A smart, healthy city – fit for the future
Local Plan – planning a sustainable future
We believe that there are serious flaws in York’s submitted Local Plan – above all the lack of sustainable transport provision. However, we also believe that York needs a Plan in place as soon as possible to protect the city from speculative development proposals such as the recent application to build next to Askham Bog – the city’s most precious site for nature conservation. To delay the Plan further would be irresponsible – all Local Plans, once established, can be reviewed on a regular basis, although the ‘extent’ of the Green Belt will be set till 2037.
We will continue to argue for the Local Plan to:
- Prioritise the provision of affordable housing
- Require zero carbon development and the provision of cheap to run, warm homes
- Provide options to even out housing densities across the city – higher densities in some locations, when combined with excellent sustainable design, can help to protect our green spaces and provide high quality affordable homes
- Ensure a sufficient supply of sites for a wide range of employment opportunities
- Protect and enhance green spaces across the city including the city centre
- Provide a sustainable transport infrastructure capable of supporting the level of development in the Plan
- Include a range of other policies to enable us to protect local shopping parades, independent businesses and the balance of our city centre
- Be reviewed at least every 5 years to assess if it is on track to meet priorities for the city including our clean air and carbon reduction targets
- Include necessary Supplementary Planning Guidance to protect York’s future.
We will also:
- Review current schemes of delegation to officers and consultation with the public – a key principle of planning should be the involvement of local residents
- Review the Council’s processes for negotiating planning gain with developers – this needs to be better coordinated with local ward councillors and the needs of neighbourhoods
- Review the Council’s Article 4 Directive on Houses in Multiple Occupation to determine if further control on the balance of housing in local neighbourhoods is needed.