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.

Councillor Williams declared a personal non prejudicial interest as an employee of Yorkshire Water. Yorkshire Water had made representations and Councillor Williams agreed to withdraw from discussions if the issues raised by Yorkshire Water were debated.

Councillor Merrett declared a personal non prejudicial interest as he has links to the rail industry through his consultancy work.

Councillor D’Agorne declared a personal non prejudicial interest as the Green Party had made representations.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting of the Local Plan Working Group held on 9^th December 2013.

Resolved:           That the minutes of the last meeting held on 9^th December 2013 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 5.00 pm on Friday 10^th January 2014.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme. There was one registration to speak on agenda item 4.

Russell Brocklehurst had registered to speak in relation to shale gas. He asked Members why, in 2014, he is forced to explain why he doesn’t want fracking in the area. He had seen the drilling process and questioned why anyone would want this. He questioned the legality of Council’s accepting money for planning applications and the legality of not looking into alternative energy supplies. He drew members attention tot he possible effects of fracking such as contaminated drinking water.

The purpose of this report is to advise Members of the current position with regard to the progress of the Minerals and Waste Joint Plan for North Yorkshire, York and North York Moors and to seek approval in respect of the Issues and Options consultation documents (attached at Annex A) for the purposes of public consultation.

Members considered a report which advised them of the current position with regard to progress on the Minerals and Waste Joint Plan for North Yorkshire, York and North York Moor. The report sought approval in respect of the Issues and Options consultation documents (attached at Annex A to the agenda) for the purposes of consultation.

Officers outlined the report and advised that the Council had a statutory duty to produce a waste and minerals plan and that the best option for York was a joint plan, as it would be unusual for a Unitary Authority of York’s size to produce a plan in isolation. The plan is at the Issues and Options stage with the Preferred Options consultation due to commence in October 2014. Adoption of the completed plan was expected in late 2015. The document will influence strategic waste and mineral policies in the Local Plan.

Officers then drew Members’ attention to the Schedule of Changes which was circulated prior to the meeting (attached to the online agenda for information). Members had the following queries on the schedule:

·        Page 188, figure 15 Locations of Rail Infrastructure – had all rail network branch lines been considered for use in the transportation of minerals. In particular the branch lines in the North York Moors area that connect to the North East. Officers confirmed that such branch lines would be used where appropriate and the text would be amended accordingly.

·        The Chair drew Members attention to Page 210 and the additional important Option 3 to provide a more flexible approach to Waste Development in the Green Belt.

Councillor D’Agorne had submitted a number of comments on behalf of the Green Party prior to the meeting and Officers circulated a schedule of responses (both documents attached to the online agenda for information). Members then made the following comments:

·        Page 68 paragraph 5.17 – Sand and Gravel provision – queried if the figures based on an average 10 year period using traditional building methods and had Officers taken into account that there is a move away from using brick to using less aggregate materials. Officers confirmed that some wording could be added to reflect the use of growth figures and that contemporary building techniques need to be taken into account.

·        Pages 121-124 – In relation to shale gas, Members asked that the document be amended to give more context in relation to Government policy on the issue to make it clear that there are limitations to what the Council can do. It was suggested that a summary at the beginning of the document or seperately may be useful. Officers agreed to look into this to make the document more accessible.

·        Page 123 Option 2 – some members did not agree with the wording of option 2 and suggested that it could be re-worded to make it clearer. Officers agreed to look at this.

Members then had some other points on the document:

·        Page 155 paragraph 6.26 – The North Yorkshire sub-region is a considerable  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.