Housing: York

(asked on 24th March 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what his priorities are for tackling housing challenges in York, in the context of the performance of City of York Council in meeting housing need.


Answered by
Stuart Andrew Portrait
Stuart Andrew
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This question was answered on 29th March 2022

As set out in the Levelling Up White Paper, the Government is determined to level up the country by tackling the factors driving the increasing unaffordability of housing. The Government is continuing to build on a decade of record housing delivery and has committed to deliver 1 million new homes by the end of this Parliament and continue towards its target to increase building output to 300,000 homes a year.

York’s 2021 Housing Delivery Test result of 65% means the presumption in favour of sustainable development applies there. Consequently, York is expected to approve applications for housing unless the application of policies in the NPPF that protect areas or assets of particular importance provide a clear reason for refusing the development proposed, or any adverse impacts of doing so would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits, when assessed against the policies in the NPPF taken as a whole.

The York Local Plan remains at examination, due to the Secretary of State’s quasi-judicial role in the planning system I am unable to comment on the details of the Local Plan. The independent Inspectors play an important role in examining the Plan impartially to ensure that it is legally compliant and sound. The Inspectors intend to hold further hearings commencing in April 2022, although it is not possible at this stage to say with certainty when the examination will be concluded.

It remains important to ensure that progress on the York local plan is maintained and the Inspectors are given the opportunity to issue their final report. This is especially important for the City of York, who have not had a new Local Plan in place since 1956. The Government has set a deadline for all local planning authorities to have up-to-date local plans by the end of 2023. This will help deliver the certainty that local communities and businesses deserve.

We are providing £77.1 million in housing investment grant funding to the York Central project, to unlock 2,500 homes on a brownfield city centre location next to York Railway Station. The project is being delivered directly by Homes England. The Agency continues to work closely with the City Council to identify opportunities to deliver more affordable housing in the area through the Affordable Homes Programme.

We are also providing £300,000 of resource funding to City of York Council to aid in the delivery of the West of Elvington Lane Garden Village. This will aid in the delivery of over 3,300 homes.

We have also invested £1,516,800 from the Local Authority Accelerated Construction Fund at the Lowfield School site in York. This is delivering 165 new homes, as well as community and care facilities. Construction of all the new homes has started on site, and completions have begun.

Through the Brownfield Land Release Fund, we have provided £2.64 million of grant funding to the City of York council to support the release of land for 97 homes across three local-authority owned sites. This includes two sites to release land for 10 new self and custom build homes.

Reticulating Splines