Strategies: Local Plan, formerly Local Development Framework
Each Council in England is required to have an adopted Local Plan, and nearly all of them do, with York being a major exception. The Local Plan will formalise a Green Belt for York and provide a permanent framework for all development including where homes and jobs are needed. This will include a new Joint Waste and Minerals Plan, a streetscape Manual and a policy on windfarms.
The lengthy draft Local Plan was before the City’s Cabinet on 30 April, then published for comment by 31 July 2013. It had been hoped it could be in place by 2015, but here is a letter from the Trust to each of the Party leaders expressing disappointment at progress.
The path to this draft has been long and complex. In 2008 the City Council committed to producing a new set of planning guidelines under the umbrella of the LDF. A huge body of information was assembled with York Civic Trust consulted throughout the whole process. The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) praised the City for producing one of the best Core Strategy documents in England. All the documents were considered at a public inquiry, and a large number of questions were raised by the government’s Inspector. As a result that draft Local Plan was withdrawn in 2012. More detail is at www.york.gov.uk/localplan.