Councils must have Local Plans in place or risk the threat of inappropriate development.

In campaigning for the protection and enhancement of countryside the Campaign to Protect Rural England urges local authorities to have adopted Local Plans in place to steer development to sustainable places. Local Plans were introduced by the Town & County Planning Act 2004 to allocate land for development in a transparent and democratic way and CPRE supports this process.

Local Plan progressions in our area.

North York Moors National Park

Local Plan first steps consultation.  The Branch commissioned Katie Atkinson of KVAPlanning to co-ordinate our response taking into consideration valid responses from local district groups where appropriate.  A copy of the Branch response is below.

NYCC Joint MInerals & Waste Consultation

We commissioned KVA Planning to co-ordinate the points raised across the county by Key Planning Wardens.  Our response was submitted and examined in detail by NYCC.  Copy of repose will soon be available

Craven District

CPRENY have responded to the latest consultation by CDC
Katie Atkinson Planning Consultant from KVA Planning was commissioned by CPRE North Yorkshire to research and prepare a report regarding the strategy and policies of the Local Plan in Craven. The district members were consulted and worked closely with those in the district areas where the most comments were received. Following the deadline for comments, the final report was sent to Craven District Council on 31 May 2016. Hundreds of hours of volunteer time were dedicated to researching individual sites and examining housing need and the overall impact on the area. For the full report, please see the attachment below.

A new timetable is to be presented to the Spatial Planning Committee for approval. The important dates are:

14th June Pre publication draft presented to Spatial Planning and if accepted
19th June 6 week consultation begins
October Publication Draft for 6 week consultation (nb no changes will be made to this draft but comments forwarded with submission for examination)
December Submit Plan for examination
JULY 2018 Adoption of Local Plan for Craven outside the National Park.

Redcar & Cleveland District 

The District volunteers are currently awaiting the draft local Plan for R&C which hopefully, will replace the one previously rejected by the redcar & Cleveland cabinet.

For further informatiom on how flawed housing targets can affect Local Plans see our article entitled, "Flawed housing targets threaten our countryside."

Hambleton District                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Unfortunate issues surrounding the existing Hambleton LDF have become apprent in 2015.  During 2015, two large housing sites, on in Easingwold and one in Stokesley both being 'out-with' the LDF were refused planning permission by Hambleton District Council however, subsequent appeals on both sites were upheld by the Planing Inspectorate.  In both cases, the develop argued successfully that the Hambleton housing needs projections were under estimated and that the LDF no longer conformed to the National Planning Policy Framework.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     CPRE Hambleton was briefed by Hambleton District Council (HDC)  planners re the way forward.  A new local plan is now being prepared by HDCand a preliminary 'Issues and Options' consultation was published in January 2016.  The district committee responded to this consultation but a new plan is unlikely to be adopted before 2018.  Meanwhile the existing LDF cannot be relied upon to ensure close control of planning issues in the HDC authority area.  A planning application for a substantial scheme at Hutton Rugby has recently been lodged, this scheme, outside the current LDF has been objected to by Hambleton District CPRE.

York & Selby District                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  The Selby Local Plan was at last approved after a High Court challenge.

The saga of the York Local Plan continues. The new administration elected in May 2015 promised to prepare :-
“an evidence-based Local Plan which delivers much needed housing whilst focussing development on brownfield land and taking all practical steps to protect the Green Belt and the character of York.”
The district volunteers will be testing this aspiration against the actual proposals which were published June 2015!

Scarborough District Local Plan

17 February 2017 by John Geoghegan , 

A planning inspector has recommended that a draft Yorkshire local plan has its housing target cut to take account of new government household projections.

Scarborough Borough Council’s local plan had outlined proposals to build 9,680 homes and create 5,000 new jobs up to 2032.

However, inspector William Fieldhouse, in his report on the plan, recommends that this be reduced to 9,450 dwellings "to take account of" the government’s 2014-based household projections. Fieldhouse found the plan sound subject to a series of modifications.

According to his report, the Department for Communities and Local Government’s (DCLG’s) 2012-based household projections indicated an average increase of 175 households per year in the borough over the plan period. 

However, the DCLG’s 2014-based household projections, published last July during the plan examination, showed a lower growth rate of 131 households per year.

Because of the job growth target and resulting inward migration, the plan had aimed to build an average of 461 new homes per year. However, the 2014-based projections produce a lower figure of 450 net additional homes per year, the report says.

Fielding states: "Delivering 9,450 new homes over the period 2011 to 2032 would represent a substantial increase compared to build rates over the last decade.

"Achieving the proposed delivery rates would represent a very significant boost to supply in the borough and this would be likely to have beneficial effects in terms of house prices and affordability."

The inspector also recommended that the plan identifies enough land to accommodate 10,633 new homes during the plan period, representing a surplus of 12.5 per cent over the 9,450-home housing target.

Fielding went on to say that the 5,000 job target was "aspirational but realistic and represents a sound basis for land use planning in the context of national policy".

To accommodate the new jobs, the plan allocates 34.5 hectares of additional employment land over the plan period.

The document covers the parts of the borough outside the North York Moors National Park. It distributes about three-quarters of new homes to Scarborough, about 10 per cent to Whitby and five per cent to the town of Filey.

The new local plan supersedes the Scarborough Borough Local Plan adopted in 1999.

Harrogate Distirict Local Plan

The Branch recently responded to the additional sites consultation by Harrogate authority.  A copy of the response is available under http://www.cprenorthyorkshire.co.uk/news/current-news2/item/2407-harrogate-cpreny-responds-to-local-plan-consultation-on-additional-sites