Most homes planned to be built under York’s Local Plan are ‘likely to be disastrous for the climate’, a campaigner has told the council.
Geoff Beacon, a climate emergency activist, says City of York Council specifies two-car parking spaces for most households.
“Two car households are a disaster for the climate,” Mr Beacon told the meeting on Wednesday.
“This is confirmed by a paper from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on The Distribution of Carbon Emissions which points out: ‘as the number of cars in a household increases so do the average emissions levels’.”
Mr Beacon went on: “Apart from a pleasanter lifestyle with the local services that car ownership forces out, new car-free houses are likely to be much cheaper because there will be less competition from more affluent people with cars.
“All new housing should be car free making living much cheaper, pleasanter without locking in climate destroying lifestyles.
“To those who say ‘car free development is unrealistic’ I say ‘then life as we know it is unrealistic’.
“I know York is a small proportion of the world but we could show the world it is possible to have lifestyles that have zero carbon emissions.”
York hasn’t had a Local Plan since 1954, a legal document that sets out a vision and a framework for the future development of an area.
A draft Local Plan was put under scrutiny at a series of hearings last year.
But its adoption has been delayed due to inspectors’ concerns over provision for Travellers.
Consultation on a proposed modification to address those concerns started yesterday (Thursday, 18 July) and will run till 30 August.
You can find out more here.