'At best this so-called Local Plan is ill-thought through'

At best this so-called Local Plan is ill-thought through. For the more cynical amongst us, the proposals represent all that is wrong with politics today - a party political attempt to dump many of the City's unwanted and frankly unsustainable developments into the villages and communities surrounding York.

Far more damaging than party politics, however, is the negative impact that the plans would have on the quality of life for all affected residents, many of them being my constituents.

The Council's draft Local Plan sets out their development vision for York over the next 15 years.

As part of the plan, much of York's greenbelt will be adopted by the Council and hence secured from development for the next 15 years. However, formulating the plan essentially gives the Council the opportunity to pick and choose which chunks of the greenbelt they want to protect and which they want to offer up to eager developers.

York's Council has decided to take well over 2000 acres out of the greenbelt in order to achieve their hugely over-ambitious and unsustainable housing target of 22,000 homes over the next 15 years. 16,000 of these homes will be within my constituency and hence on land that has hitherto always been seen as greenbelt land.

The Council claim that the necessary infrastructure will follow, yet they have not provided a detailed breakdown of where or when such infrastructure improvements will take place. This really is a cart before the horse policy from the Council.

Likewise, the housing plans include building two entirely new towns outside of the A64, totalling between them over 10,000 homes. I have already met with the residents immediately affected by one of these proposed new towns to the south east of Heslington and known as 'Holme Hill'.

Understandably, the local residents have been deeply distressed by the proposals, not least because the first they heard of them was in the local media. However, their determination to come together as a community to oppose the proposals is a shining example of how local people power will be crucial in the fight against the Local Plan.

Almost adding insult to injury, the Council have also announced their plans to introduce nearly 60 new traveller and showpeople pitches, including a 15 pitch site in Dunnington, a 20-pitch site in Knapton and 20-pitch site on Malton Road near Monks Cross.

These are entirely inappropriate for the villages they have been proposed in and would completely change their character and setting.

The proposed area of search in Knapton is larger than the village itself and if the plans get approved, Dunnington would undoubtedly lose its notoriety as one of the most beautiful villages in the country. Given the Council's inability to manage of the Osbaldwick site, it's beggar's belief that they can propose nearly 60 new pitches across the York area, let alone the six-pitch extension to the Osbaldwick site that they are currently seeking.

The cherry on the top of this stomach- turning cake has to be the proposals for over 40 wind farms across the greenbelt, which will, if the Council get their way, encircle our great city and destroy the intrinsic beauty of our countryside.

In order to combat these monstrosities from becoming a reality, I have written to Eric Pickles, the Local Government Minister, to ask that he strengthen planning policy to give communities greater power to object to wind farms.

Thankfully the Council's draft Local Plan must go through a thorough and comprehensive review before it can be adopted, which will include two consultation processes. The first of these consultations will be run by the Council itself and is set to begin at the end of the month.

My challenge to the Labour-led Council is to listen and to act upon the views and concerns of local residents who will have to face the consequences of this ill-thought-through and unsustainable plan for decades to come.