Issue - meetings

The Head of Strategic Planning to present a report which (i) provides an update on the work undertaken on the MOD sites highlighted in previous reports; (ii) seeks the views of Members on the methodology and studies carried out to inform the housing and employment that the City is tasked with accommodating; (iii) seeks the views of Members on the most appropriate way of accommodating this future growth; (iv) asks for approval of non-housing and employment site specific policies; and (v) requests approval for officers to undertake the necessary work to produce a draft plan based on the recommendations of the Executive for the purposes of consultation along with associated technical papers.

Please note that Annexes 1 – 11 are available online.

Resolved:  That the Executive agrees:

(i)           That on the basis of the housing analysis set out in paragraphs 82 - 92 of the report, the increased figure of 867 dwellings per annum, based on the latest revised sub national population and household projections published by the Office for National Statistics and the Department of Communities and Local Government, be accepted.

That the recommendation prepared by GL Hearn in the draft Strategic Housing Market Assessment, to apply a further 10% to the above figure for market signals (to 953 dwellings per annum), is not accepted on the basis that Hearn’s conclusions were speculative and arbitrary, rely too heavily on recent short-term unrepresentative trends and attach little or no weight to the special character and setting of York and other environmental considerations.

(ii)              That the employment land requirement included, arising from the draft ELR Addendum (Annex 2), be considered and agreed as the evidence base upon which the Local Plan should be progressed.

(iii)        That the increased figure to 867 dwellings per annum, be met by the  changes to sites within Table 4 (page 21 of the report) and by the following changes to sites from Table 5 (page 22 of the report),  the inclusion of Queen Elizabeth Barracks, Imphal Barracks, Nestle South, Grove House and the former Clifton Without Primary School, the deletion of Heworth Green North (H25) and Whiteland Field, Haxby (H54) and the change from a housing site to an employment site of Poppleton Garden Centre. The rest of the changes included in table 5 should not be included.

That the changes to employment sites highlighted in Table 6 (page 25 of the report) be accepted and to accept the following changes to sites listed inTable 7 (page 25 of the report) – the changes to York Central, the inclusion of Towthorpe Lines and Whitehall Grange, the inclusion of ST19 Land at Northminster Business Park based on the Preferred Sites Consultation (2016) position and the deletion of site ST6 – Land at Grimston  Bar. The rest of the changes included in table 7 should not be included (the refers to the proposed extensions at ST26 and ST27 and two new sites listed).

(iv)        That the revised policy approach to Gypsy and Traveller provision highlighted within the report and Annex 9 be agreed.

(v)         That authority be delegated to the Assistant Director of Planning and Public Protection in consultation with the Leader and Deputy Leader to approve all housing and employment growth related policies (including site specific planning principles) and the non housing and employment site related policy modifications at schedule (Annex 7) in accordance with the approved evidence base.

That the Leader and Deputy Leader keep Group Leaders informed through Group Leaders meetings.

(vi)        That the Assistant Director of Planning and Public Protection in consultation with the Leader and Deputy Leader, be delegated to approve changes to the non-site related policy modifications schedule (Annex 7) following the completion of viability work.

That the Leader and Deputy Leader keep Group  ...  view the full decision text for item 24

Members considered a report which provided an update on the work undertaken on the MOD sites highlighted in previous reports to Local Plan Working Group (LPWG) and Executive. 

The recommendations from the meeting of the LPWG on 10 July 2017 were circulated and the following points of clarification were noted:-

Recommendation No. 3 Housing

Table 4: Includes housing sites with minor changes, no changes, small scale deletions (Page 143)

All proposals recommended for approval by LPWG

Table 5: Includes significant changes to boundaries, new sites and significant deletions (Page 144)

All proposals recommended for rejection by LPWG except the inclusions and amendments relating to;

·        Queen Elizabeth Barracks (934/ 935 / 936)

·        Imphal Barracks (624 / 937 / 939)

·        Nestle South (ST17)

·        Grove House (H23)

·        Former Clifton Without School

the deletions of:

·        Heworth Green North (H25)

·        Whiteland Field Haxby (H54)

and the change of Poppleton Garden Centre from a housing site at PSC (2016) to an employment site. (H57 becomes E16)

Recommendation No. 3 Employment

Table 6: Employment Sites with minor or no suggested changes and small deletions. (Page 147)

All proposals recommended for approval by LPWG

Site E5, should have been included as a deletion in this table. It is a small 0.2 hectare site included within Annex 4 table 2 as deletion. This due to a lack of a willing landowner for an employment use.

Table 7: Employment sites including significant change (including new sites).

All proposals recommended for rejection by LPWG except the inclusions and amendments relating to;

·        Towthorpe Lines (925)

·        York Central (ST 5)

·        Whitehall Grange (246)

·        The deletion of Land North of Grimston Bar (ST 6)

The position taken by LPWG was that Northminster (ST19), land at Elvington Airfield Business Park (ST 26) and the University of York Expansion Site (ST27) all to remain at their Preferred Sites Consultation 2016 position.

Recommendation (v) of the LPWG gave delegated authority to the Assistant Director in consultation with Members to approve non site related modifications. This should refer to non housing and employment site related policy modifications.

Annexes 5 & 7 include sites relevant to proposed policy changes:

·        Allocation of Heworth Croft for Student Housing (SH1);

·        Site 139 (bio-rad) as a potential mental health facility;

·        The deletion of the CNG site at Askham Bryan; and

·        Changes to open space designations.

With regards to the potential loss of employment land at the Barracks site, and the rationale for the site being recommended for residential use, it was noted that all potential sites had been rigorously tested against a range of criteria.  The annexes attached to the report demonstrated a number of sites that had been rejected and accepted against that methodology.

In response to concerns as to the recommendations put forward by the LPWG, Councillor Ayre, Chair of the LPWG, clarified that the Group had not amended any recommendations, they had been asked to consider and put forward their own recommendations. 

In conclusion, Councillor Ayre referred to York’s population, housing and affordability challenges and stated that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24