YORK'S new housing chief has said there will need to be building on city Green Belt land 'to avoid 40-floor tower blocks in York’. 

City of York Council's executive member for  housing, Michael Pavlovic, has said he agrees with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and is calling for houses to be built on the Green Belt to keep the dream of home ownership alive for renters, warning the alternative may be 40-floor tower blocks.

He said: “We are going to have to build on the Green Belt because there are not enough brownfield sites in a place like York unless people want massive tower blocks built on them.

“We don’t want 20, 30, 40-floor tower blocks in a place like York.

“There’s no appetite for it from politicians or the public.”

Cllr Pavlovic said housing is a 'huge issue' in York.

“We have a population that is being priced out of the city," he said.

Matthew Freckelton, head of cities for Uber, is running to be the Conservative candidate in the North Yorkshire joint authority mayoral election in 2024 and agrees that councils are being left with little choice.

He said: “We need to ensure that we have thriving communities in the countryside.

“If we don’t build houses in the countryside that are affordable for young people and families, then we’ll have long-term unintended consequences such as school closures because there aren’t kids coming into those areas. 

“If we look at the entire country, less than about two per cent has been built upon.

“Yes, we need to protect the Green Belt, but if we look at where the Green Belt actually covers, we can identify plenty of sites that we can build on.”

According to government briefing papers, ‘the fundamental aim of Green Belt policy is to prevent urban sprawl by keeping land permanently open.’ 

There is currently 21,980 hectacres (about 88.8 per cent) of the York Outer constinuency classed as Green Belt land.

Meanwhile, York Central has just 430 hectacres or 18.3 per cent of Green Belt land that may be built upon.

Cllr Pavlovich is part of the new ruling Labour executive which came into power after local elections in the city last month under council leader Cllr Claire Douglas.