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.

Members were asked to declare, at this point in the meeting, any personal interests, not included on the Register of Interests, or any prejudicial or disclosable pecuniary interests they may have in respect of business on the agenda.

Councillor Watt declared a personal non prejudicial interest in relation to the City of York Local Plan Publication Draft as a member of the Skelton Village Action Group, who were requesting the removal of site ST14 from the Local Plan.

To approve and sign the minutes of the last meeting of the Local Plan Working Group held on 30 June 2014.

Resolved:  That the minutes of the last meeting of the Local Plan Working Group, held on 30 June 2014 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 19 September 2014.

Filming or Recording Meetings

Please note that an audio recording may be made of this meeting and that includes any registered public speakers, who have given their permission. This recording can be played back at http://www.york.gov.uk/webcasts

Residents are welcome to photograph, film or record Councillors and Officers at all meetings open to the press and public. This includes the use of social media reporting, i.e. tweeting.  Anyone wishing to film, record or take photos at any public meeting should contact the Democracy Officer (whose contact details are at the foot of this agenda) in advance of the meeting.

The Council’s protocol on Webcasting, Filming & Recording of Meetings ensures that these practices are carried out in a manner both respectful to the conduct of the meeting and all those present.  It can be viewed at http://www.york.gov.uk/downloads/download/3130/protocol_for_webcasting_ filming_and_recording_of_council_meetings

It was reported that there had been six registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme, and that one Member of Council had also requested to speak in relation to the City of York Local Plan Publication Draft.

Ken Guest spoke on behalf of the Elvington Action Group to raise their concerns in relation to site SP1: The Stables, Elvington proposed for Travelling Showpeople. He referred to previous Parish Council and local resident’s objections and petitions to the use of this site as the proposals would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt and conflict with national policies.

John Gallery spoke on behalf of the Elvington community, confirming that whilst they had no objections to development they strongly objected to the scale of the development proposed for the village. He also raised their concerns regarding the lack of infrastructure for the development and requested a reduction in the scale. 

Paula Riley spoke to represent a local community concerned at the cumulative effect of plans to develop the former British Sugar and Civil Services Sports Ground together with land at Boroughbridge Road (ST1, ST2 and ST29). In particular they felt that proposals for site ST29 were unnecessary and unsustainable as this land had previously been considered important as green belt. In view of the strain on local services and saturation of the area it was requested that this site should be removed from the Local Plan and protected for the future.

Tim Haward, spoke as Chair of the Rufforth with Knapton Parish Council to raise their objections to the inclusion of sites GT1: Land at Moor Lane and B1224 for Gypsy and Traveller sites, particularly as these had only recently been added to the plan giving residents little time to respond to their inclusion. He referred to an earlier site proposed, adjacent to that now put forward, which had previously been considered unacceptable for a variety of reasons. The Parish Council felt that these reasons were now more relevant to this site, in particular health concerns for any future residents relating to the adjacent land fill site.

Dick Simms also spoke on behalf of Rufforth with Knapton Parish Council in relation to site RE3:772, Land at Harwood Whin, a site allocated for a Solar Farm, whilst not against renewable energy, he raised concerns at the inappropriate use of this site in a green corridor in the Green Belt and asked for this to be removed from the Plan.

Martin Hawthorne, spoke on behalf of the Tees Valley Housing Trust, who were the promoters of site SF14 at Earswick. He spoke of a missed opportunity if part of this site was not allocated for housing, particularly as the Trust considered that any transport issues could be mitigated with infrastructure improvements and that the site could be proven to be viable and deliverable. He asked for further discussions with Members and Officers to enable the site to be included in the Plan which would also  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

This report asks Members to consider whether the Local Plan Publication Draft and Proposals Map should be published for statutory consultation in accordance with Regulation 19 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) Regulations 2012 (SI2012/767).

Consideration was given to a report which asked Members to consider whether the Local Plan Publication Draft and Proposals Map should be published for statutory consultation, in accordance with Regulation 19 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) Regulations 2012.

Officers gave a presentation of the draft Local Plan, as set out at Annex A of the report, confirming that the Plan had been prepared as a written statement of the planning strategy and vision for the City of York, which provided details of future development sites, strategic policies and development management policies. It was confirmed that the draft Plan had taken account of public consultation on the ‘Preferred Options’ and ‘Further Sites’ carried out in 2013/14.

Following approval it was intended to commence the statutory 6 week consultation in October. Comments received as part of the consultation will then be considered by Officers and reported to Full Council. A decision would then be made as to whether the Publication Draft should be submitted to the Secretary of State for examination in public.

Consideration was also given to the following additional documents circulated at the meeting:

·        List of amendments to the Draft Local Plan document (copy attached as an Annex to these minutes)

·        Representations received from Jane Widgery, a Strensall resident, in relation to housing site H30 at Strensall

·        Representations received from Andrew Waller, of Acomb relating to site H9 (off Foxwood Lane), Our Lady’s School site, Bachelor Hill and the former Lowfield School site.

At this point both the Chair and Members expressed their appreciation and thanks to the team for all their work in the preparation of the Plan, including all related discussions and meetings.

In relation to the earlier speakers comments Officers then made the following points:

·        Although they were aware of previous comments in relation to the Showpersons site at Elvington the site had been assessed by officers and it was considered appropriate to include in the current Plan

·        In relation to the sites proposed in Elvington Village officers consider that the sites and the level of growth now proposed for the village could be accommodated

·        They reiterated the Council’s responsibility to identify specific deliverable sites for Gypsies, Roma and Travellers and Travelling Showpeople. It was confirmed that the proposed Rufforth site had been investigated prior to inclusion and that Environmental Protection and other internal consultees had confirmed that residents would not be affected by their proximity to the Harewood Whin site

·        Confirmation that the Solar Farm at Rufforth could be accommodated without compromising the green corridor

·        Officers were aware of the concerns raised by the site promoters in relation to the Earswick site, the detailed officer response had been published in the Site Selection paper Addendum which detailed that it was considered that the transport issues had not been adequately dealt with and for that reason it was proposed that the land should remain as safeguarded

·        Whilst the balance between housing and employment had always been difficult, a sustainable approach had to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.