Agenda and minutes

At this point, members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have in the business on this agenda.

Members were invited to declare at this point in the meeting any personal or prejudicial interests they might have in the business on the agenda. None were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting of the Local Development Framework Working Group held on 27 June 2007.

RESOLVED:             That the minutes of the meeting of the Local Development Framework Group held on 27 June 2007 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 Tuesday 17 July 2007.

It was reported that there were no registrations to speak under the public participation scheme.

This report requests that the Local Development Framework (LDF) Working Group recommend to the Executive that they approve the LDF Core Strategy Issues & Options 2 and supporting documentation, subject to the recommendations of the group, for consultation in the Summer. 

Members considered a report that presented them with the documentation for the LDF Core Strategy Issues & Options 2.

Members received a presentation on the Core Strategy Issues & Options 2 which covered the following areas:

·                          Core Strategy: Purpose

·                          Core Strategy: Vision

·                          Spatial Strategy: Options to direct the location of new development in York

·                          Spatial Strategy: Broad Influences

·                          Spatial Strategy: Spatial Options

o       Option 1 – RSS and Settlement Accessibility

o       Option 2 – Existing Market Trends

o       Option 3 – Housing Inequality

·                          Spatial Strategy: Detailed Influences

·                          Core Strategy: Housing Growth

·                          Core Strategy: Employment Growth

·                          Core Strategy: Housing & Employment Growth

·                          Strategic Themes:

§         Housing Issues

§         Educational Facilities

§         Health Facilities

§         Open Space & Sports Facilities

§         Transport & Accessibility

§         Tourism

§         Retail & Leisure

§         Green Belt Issues

§         Design & Construction

§         Waste & Minerals

§         Historic Environment

§         Natural Environment

§         Flooding

Members discussed the consultation, it was suggested that consideration should be given to sending a consultation leaflet to every household in the city. It was agreed that the questions within the consultation papers would need to be simplified and that the aim was to get a meaningful response from residents and it must be an informed consultation.  The possibility of combining this consultation with the consultation on the Community Strategy was also discussed.

Members discussed the document and detailed a number of suggested amendments:

Section 1: Vision

·                          Members felt that this section detailed Future York’s vision more heavily than the Council’s existing

               vision and felt that this should be addressed to achieve a more even balance between the two.

·                          Figure 3: The Spatial Planning Objectives: The first paragraph was too long and should come to a stop

after ‘…sustainable economic development.’ Members discussed whether we were delivering the right jobs for the York workforce in the light of recent job losses within the City and the need for training and skills to be matched to the new jobs:-

·                          In the fifth paragraph from the bottom family housing should be added as this is  a very large issue within the City.

·                          It was suggested that the paragraphs in Figure 3 be numbered for ease of reference.

Key Issues: Members felt that the phraseology in these questions difficult to understand and advised that they should be made clearer before the document went for public consultation. They felt that it was important to get the information across clearly in order to obtain meaningful responses from members of the public.

Section 2: Spatial Strategy

·                          In paragraph 2.2 under the heading Broad Influences: Housing Inequalities – Members suggested that

‘Inequalities’ in this context was a confusing word. The main issued here were affordability, types of housing and shortages of appropriate housing.

·                          Some Members felt that the this section focused too much on new housing and not enough on conversions of existing buildings. There was no mention of the impact the Universities would have on the demand for housing and the knock on effects of multi-occupancy housing on family housing.

·                          Figure 4: York Spatial Issues Map  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.