Agenda and draft minutes

Presentation by CYC officers on the Local Plan- clarifying York Central

1)      Welcome and Introductions

Councillor Crisp welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced Martin Grainger, Head of Planning and Environmental Management, CYC, and Rachel Macefield, Forward Planning Team Manager, CYC.

2)      Local Plan

          Mr Grainger explained that the Local Plan is a city-wide plan designed to help shape and inform future development in York, including planning for new homes and businesses. The creation of such a plan is a statutory duty.  If we don’t adopt an up to date Local Plan, development will still happen, but decisions will be taken in regard to the National Planning Policy Framework without local people having a say on setting local policies.

Mr Grainger highlighted the main drivers and shapers of the Plan, including the creation of important planning principles which will apply to any site going forward.  He stressed that further work is yet to be completed, including sustainability and environmental appraisals/audits, transport modelling and infrastructure delivery, and ensuring viability.  At this stage the Local Plan is not finalised.

Mr Grainger outlined the timetable as follows:

·        June 2016: Following Executive approval, an 8-week public consultation period began during which views and comments were sought on the Local Plan proposals.  This deadline has been extended to Monday 19^th September 2016 for residents attending this Ward Meeting and residents are asked to submit their comments so that their concerns can be evaluated and taken into consideration.  Residents were advised to note their attendance at this Meeting on their comment forms in order to evidence that the extension applies to them.  Comments can be submitted either on the on-line form on the Local Plan website or using the Consultation Comments Form.

Cllr Derbyshire actively encouraged residents to make their comments known, stressing that it was their plan and that their views were crucial.

·        November 2016:  The draft Local Plan and the results of the Preferred Sites Consultation will go before the Local Plan Working Group and the Executive.

·        January/February 2017:   Members of the public will be given the opportunity to feedback and comment on the Publication Draft Local Plan during a statutory 6-week consultation.

·        May 2017: The Plan is expected to be submitted to the Government’s Secretary of State for examination.

Councillors thanked Mr Grainger for his presentation and invited questions and comments from residents

·        Whilst planning applications for strategic sites are discouraged before the approval of the Local Plan, if developers choose to push sites forward, their applications will need to be considered.  It is unlikely, however, that a planning application would be agreed if there were a number of outstanding issues.

·        A resident commented that a house sale had recently fallen through due to the implications of the Local Plan.  Mr Grainger replied that this was regrettable and noted the situation.

·        One resident raised the issue that Holgate was in the bottom 20% of the country for deprivation, including in terms of air pollution.  It was commented that adding an extra main road, whilst cheaper financially, into an area which was already suffering from air pollution, would have negative effects on the health of residents.  It was further commented that a new road would not necessarily alleviate greater traffic density and that there was a feeling that the new road was already a foregone conclusion.  Mr Grainger commented that the way to challenge such issues was through the planning consultation process.  He further commented that nothing could be assumed at this point and that any plans that are recommended will need to show that sites are viable, affordable, deliverable and sustainable. A resident then questioned whether formal approval had already been given for the new road.

ACTION:  Martin Grainger to clarify whether formal approval has already been given for the new road and to pass this information on to councillors.

·        A number of concerns were raised regarding the need for affordable housing.  Mr Grainger explained that a strategic assessment of the housing market was conducted as part of the evidence for the Plan and that this assessment identified the amount of affordable housing needed.  He went on to explain that for every site above 5 hectares, there was a bespoke evaluation of the needs for affordable housing, transportation, schools, etc.  The aim was to maximise public benefit whilst balancing the interests of developers.  Every site needed to be viable.  One resident pointed out that the figures in the Plan don’t tally with the amount of affordable housing needed.  Mr Grainger acknowledged this point, explaining that the Plan tries to meet these needs whilst creating a balance with other issues such as preserving the green belt. It was pointed out that developers don’t want to build affordable housing since their aim is to maximise their profits. Mr Grainger explained that in the past the targets for affordable housing came with a ‘subject to viability’ caveat.  Now the idea is to conduct the viability work up front, understanding the needs, economics, planning gains, etc. beforehand, which should then result in greater benefits for residents.  Cllr Derbyshire queried whether, since a central tenet of the Plan was to build on brownfield sites, which are inherently more expensive to develop, this would lead to higher costs.  Mr Grainger replied that the ‘planning gain’ or benefits are considered as a whole and that each case is site dependent.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.