Agenda item

Local Development Framework Core Strategy

 

 Martin Grainger, Head of Integrated

Strategy, and Richard Wood, Assistant Director for Strategic Planning and Transport will explain how the development of housing may happen in the area.

Minutes:

Martin Grainger spoke about the Local Development Framework Core Strategy.

 

During the presentation the following questions were received.

 

Resident question – what population growth are you expecting?

 

The response was given -  we are aiming to build 800 new houses per year, and have based that on the calculated growth in population.  This includes the large number of students and tourists in the city.

 

Resident question – have these issues been decided before this consultation?

 

The response given was negative.

 

 

 

Resident question - is York’s “unique character” limited to the city centre, or are other centres in the outskirts considered important?

 

The response was given - all areas are important.  The ethos is to look for quality design throughout the city.  Neighbourhood Plans would be produced with the Strategic Plan.

 

Resident question – where will the funding for these Neighbourhood Plans come from?

 

The response was given that this is unclear at the moment.

 

Resident question – what defines a Neighbourhood?

 

The response was given that the government has used parishes as a definition.  People may be able to define them for themselves.

 

Resident question – the plan aims to create 1,000 jobs per year.  Who are the new jobs going to? Why are we creating a greater number of jobs than needed?

 

The response was given that about 20,000 people travel out of York to work, and about 25,000 travel in.  Any jobs created will become part of the same pattern.

 

 

 

Resident question – it seems that there is no guarantee that the brownfield sites will be developed first.

 

The response was given that if this plan is adopted, planners will be able to defend it.  Without the plan, development will be harder to control.

 

 

Resident question – is there long-term planning to attract specific industries?  Could this be related to education and training, so that young people would be able to take on the jobs concerned?

 

Richard Wood responded that this was a wider question, and that work is going on in this area.

 

 

Martin Grainger made the point that a Draft National Policy Framework had been created by the government. The document has been welcomed by housebuilders, but other bodies such as the National Trust have argued against it – it is perceived as a pro-development document, with an emphasis on economic success.  This document will set a default position, if Local Development Framework is not set in place.  He emphasised that the Areas of Search identified in the Framework (areas of search for development needs) would only be considered for development if the need arose.

 

Various concerns over planning were raised to which the following responses were given - recreational space would be protected if necessary.  Link roads to possible new developments would be considered as part of the overall planning, and the possibility of them becoming rat runs into the centre taken into account.  A question about a promise made by Cllr Rod Hills in 1995 that there would be no development to the land east of Metcalfe Lane received the response that the present authorities could not comment on the promise made at that time.  A concern that developers would be able to fund Neighbourhood Plans, and play parish councils off against each other, received the response that the council would be the final arbiter in such a case.

 

 

 

 

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