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13
Jun
Campaigners raise concern over North Yorkshire local plan delay
Campaigners have raised concern over a delay in North Yorkshire Council’s long-term housing plan.
The council revealed a timeline for the adoption of its local plan on Monday (June 9), which will outline where development, including houses, can be built over the next 20 years.
The authority was supposed to adopt one within five years of its creation on April 1, 2023.
But instead of that deadline of April 2028 it is now working to an adoption date of October 26, 2029.
The council blames government changes to the planning system for the delay.
However, the delay has raised concern among campaigners that the move may lead to more speculative applications from developers.
A new housing estate in Northallerton.
Steve Cove, who is part of Protect Our Village residents group which campaigns against development near Boroughbridge, said the lack of a local plan in North Yorkshire was a concern, particularly in light of the government’s “unrealistic” housing targets.
In North Yorkshire, the government has set a target of more than 4,000 new homes per year – almost triple the previous target.
Mr Cove said:
It is obviously of concern if NYC are suggesting that the new local plan will be delayed and that the unrealistic centrally imposed targets will lead to even more speculative applications, but the council have the grounds to reject many of them based on the current plans, which still reflect the residents expectations until 2035.
Mr Cove added that the council needed to avoid a plan where “politics and profit” remained the drivers behind it.
He said:
Perhaps the best approach would be to reproduce the current planning policies, highlight only where they *must* change, while proactively focussing on identifying brownfield sites and low value agricultural land for early development.
This approach seems much more likely to gain quicker, wider residents’ support while still meeting government expectations and, crucially, identifying infrastructure shortfalls.
We need a process that engages all groups and that they believe will deliver. The alternative is a document grown from the adversarial behaviour of interest groups, and where politics and profit remain the real drivers.
The new timeline will be presented to members of the authority’s executive committee when it meets on Tuesday next week (June 16).
Reports to the executive describe the timetable as “challenging” and say there is a risk of further “slippage”.
The single, countywide strategy will replace the local plans of the former district and borough council areas of Craven, Hambleton, Harrogate, Richmondshire, Ryedale, Scarborough and Selby.
You can read our explainer on what the delay in the local plan means and why it matters here.
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