Agenda and draft minutes

To receive and note apologies for absence.

The Committee noted apologies from Cllrs Whitcroft, Healy, and Fenton who were substituted by Cllrs Rose, Orrell, and Waller.

Due to the apologies received by the Committee’s vice chair, Cllr Vassie was elected vice chair for the meeting.

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.

Members were 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 the agenda. None were declared.

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.

Please note that our registration deadlines are set as 2 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 17 July 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.

It was reported that there had been five registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

Flick Williams asked that the York Central Mayoral Development zone be extended to include the station. She highlighted the current challenges for wheelchair users to cross the station and by including the station funding should be made available to address these challenges.

Helen Poulsen one of the founders of Ouse it or Lose it outlined the issues with the rivers water quality. She suggested a river wide charter to improve the rivers health and make it a place for leisure. She asked that the Council work with the University of York report on the Aqua Project and work to make York a swimmable city.

Andrew Mortimer outlined concerns about the levels of sewage overflows from Yorkshire Water. He highlighted as Chair of Friends of Hull Road Park that Yorkshire Water were discharging sewage directly into the park and asked that the CSO be closed to stop discharging sewage into the park.

Robin Norton was a regular rower in York and noted the levels of sewage in the Ouse. They highlighted that 6 CSO’s had been broken in York so the data which showed high levels of swage discharge in a draught year in 2025 was likely larger than reported. They also stated that they felt Yorkshire Water were raiding bill payers to pay for under investment over 30 years.

Alister Boxall Professor of Environmental Science at the University of York highlighted the Econnect project that is motioning river chemicals. A dashboard of the data collected would be available in the autumn and would provide an opportunity for York to deal with water quality issues and therefore encouraged the committee to engage with the project.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 16 June 2026.

The Committee enquired about when Make it York and the BID would be able to attend the Committee following a request to include them in discussions regarding parking charges. It was confirmed that there had not been space at this Committee meeting but that the Council’s Scrutiny Officer would be reaching out to make arrangements for a future meeting.

Resolved:

Resolved: That the minutes of the Place Scrutiny Committee on 16 June 2026 be signed as a correct record of the meeting.

The Committee has requested a report to consider the management of our cities ‘water network’.

The Committee were joined by Tim Myatt, Head of Corporate Affairs, Steven Jackson, River Health Strategy Manager, and James Gudgeon, Pollution Reduction Manager from Yorkshire Water.

The Committee considered the reports provided by the Council and Yorkshire Water. Members highlighted issues relating to sewage discharges currently in the river Ouse and river Foss and asked about how additional housing planned in the Local Plan would affect this. Yorkshire Water highlighted its investment plan which was included its growth plan to account for more effluent from new developments and stated that it was important to ensure new developments didn’t have high levels of discharges. They also highlighted targets for storm overflows that Yorkshire Water were expected to meet by 2050.

The Committee highlighted the 64000 hrs of storm overflow discharge spills that Yorkshire Water stated were legal overflows. Members noted several times on dry days where these overflows were listed as down to rain and suggested that instead Yorkshire Water were using storm overflows as regular practice and not on only at times where there were storms. Yorkshire Water explained that they had targets to reduce discharges in half in five years. The Committee were told that dry day discharges are investigated by Yorkshire Water with issues like blockages being factor in causing discharges. Members questioned further whether these discharges were not purposeful on the part of Yorkshire Water highlighting 70% of cases from the live map data. Members highlighted multiple KPI failures by Yorkshire Water.

The Committee discussed whether Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 should be adopted which would provide a legal framework for making Sustainable Drainage Systems (suds) mandatory in new developments. Officers confirmed that adoption would require a drainage plan, currently most suds don’t have to be formally adopted, if they were more features could be implemented and managed more effectively. Yorkshire Water confirmed that they were in favour of adopting Schedule 3. The Committee enquired as to whether the Council should ensure suds are included on new developments. Officers noted that the Council kept to national standards but that they would be happy to review best practice and were establishing meetings with strategic planners at Yorkshire Water to further link up work on flood and water management.

Members enquired about the challenges presented in relation to older water infrastructure and whether enough was being done proactively. Yorkshire Water noted that in their previous five-year plan they replaced 100km of piping and planned for 1000km of replacements across its network in the current five-year plan. The Committee enquired further about the rate of discharges and noted that the data appeared to show an increase in discharges. Yorkshire Water argued that improvements in data collection had affected the way the data can be tracked and that there were not enough years with improved data collection to give a fair reflection on trends, but noted that discharges were too high and that investment was in place to bring down discharges.

The Committee discussed whether  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

This report presents, at Annex A, the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority paper proposing the creation of Mayoral Development Zones (MDZs), including a proposed York Central MDZ.

The Committee were joined by James Farrar Chief Executive of the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority.

Officers introduced the report that sought the Committee’s opinion on the Combined Authorities proposal for the York Central Mayoral Development Zone, ahead of the Council’s Executive submitting the Council’s position. Officers noted and agreed with the suggestion in public participation to recommend an expansion of the current geographical area of the proposed zone to include York Station. They suggested the stations inclusion would be appropriate due to the importance it would hold in linking York Central to the city centre. James Farrar explained that the zone would provide strategic positioning to assist in attracting public and private investment in the area.

The Committee considered the proposal and enquired about what the £500,000 allocation for the development of the zone would deliver and if it was needed in order to attract the reported £10m funding. It was confirmed that the £500,000 would come from the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority and would be used as an upfront cost covering areas such as staffing, planning, and external costs. The initial funding it was noted should assist in identifying what was required as the development zone would be seeking more than the currently planned £10m of funding.

Members noted previous delays in the delivery of York Central and asked whether partnership agreements were in place that would avoid further delays. It was confirmed that the Combined Authority was already a partner on the project so would not affect current partnership working. It was also noted that most funding for York Central would be directed from the Combined Authority, therefore, maintaining a strong relationship would assist with the delivery of the project.

The Committee made not of the new Prime Ministers stated desire to move more decision making to outside of London and whether the new ‘Number 10 North’ might affect York’s ability to attract government department sites and jobs or if they would be moved closer to Manchester. James Farrar noted that it was very early in the new Prime Ministers tenure but would expect a push for more of government operations to be a benefit to York Central, particularly due to York being the best-connected city in the north of England.

Members discussed the boundaries of the zone and agreed that should be expanded to link York Central with the city centre. Members also enquired about whether historical buildings with tourism potential or further opportunities for transport opportunities such as light rail could be considered as part of the development zone. It was confirmed that York Central had its planning permission which helped identify the vision for the site and specific projects could be delivered by the development zone, but it would require maintaining a clear objective of the development zone. It was also confirmed that transport projects for York Central would be influenced by the objectives of the Councils Movement and Place Strategy.

Resolved:

                      i.         To recommend that the Council request that York  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

To consider the Committee’s work plan for the 2026-27 municipal year.

The Council’s Scrutiny Officer introduced the Committee work plan, noting that further work would be undertaken with the Committee chair and vice chair on items for future meetings. The Committee enquired about whether an item on the potential for an incoming tourism tax could be explored by the Committee and it was noted that it would be considered whether this would work best as a scrutiny briefing or as a committee item.

Resolved:

                         i.         Noted the Committee work plan.

Reason:     To ensure the Committee maintains a programme of work.