City of York Council’s leaders are “focusing on their own political survival” instead of finding a long-term solution to fixing the city’s housing crisis, the deputy leader of neighbouring Selby District Council has said.
Richard Musgrave said he feared the ruling Liberal Democrat / Green administration’s housing targets could have a knock-on effect on Conservative-run Selby.
York’s draft Local Plan – which outlines where and what housing developments will be built in the city over the next 15 years and beyond – has come under fire from government inspectors, local opposition parties and developers.
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Inspectors advised the council to drop the plan and start again in 2020 due to “intrinsic flaws” in its methodology, but the council chose instead to submit further evidence to prove that it is workable.
The council was one of two in Yorkshire to be warned in 2018 by then-Communities Secretary Sajid Javid over its “persistent failure” to finalise a Local Plan.
Fresh public hearings into the plan are set to begin in February 2022.
Cllr Musgrave said: “We believe that York can meet its own housing need within its own boundaries but is choosing not to and we are very concerned that the council is proposing far fewer houses than the Government thinks they need.
“If York doesn’t deliver enough houses then that is bound to put pressure on Selby to deliver more.”
Cllr Musgrave said it was widely known that York’s housing market “is going crazy”, making it all the more important to meet the city’s housing needs.
He added: “If the council starts their plan making process again then they will need to find enough land for more than 200 extra houses a year for the next 20 years and that means looking at sites which are politically sensitive for the current leadership of the council.
“They aren’t prepared to make the tough decisions that the city needs, instead they are focusing on their own political survival.”
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The Lib Dems in York respond
Nigel Ayre, York’s executive member for finance and performance, said: “Neither the plan nor this administration has ever suggested meeting York’s housing need outside the city’s boundaries.
“The Lib Dem-led administration is getting on with delivering the UK’s most ambitious council-led housing programme in a generation and progressing a balanced Local Plan for the city, one which prioritises the development of brownfield sites in the city and properly defines our greenbelt in planning law.”
Cllr Ayre said the Conservative government’s planning policy was a “total shambles” which forced northern council’s to fix the housing crisis instead of Tory-run southern councils.
He added: “Councillor Musgrave would do good to discuss this and the merits and importance of York’s Local Plan with his regional Conservative colleagues, who agreed and spearheaded the plan during their time in administration. York Conservatives have submitted a local plan which they seek to reject now in opposition.
“I am truly impressed by the mental gymnastics which take place within the regional Conservative groups to balance local statements that all development should occur within York’s ring roads, alongside Cllr Musgrave’s comments and the votes of Julian Sturdy MP that seek to increase York’s housing delivery by a further 5,000 homes on top of those currently identified.”
Alison Cooke, the council’s head of strategic planning policy, said: “Selby’s response to the recent consultation will be taken into consideration by the inspectors.
“We have an agreed joint position statement with Selby DC agreeing to our respective positions for housing delivery across our shared housing market area. This was consulted on as part of the latest Local Plan consultation.
“This agrees that each authority will meet its own identified needs. The Selby consultation response recognises this position.
She added: “The latest consultation on Selby’s preferred options Local Plan set out that they were intending to deliver more housing than their standard housing need figure. We set out that there may be cross-boundary effects with York in relation to this oversupply and that we would welcome further discussion as necessary to understand the impacts on York.”