Fewer homes look set to be completed in York this year

And the number of housing 'consents' - referring to planning permission for new homes granted within the council's area - also looks like falling behind figures for the year before.

The Housing Monitoring report is a mid-year update including data on completions and consents given in the first six months of the monitoring year, from April 1, 2023.

Figures show 152 net housing completions for the period, compared to a total figure for last financial year of 459 completions. Projections for the full current year suggest just 304 completions.

A spokesperson for City of York Council said: "We recognise (it) is fewer completions than for the same period last year.

"A similar pattern can be seen on a national scale where it has been recognised that housebuilding over the course of 2023 has slowed as a result of rising interest rates, labour shortages, and high material and wage costs."

Councillor Darryl Smalley, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Housing, Planning and Safer Communities (Image: Newsquest)

Councillor Darryl Smalley, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Housing, Planning and Safer Communities, said: "Inflation in the sector has been running as high as 20 per cent which has meant that some developers have taken a step back to evaluate their options.

"The Liberal Democrats are calling on the government to approve the Local Plan so York can get on with building the homes York needs. We are clear that infrastructure needs to be built alongside housing development."

Elsewhere in the report, the mid-year data shows 342 housing consents were issued in the first half of the year - last year's total was 1,559.

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The council spokesperson said: "The comparative figure for the same time period in 2022 is 467 net additional dwellings. The figure of 1,559 represents the net consents granted between April 2022 to March 2023.  

"It is clear that in the 2022/23 monitoring year, the authority granted consent for a significant number homes in the latter half of the monitoring year between Sept 2022 to March 2023."

They added: "We anticipate that for the latter half of this monitoring year to March 2024, we will also see a significant uplift in consented development.

"This will include, amongst other schemes, the recent granting of approval for 300 homes at New Lane, Huntington by the Secretary of State at appeal."