Agenda and minutes

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.

[Please see attached sheet for further guidance for Members].

Members were asked to declare at this point in the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interest or other registerable interest they might have in respect of business on the agenda, if they had not already done so in advance on the Register of Interests. Cllr Fisher noted that he was a member of the Foss Internal Drainage Board and added that he had never passed a firm opinion on the application. Cllr Steward noted that he was a member of York Environment Forum and had not taken part in any discussions regarding the outer ring road. There were no further declarations of interest.

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 committee.

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Webcasting of Public Meetings

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During coronavirus, we made some changes to how we ran council meetings, including facilitating remote participation by public speakers. See our updates (www.york.gov.uk/COVIDDemocracy) for more information on meetings and decisions.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme on general matters within the remit of the Planning Committee A.

This item invites Members to determine the following planning application:

Members considered a schedule of reports of the Head of Planning and Development, relating to the following planning applications, outlining the proposals and relevant policy considerations and setting out the views of consultees and officers.

Improvements to the A1237 York Outer Ring Road including dualling of existing carriageway, improvements to roundabouts, provision of 5.1km shared use cycle and pedestrian route, signalised crossing facilities for active travel users, 2no. overbridges and no.6 underpasses for pedestrians and cyclists with ancillary development including sustainable drainage measures, flood compensatory storage areas, woodland planting/landscaping, habitat creation, noise barriers, revised field accesses, associated infrastructure and earthworks [Rural West York, Rawcliffe and Clifton Without, Haxby and Wigginton, Huntington and New Earswick Wards]

Becky Eades – Head of Planning and Development Services

Mark Barratt  – Principal Officer Development Management Officer

Sandra Branigan – Senior Solicitor

Ian Stokes – Principal Development Control, Engineer (Planning)

Helene Vergereau – Head of Highway Access and Development

Julian Ridge – Quality Bus Contract Advisor

Members considered a major full application for Improvements to the A1237 York Outer Ring Road including dualling of existing carriageway, improvements to roundabouts, provision of 5.1km shared use cycle and pedestrian route, signalised crossing facilities for active travel users, 2no. overbridges and no.6 underpasses for pedestrians and cyclists with ancillary development including sustainable drainage measures, flood compensatory storage areas, woodland planting/landscaping, habitat creation, noise barriers, revised field accesses, associated infrastructure and earthworks on the A1237 York Outer Ring Road A19 Roundabout Up To And Including Little Hopgrove Roundabout York.

The Principal Officer Development Management outlined the application and gave a presentation on it. Members then asked a number of questions to which he and officers responded that:

The speed limits were taken into account as part of highway safety. [At this point the Chair explained the difference between the Planning Authority and Highways Authority].

A demonstration of the locations of the cycle and pedestrian routes was given including the orbital route, underpasses and crossings, including where there was already existing cycle routes and bridges.

The points where the bridleway was a public right of way crossing the carriage was part of the stopping up process and it was noted that there road restraint barriers.

The Head of Planning and Development Services gave an update on the published report which included amendments to paragraphs 2.14, 5.37 and 5.202 and the insertion of paragraphs 5.161a – e after 5.161. Members were advised of additional representations, comments and objections, including an additional response from the Environment Agency agreeing with conditions. The additional information had been assessed and the planning balance and the recommendation were unchanged from the published report.

Public Speakers

Dominic Tooze spoke in objection to the application. He explained that he worked voluntarily with vulnerable people and that a person he worked with did not receive support because of budget cuts at the council. He noted that increasing roads had an impact on air quality and that there was enough scrutiny on the impact of dualling the ring road.

Lisa Hilder spoke in objection to the application. She noted that as a York resident and global citizen she had returned to York in 2022 and was pleased to see the council’s action on climate change including the action plan which included a reduction in car use. She cited a number of statistics regarding emissions and added that there was more objection than support for the application, mainly from environmental organisations. She added that global warming had increased and asked for the brakes to be put on the application.

Pax Butchart, an MA student on environmental and social justice, spoke in objection to the application. The reasons for this included more car journeys meaning more  ...  view the full minutes text for item 96.