Agenda item

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 Wednesday 28^th January 2015.

Filming or Recording Meetings

“Please note that this meeting will be web-cast and that includes any registered public speakers, who have given their permission. This recording can be played back at http://www.york.gov.uk/webcasts

Residents are welcome to photograph, film or record Councillors and Officers at all meetings open to the press and public. This includes the use of social media reporting, i.e. tweeting.  Anyone wishing to film, record or take photos at any public meeting should contact the Democracy Officer (whose contact details are at the foot of this agenda) in advance of the meeting.

The Council’s protocol on Webcasting, Filming & Recording of Meetings ensures that these practices are carried out in a manner both respectful to the conduct of the meeting and all those present.  It can be viewed at http://www.york.gov.uk/downloads/download/3130/protocol_for_webcasting_ filming_and_recording_of_council_meetings

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

There had been five registrations to speak on the agenda items as follows:

Mr Parish had registered to speak on behalf of Strensall Parish Council. He advised that he was in attendance to answer any questions and to thank Officers for their hard work on the Strensall and Towthorpe Village Design Statement documents. The Parish Council had raised the money to have the document published and the document attached to the agenda was a draft and a visually higher quality final document would be produced in due course. The Chair thanked Mr. Parish and those working on other design statements for their involvement.

Philip Crowe spoke on behalf of York Environment Forum in relation to safeguarded sites. He advised that community groups do not wish to see development on safeguarded sites and suggested that developers must include sufficient infrastructure within the allocations to deal with the adjoining safeguarded sites as need to ensure that the safeguarded sites are sustainable . He suggested that the Council may wish to consider Option 3 to revisit the proposed allocations and to impose higher densities  and replace a number of safeguarded sites. He closed his submission by posing a question to Members asking does York want growth at any price?

Alan Charlesworth spoke to raise concerns, that in his view, a decision on safeguarded land was being made on incomplete information. He referred to the legal opinion sought in July 2014 by community groups and the fact that the opinion of that Counsel had been reiterated to Members in an open letter. He considered that Mr Hobson QC had advised on a narrow set of assumptions, with no assessment of need and had not been supplied with the specifics of safeguarding. He suggested that the Earswick site had been singled out for distinct treatment as the only safeguarded sites where concerns over access and sustainability had been raised, that it could be brought forward in years 1-15 of the Plan and was therefore a ‘back-door’ allocation. It was his contention that all safeguarded sites should be removed from draft Local Plan.

Tony Fisher spoke to advise that he was pleased that the Council was taking the time to re-draft and reconsider the Local Plan. He referred to community groups own consultations and recommended further sensitivity testing for housing need and the opinion on backlog and shortfall. He advised that groups were awaiting the new Communities and Local Government figures before making a challenge to the housing need figures. He called into question the robustness of the plan and asked the council to suspend drafting to allow for further work to be carried out. He advised that he was representing residents through the York Alliance who are willing to work with the council to ensure a proper draft.

Julian Sturdy MP had registered to speak on firstly the Village Design Statements. He commended the volunteers that had worked on the VDS in Strensall and Towthorpe and in Wheldrake but also for the work on the Neighbourhood Plans that are also coming forward. He referred to the safeguarded land issue and the impact safeguarded land has on rural communities. He considered that the wording is confusing and it should be named ‘reserved land’ but that this was an issues for Government to resolve. He referred to discussions in Parliament and that Ministers have reiterated that there is nothing in government planning policy that would require planning past 15 years. He felt that there was no willingness in York to protect the rural setting. He asked Members to re-think the issue of safeguarded land.