Agenda item

This report presents the draft Local Development Framework (LDF) Core Strategy Preferred Options document, together with the recommendations of the LDF Working Group, and asks Members to approve the draft document for the purposes of consultation. 

RESOLVED: (i)         That the view of the LDF Working Group in respect of housing demand numbers, which was also endorsed by Council, be supported; namely, that the numbers that central government wishes to see incorporated into the Local Development Framework are deeply flawed, as they fail to recognise that:

·        it will be many years before housing demand will return to pre-recession levels;

·        windfall sites will continue to arise in the City and these will go some way to meeting demand over the next 20 years at least;

·        the City cannot continue to expand at a rate of an additional 850 homes indefinitely as this will fundamentally change the character and setting of York and the surrounding area;

and in addition the density assumptions, for the last 5 years of the plan, fail to recognise the impact that the needs of smaller and single person family units will have on the demand for different types of property.

                        (ii)        That the threat to develop green belt land, particularly in the areas near Huntington and Osbaldwick, which could be a consequence of central government failing to modify its policies, be noted.

(iii)             That, therefore:

a.      The draft LDF Core Strategy Preferred Options document be approved for the purposes of public consultation, subject to being amended to include questions for consultees that address the recommendation of the LDF Working Group, which can be used as evidence to support the challenge to Government on York’s housing targets and the current rules that prohibit the inclusion of ‘windfalls’ in delivering the City’s future housing supply.

b.      Authority be delegated to the Director of City Strategy, in consultation with the Executive Member and Shadow Executive Member for City Strategy, to make any incidental changes to the draft document that are necessary as a result of the recommendations of the LDF Working Group, as endorsed by the Executive.

c.      Authority be delegated to the Director of City Strategy, in consultation with the Executive Member and Shadow Executive Member for City Strategy, to approve the full sustainability to accompany the Preferred Options document consultation.

d.      Authority be delegated to the Director of City Strategy, in consultation with the Executive Member and Shadow Executive Member for City Strategy, to approve a Consultation Strategy and associated documents.

REASON:      In order to address the concerns of residents and Members regarding the protection of green belt land in the City and to enable the Local Development Framework Core Strategy to be progressed to the next stage.

Members considered a report which presented details of the draft Local Development Framework (LDF) Core Strategy Preferred Options document, together with the recommendations of the LDF Working Group, and asked Members to approve the draft document for public consultation.  The document itself had been made available in the Members’ Library and on the Council’s website.

The LDF Core Strategy would be the first development plan document produced by the Council under the new planning system, providing a written statement of the City’s planning strategy and vision up to 2030.  As such, it must deliver the spatial and physical elements of the Sustainable Community Strategy and must conform with national planning guidance and the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS).  The final submission document would be subject to independent examination by the Planning Inspectorate, whose recommendations would be binding.  Government guidance indicated that the plans must be ‘justified’, ‘effective’ and ‘consistent with national policy’.

The contents of the draft document had been considered by the LDF Working Group at their meetings on 6 and 20 April 2009.  Details of the Group’s recommendations were provided in the minutes of those meetings, attached as Annexes C and D to the report.  They included a recommendation for the use of a windfall allowance and increased densities to help meet the overall housing target for York set in the RSS.  Paragraphs 23 to 30 of the report outlined Officers’ advice in respect of this recommendation.  Briefly, the advice was that York did not meet the criteria for the use of windfalls and that the issue of housing figures in the current recession should be addressed by the inclusion of a question to residents in the document, the responses to which would then be used to inform the Council’s future approach to the Integrated Regional Strategy (IRS).  In the light of this advice, Members were invited to consider the following options:

Option 1 – approve the draft document for public consultation, as amended by the recommendations of the LDF Working Group modified to reflect the comments made in paragraphs 23 to 30 of the report.

Option 2 - approve the draft document for public consultation, as amended by the recommendations of the LDF Working Group.

During the debate, Members expressed their commitment to the conservation of the draft green belt.

Having noted the advice of the Shadow Executive on this item and the comments made under Public Participation, it was

RESOLVED: (i)         That the view of the LDF Working Group in respect of housing demand numbers, which was also endorsed by Council, be supported; namely, that the numbers that central government wishes to see incorporated into the Local Development Framework are deeply flawed, as they fail to recognise that:

·        it will be many years before housing demand will return to pre-recession levels;

·        windfall sites will continue to arise in the City and these will go some way to meeting demand over the next 20 years at least;

·        the City cannot continue to expand at a rate of an additional 850 homes indefinitely as this will fundamentally change the character and setting of York and the surrounding area;

and in addition the density assumptions, for the last 5 years of the plan, fail to recognise the impact that the needs of smaller and single person family units will have on the demand for different types of property.

                        (ii)        That the threat to develop green belt land, particularly in the areas near Huntington and Osbaldwick, which could be a consequence of central government failing to modify its policies, be noted.

(iii)             That, therefore:

a.      The draft LDF Core Strategy Preferred Options document be approved for the purposes of public consultation, subject to being amended to include questions for consultees that address the recommendations of the LDF Working Group, which can be used as evidence to support the challenge to Government on York’s housing targets and the current rules that prohibit the inclusion of ‘windfalls’ in delivering the City’s future housing supply.¹

b.      Authority be delegated to the Director of City Strategy, in consultation with the Executive Member and Shadow Executive Member for City Strategy, to make any incidental changes to the draft document that are necessary as a result of the recommendations of the LDF Working Group, as endorsed by the Executive. ²

c.      Authority be delegated to the Director of City Strategy, in consultation with the Executive Member and Shadow Executive Member for City Strategy, to approve the full sustainability to accompany the Preferred Options document consultation. ³

d.      Authority be delegated to the Director of City Strategy, in consultation with the Executive Member and Shadow Executive Member for City Strategy, to approve a Consultation Strategy and associated documents. ⁴

REASON:      In order to address the concerns of residents and Members regarding the protection of green belt land in the City and to enable the Local Development Framework Core Strategy to be progressed to the next stage.