UPDATED: Big new plan for York: Greenbelt plans slashed

A radically overhauled Local Plan draft was made public today, showing significantly curtailed house building ambitions for the next 15 years.

The amount of land earmarked for housing development has been halved, and the plans are to built around 500 new houses in York every year between now and 2032 - a major reduction on the 996 target set in the last draft published in 2014.

Cllrs Keith Aspden and David Carr, pictured after unveiling their plan on Monday

Council leader David Carr says the new draft is based on "better evidence" than previous plans and both he and the council's Liberal Democrat deputy leader Cllr Keith Aspden say it fulfils a promise they made after last year's elections to protect the city's greenbelt.

Cllr Aspden said: "We wanted to put forward an evidence-based plan. The city badly needs a Local Plan to protect its character and to protect the greenbelt."

The plan published today is the latest move in a long-running saga that has seen politicians and house builders argue over how much new housing York needs to meet pent up demand.

In September 2014, the then Labour-run City of York Council published a draft plan which slashed 5,000 homes of its previous target and set the annual aim at 996 a year over 15 years, to cater for a booming city economy.

That plan was put on hold just a month later when opposition councillors united to block its progress, and this week's plan is the result of months of recalculations and negotiations by officials over how many new houses should be built and where, and how much land should be used to house new businesses and promote jobs and economic growth.

Cllr Carr said: "Progressing York’s Local Plan is a priority for the council and over the past few months officers have been working behind the scenes to ensure the best possible outcome can be achieved before announcing its next steps.

"We’re now pleased to be in a position to enable members of the public to see first hand the work and background material which has been undertaken to-date.

"If taken forward, these revised proposals could help to deliver around 11,000 new jobs - and for the first time – create a permanent Green Belt to ensure the city’s boundaries are protected for two decades. Therefore, it’s hugely important we gain the views of the public before work is progressed further."

Fresh data on population trends and estimates on housing need have been used to draw up the plan, they say, and this analysis has shown that York needs around 841 new houses a year between 2012 and 2032.

Once the planners have taken into account completed new builds, planning permissions granted and "windfall" sites, that number comes down to a total of 8,227 new houses by 2032. Another 2,450 will then have to be built by 2037.

The vast majority of scrapped plans have come in the greenfield developments put forward by the previous Labour council. Where 862 hectares of greenfield land had been earmarked for housing, that figure now stands at just 366 hectares.

At the same time, the 85 hectares of brownfield land set aside for housing has grown to 101, with York Central alone now set to take 1,250 instead of the 410 planned in 2014.

Government support and the site's new status as both an enterprise zone and a housing means will help fund new roads and infrastructure to the site, and planning bosses say that is why the plans have grown so dramatically.

The Local Plan has to be completed early next year for York to meet a Government deadline, and the council's timetable will see these drafts being considered by councillors at two key meetings later this month, before a public consultation from July to September.

Another more detailed draft will then come out in November for a second consultation, before the plan is submitted to a Government planning inspector in May 2017.

GREENFIELD sites around the edge of York have been 'reprieved' under the latest draft of the Local Plan.

Sites that were longer earmarked for development but which have been removed from the list include:

• A 400 home development off New Lane, Huntington
• 421 homes at Manor Heath, Copmanthorpe
• 165 homes north of Stockton Lane
• 102 homes planned at The Brecks, Strensall
• 71 homes south of Strensall village.

But the plan does still contain some greenfield building, most significantly at Elvington where 3,339 homes are being lined up for land to the west of Elvington Lane.

Plans have been scaled back, but not scrapped entirely, for land west of Wigginton Road, sites north of Haxby and Monks Cross, and a site east of Metcalfe Lane.

One large site near Askham Bog nature reserve looks to have been given a longer term reprieve. The earlier plan included "safeguarded" land set aside for development not in this Local Plan period but into the future. That provision has now been scrapped, meaning that fears over what the 17 hectare development could do to the delicate ecosystem at the nearby reserve - dubbed the York Minster of nature preservation - could be allayed.

Last week, Sir David Attenborough visited the site and spoke against any plans to build on it.

THE revised draft Local Plan looks at jobs and the economy as well as housing, and in it the council must set aside employment land and sites that can be used for businesses to expand.

The reports published on Monday show how council officials expect different sectors to grow in coming years.

Between 2012 and 2031, they estimate around 13,000 new jobs will be created in York - although some sectors will see big declines. Councillors expect to see the city lose 1,231 manufacturing jobs and 135 from agriculture, forestry and fishing.

They also expect the financial and insurance sector to shrink by 448 jobs, public administration and defence to lose 587 jobs, and education to lose 150 jobs.

However major expansions are anticipated in the professional, scientific and technical sectors, where nearly 3000 new jobs are expected, and wholesale and retail trades with around 2,400 new jobs.

The tourism-linked accommodation and food sector is expected to grow by around 2,000 jobs, while the demand for admin related staff is set to go up by around 1,800 jobs.

Other sectors are expected to see smaller growth with the number of new jobs in the hundreds, but only the mining and quarrying sector is expected to see no change.

BOTH of York's MPs have shared their thoughts on City of York Council's new draft Local Plan.

Rachael Maskell, MP for York Central, said it was clear what the Local Plan needed to do, but the current draft needed to be thoroughly examined.

She said: "The test of the new Local Plan will be if it puts the housing and employment needs of people living in our city first. 

"I will need to study the detail of the plan, but unless provision is made to provide family and social housing to meet the desperate needs of so many in our city, and unless the work provides for skilled jobs for the growth of York’s economy, we will need to think again. I trust that there can now be a time of detailed analysis to see if it pasts the ‘York First’ principle."

Julian Sturdy, MP for York Outer, said the new draft appeared to be an improvement on previous efforts, and encouraged the public to have their say.

He said: "From preliminary reading I think the direction of travel is to be welcomed, and it is important that local communities are now able to have their say on the proposals in the consultation period. 

"Whilst there will be concerns about some specific sites, the fact that overall housing figures have fallen from 22,000 to a much more sensible 10,800 under the Conservatives will be a relief to many York residents.

"I am looking forward to hearing what my constituents have to say about the changes to the Plan over the coming weeks."