Agenda item

This report presents a Draft Development Brief for Consultation for the southern part of the Nestlé factory site, Haxby Road, York.  Recent job loss announcements at the site have highlighted the need to modernise the main factory complex in order to compete in a global market.  This will allow the company to commit to staying in York for the foreseeable future.

 

Colour copies of the plans attached to this item are available to view at the Guildhall or on the councils website at www.york.gov.uk

Members considered a report which presented a Draft Development Brief for Consultation for the southern part of the Nestle Factory site, Haxby Road, York. Recent job loss announcements at the site had highlighted the need to modernise the main factory complex in order to compete in a global market.  This would allow the company to commit to staying in York for the foreseeable future.

 

The Brief set out the need for an employment/ residential redevelopment of the area.  It highlighted the key planning issues for prospective developers to consider and highlighted opportunities for adopting sustainable development principles, good design, layout and links to surrounding areas, and where further analysis was required.

 

With approval from Members it would be intended that the Brief be subject to public consultation for 8 weeks from February to March 2007.  Consultation responses would be considered and a revised Brief would be presented to Members for approval for development control purposes. The Council wouldl then use this document in order to coordinate developer proposals, in the form of a master plan prior to planning application submission, and further detailed consultation with local residents and key organisations on any subsequent scheme proposed.

 

The development brief covered the following areas:

Introduction, Site and Surroundings, Policy Content, Sustainable Development, Policy Context, Sustainable Development, Development Opportunities, Design and Landscape Principles, Open Space, Recreation and Public Art, Safety and Security, Archaeology, Sustainable Transport, Highways and Parking, Accessibility, Environmental Issues, Services/Public Utilities, and Developing Proposals.

 

The report presented three options:

 

Option 1:

Approve the Development Brief, as proposed in the report, as the basis for consultation with local residents and key organisations; 

 

Option 2: 

Do not approve the Development Brief and request a new Development Brief be drafted with an alternative approach;

 

Option 3: 

Do not approve the Development Brief and use the policies of the Development Plan (the Regional Spatial Strategy and the Structure Plan) and the Development Control Local Plan, 2005 as the basis for negotiation and considering applications.

 

Members discussed in detail the Draft Development Brief and agreed the amendments to the document as detailed below.

 

RESOLVED:             That the Draft Development Brief be approved for consultation for the mixed-use development of the Nestle South site, subject to the following amendments :

 

1)Para 2.25 Reference to the East Coast Main line amended to York to Scarborough line

 

2)Para 2.20 Addition to sentence describing Clarence Gardens as “well used”

 

3)Para 2.22 Check whether the Nestlé Rowntree sports pitches are member only facilities for Nestlé employees

 

4)Para 2.23 Add Nestlé Rowntree allotments at Mille Crux

 

5)Para 2.21 - Check whether Clifton Ings is nearest Open Access Land and add reference to Clifton Backies (Local Nature Reserve)

 

6)Chapter 5 – Amend ‘sympathetic manufacturing’ to ‘light industry’

 

7)Para 5.6 Delete first sentence and rephrase second sentence re. feasibility of older buildings on site

 

8)Para. 5.7 Delete ‘innovative live / work units’ from second sentence

 

9)After para 5.10 add paragraph to properly define a live / work unit and rationalize the use of the term live / work units in the rest of the chapter to avoid over-kill

 

10)Para 5.20 replace ‘of development’ with ‘houses’ and delete 'given the height and scale of nearby buildings'

 

11)Para 6.8 Amend first sentence to read ‘The Council will be looking to designate the buildings either side of Haxby Road…….. as a Conservation Area’

 

12)Para 6.8 Check reference to Foss Branch Line

 

13)Para 6.12 Delete first sentence and replace with ‘Please refer to Chapter 11 - Highways for details of the proposed link road between Haxby Road and Wigginton Road.’

 

14)Para 6.12 Amend fourth sentence from ‘encouraged’ to ‘required’

 

15)Para 7.7 First sentence - amend ‘should’ to ‘must’

 

16)Para 7.7 Delete final sentence and add ‘as a first priority’ to end of penultimate sentence after ‘should be considered on site’

 

17)Para 10.16 Definition of ‘umbrella plan’ added as a footnote

 

18)Para 11.2 Move reference to York Hospital to para 11.1

 

19)Para 11.6 Delete and replace with following paragraph…

In terms of the internal layout of the Nestlé South site, it is proposed that a link between Wigginton Road and Haxby Road is incorporated.  The Council’s Local Transport Plan places particular emphasis on pedestrians, cyclists and public transport in its Hierarchy of Road Users, and the priority of the proposed route should be for these users. Traffic modelling should be carried out which investigates the impact of a through route for all road users (including the private car) on traffic volumes both within the development and on the surrounding network, and in particular at the junction of Haxby Road and Wigginton Road. Should there be a resulting increase in traffic such that the Ratio of Flow to Capacity (RFC) in the development or on the local network exceeds 0.90, or there is a diminishing in the quality of the local environment, then the proposed through route will be restricted to a highway for pedestrians, cyclist and public transport. 

 

20)Para 11.8 Amend ‘should be incorporated’ to ‘will be required’ in the first sentence

 

21)Para 11.11 Amend first sentence to read ‘The negotiation of very low car parking provision (in the region of 60%) has been achieved in new housing schemes across the city’

 

22)Para 12.1 First sentence amend ‘should’ to ‘must’

 

23)Para 12.2 Fourth sentence amend to read ‘There will be a requirement to achieve imaginative….’

 

24)Para 13.4 Fourth bullet. Delete ‘although a new through link …’ etc to end of sentence

 

25)Appendix 2 (1993) Delete reference to Cllr Reid and refer instead to the ‘Lord Mayor of York’

 

26)Appendix 1 - review grammar

 

27)All references to Wiggington should be Wigginton

 

28)Change dot bullets to numbers/letters

 

 

REASON:                  So that extensive public consultation can take place to allow proper community and stakeholder involvement in the forward planning of this major site.