York's local plan may need to be amended as soon as it's adopted

The draft plan, put together under York's previous Lib Dem/ Green administration and set to be the city's first formal local plan for 70 years if approved as expected by government inspectors later this year, makes provision for just 2,360 affordable homes to be built in York between now and 2033.

But that’s way below the 9,396 new affordable homes that are likely to be needed in that timescale, City of York Council has admitted.

Even taking into account affordable homes already built in the last couple of years, just 3,265 new affordable homes would be completed in the city by 2033 – 6,000 short of the number the city council says ‘evidence suggests’ are likely to be needed.

The Labour government’s new Planning and Infrastructure Bill, announced last month, is designed to ‘turbocharge building of houses and infrastructure’.

York council’s executive member for planning Cllr Michael Pavlovic said adoption of the York local plan was unlikely to be affected by Labour’s drive to build more housing.

Cllr Michael Pavlovic (Image: Supplied)

But he said: “Once we have a local plan adopted, which this Labour administration will deliver after 70 years of waiting, it will be reviewed in line with any national requirements.”

In response to a question from The Press, a City of York Council spokesperson added: “Based on the current consultation figures and wording, the …local plan … may be required to be reviewed early to consider … the change in housing numbers.”

York's local plan will provide a blueprint about where development can take place in the city - and will identify sites where new homes can be built (Image: City of York Council)

That revelation has prompted a furious reaction from the council’s Liberal Democrat opposition leader Cllr Nigel Ayre – who said he feared it could lead to more homes being built on York’s green belt.

“We are concerned that relaxing planning rules will mean that more and more homes will be built on York’s greenbelt without the appropriate infrastructure, services like GP surgeries and dentists, and open space available,” he said.

“York Labour seem ready to break their promise of no-new building on the greenbelt beyond what is outlined in the local plan, adding to their long list of broken promises on free school meals, 100% affordable homes, and a Council Tax freeze."

Cllr Nigel Ayre (Image: Supplied)

But Cllr Pavlovic said: “The Liberal Democrat draft local plan we inherited included several thousand homes in York’s Green Belt. Like delivery of all new homes, this will come with corresponding funding for GPs, dentists, open space and the necessary infrastructure to deliver balanced, sustainable communities”.

Cllr Ayre also urged the council’s Labour administration to come clean about any plans for so-called ‘grey belt’ areas in York – areas defined as ‘land on the edge of existing settlements or roads, as well as old petrol stations and car parks’ where it may be easier to get planning permission than on green belt.

Quizzed about potential grey belt areas, a council spokesperson told The Press they were included in a revised National Planning Policy Framework which was still out to consultation. The question of grey belt areas would ‘be considered once the revised framework is enacted’, the spokesperson said.

The long journey to getting a local plan

York hasn’t had a properly-adopted local plan – a key planning document which sets out where new homes, roads, schools and businesses can be built – since the 1950s.

The lack of a plan has made it harder for the city council to enforce planning controls and shape the way the city develops.

Successive council administrations have tried to produce a plan.

But with housing allocations always a sensitive issue, it has never been possible for one administration to drive through a plan before being voted out of office. New administrations, with different development priorities, have always tended to go back to the drawing board and start again.

The last Lib Dem/ Green administration did, however, manage to get a draft local plan through the complex process of local consultations and public inquiries.

It is currently ‘in examination’, with government inspectors to approve it for adoption by the end of this year.

The problem is that, while the plan sets a target of 822 new homes being built in York every year, only a comparatively small percentage of these would need to be affordable under policies currently set out in the document.

As written, the plan stipulates that just 20 per cent of new development on brownfield land and 30 per cent on greenfield land should be affordable.

A council spokesperson said that, in order to increase the number of affordable homes being built, the authority planned to increase the affordable homes target by 10 per cent once the plan was adopted.

The authority would also be working with North Yorkshire Council and with David Skaith, the Mayor of the new combined authority of York and North Yorkshire, to ‘explore development delivery across the area’, the spokesperson said.