from the following year.

3)   Publication of all ward funding decisions on ward web pages to demonstrate to residents how the money had been spent each year.

Reason: To ensure that ward allocations meet Council Plan

priorities and methodologies around allocations and delivery are

transparent to residents and stakeholders.

Any other business which the Chair considers urgent under the Local Government Act 1972.