New vision for a new York
Following the release of the draft Local Plan for York, the consultation period has now ended. The Council will now be reviewing the submissions and looking to move the plan forward to adoption as soon as it can. This article contains our latest thoughts on the Plan and the prospects for future new development in the City of York.
The new York Local Plan is on its way, ending over 50 years without a statutory development plan in the City. As we discussed in our seminar on the 28 June, the Council has now released its first draft of the new Local Plan and sought views and input from the development industry, local people and other interested parties on the direction the Council is seeking to take.
The initial consultation has produced a significant response, from varied groups with interests in the York area. However, this is by no means the end of the process; the Council will remain engaged with interested parties throughout the development of the new Local Plan, to ensure that the Local Plan provides the most suitable way of delivering new development for the City. Those with land interests in the area, or ambitions for such, should therefore ensure that they remain engaged with the process. The new Local Plan, once adopted, will provide the Council with much greater planning policy weight on which to support, and more importantly resist, development across the City. Therefore, those with sites which are not currently identified for development in the Local Plan need to act fast to protect interests in the next 15-20 years.
If you have land interests in the York area which have yet to be submitted to the Council, or believe that your site is not currently favoured by the Council for inclusion in the new Local Plan, then now is the time for submissions to be made in support of these sites. Due to the level of representations received by the Council and the level of objection to a number of elements of the Local Plan, there remains significant opportunity to promote sites for development; particularly where site scan be demonstrated as providing housing or other development needs in the short to medium term (within 10 years).
The Council has recently lost an appeal at Water Lane, Clifton Moor where the Planning Inspectorate confirmed that the Council do not currently have a five year supply of deliverable housing sites, which is a statutory requirement. On this basis, planning permission was granted without a requirement to deliver affordable housing as this was seen as the main obstacle to preventing the commencement of development. As a result, the Council will be under pressure to allocate sufficient sites within the new Local Plan which can be viably delivered but also to allow schemes to progress in the intervening period until the plan is adopted to demonstrate a five year supply of housing. Our team have significant experience of submitting planning applications which seek to address a Council's shortage of housing sites to meet the 5 year requirement and negotiating the requirement for affordable housing on viability grounds. Often these may be sites which are unlikely to come forward within the emerging plan, but have a short term, finite, window of opportunity in which to submit a planning application.
If you are have land which has yet to be promoted to the Council as part of its emerging Local Plan, or you require a more comprehensive and expert approach to securing an allocation for development, our team can give you an initial assessment of the site's prospects and how you would be best served in promoting the site for development.
Please contact Mark Dixon at moc.s1732429842tillo1732429842r@nox1732429842id.kr1732429842am1732429842 if you would like to discuss your interests or sites in the York area.
This article is for general guidance only. It provides useful information in a concise form. Action should not be taken without obtaining specific legal advice.