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.

Councillor Tracy Simpson-Laing declared a Personal Non-Prejudicial interest as she lives opposite the former bowling green and Back Park, Leeman Road.

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 6 March 2009.

Mark Waters, representing York Natural Environment Trust, had registered to speak on the issue of housing allocation. Mr Waters quoted the recent population growth increase reported in January 2009 and asked how York residents were to benefit from new residences and house building. He expressed his concerns about Green Belt disappearance. He also spoke of the lack of meaningful public consultation and the need to debate the issues at open public consultation.  He had two questions for the committee: He wanted to know how the report would be disseminated for consultation. He also questioned the inclusion of Site No 150 Manor School and Site No 151 Lowfield School as potential sites and asked how these sites could accommodate 324 dwellings, and whether the difference in figures could explain these figures and the figures used at the Public Inquiry on the Germany Beck and Derwenthorpe sites.

This report advises Members of the preparation of the Consultation Draft Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) Phase 2 produced as a key part of the evidence base to support our Local Development Framework. The study builds on the stage 1 SHLAA reported to Members in 2008.

Members considered a report that advised them of the preparation of the Consultation Draft Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) Phase 2 produced as a key part of the evidence base to support the Local Development Framework (LDF). The study was built on the stage 1 SHLAA that was reported to Members in 2008.

The Head of City Development introduced the report, and explained that it was a major piece of work and formed part of the evidence base for the LDF. He stressed that the report was very much a consultation draft, and that further opportunities would be provided to feed in information and comments. Next steps would include the two meetings scheduled for 6 and 20 April 2009 when reports on the Spatial and Core Strategy Options would be brought to Members.

The Principal Development Officer then further outlined some of the main aspects of the report. Members were advised that this draft report was built on to Phase 1 brought to Members in April 2008 and that it was one step in the process of the assessment of possible sites.  The main purpose of the report was to identify sites with housing potential and to look at when these sites could come forward. The report asked Members to agree that this information could be used to inform and for consideration in the Core Strategy.

The Officer stated that Site 148 off Balfour Street, near Leeman Road, had, in the light of new information, been formally moved to the list of unsuitable sites.

The Officer stated that in preparing the report Officers had assessed all the sites where housing could be identified, including Brown Field and Green Field sites, so as not to prejudge. Out of the 226 sites looked at they had removed 49 sites, as these fell within primary constraint areas. A further 52 sites were removed following assessment of suitability. This then left 125 sites that were looked at in more detail. In terms of availability, officers had looked at landowner constraints and economic viability. Following this, 27 sites were placed in the unknown or unavailable category. 42 sites were in the draft Green Belt area. 56 sites were considered potentially developable and that those sites could provide 6856 dwellings. This provided just under 15,000 units with a shortfall of 6500 units. This indicated sufficient availability until 2021/2022. Officers explained that options for dealing with the shortfall would need to be evaluated as part of the emerging Spatial Strategy.

Members then raised various concerns and questions with regard to the report to which Officers responded.

1. Consultation. Questions were asked about the planned dates for consultation and what this would entail. Officers stated that the Spatial Strategy and site specifics would be subject to citywide public consultation. The Spatial Strategy would be brought to members on 6 April 2009 with a further meeting on 20 April 2009 to consider the Core Strategy Preferred Options Allocations Report.  With regard to sites, Officers stated that they hoped  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.