Agenda and minutes

At this point in the meeting, Members were asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may 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 5 December 2011.

RESOLVED:                That the minutes of the meeting held on 5^th December 2011 be approved subject to the following amendments:

                                      Minute Item 16 – Additional text to reflect that Members requested the inclusion of a cross-section of the suggested Water End flyover and clearer details of North and West access points , including traffic impact in the consultation.

                                      Minute Item 17 – That Councillors Barton and Watt voted against Option 1, rather than abstained from the vote.

                                      Any Other Business – That it be recorded that a minute’s silence was held in memory of Roger McMeeking.

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^th January 2012.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

1.        The purpose of this report is to seek approval from Members for the draft Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) on controlling the concentration of Houses in Multiple Occupancy (HMOs) (attached at Annex 1 of this report) to be published for consultation.

Members considered a report which sought approval for the draft Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) on controlling the concentration of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs), which was attached at Annex 1, to be published for consultation.

Officers outlined the report and advised that a threshold based policy approach is considered the most appropriate as this tackles concentrations of HMOs. Officers advised that there are advantages and disadvantages to all the options outlined in the report and that it is important to obtain the views of interest groups and residents via consultation.

Members made the following comments:

·        It is important to consult a wide range of residents and not just those that reside in the most affected areas of the City. It was suggested that York Residents Federation should be included in the consultation.

·        That it be made clear in the consultation that the SPD is not retrospective and can not change the level of HMOs that already exists, it is relevant for future planning.

·        The threshold of 20% was queried by some Members, Officers explained that the range used by most Local Authorities is 10% to 20%.

RESOLVED:                That the LDF Working Group recommended Cabinet to:

                                      (i)Approve the draft SPD for consultation purposes in accordance with Option 1.

                                      (ii)Delegate to the Director of City Strategy in consultation with the Cabinet Member for City Strategy, the making of any changes to the SPD that are necessary as a result of the recommendations of the LDF Working Group.

REASON:                     So that the SPD can be consulted on and amended accordingly ahead of it being used for Development Management purposes to support the emerging LDF Core Strategy and the Article 4 Direction which comes into force on 20 April 2012.