Defeated party launches appeal for protection of green spaces

Just before the election councillors approved the city’s Local Development Framework, which set out the basis for development in the city over the coming decades.

Labour now has a short window in which to change the final document before it is submitted to the Government for approval.

Coun Keith Orrell ( Lib Dem, Huntington and New Earswick) warned that Labour’s plans to change the LDF would put the green belt under pressure.

He said: “When in opposition. Labour argued for an increase in the number of houses built in the city over the next 20 to 30 years. If they follow through on this we could see more than 300 extra houses built a year, putting green belt land across the city under threat.

“In April, during the debate on the Local Development Framework, Liberal Democrat Councillors asked Labour a number of times to state where the extra houses would be built if not in the green belt.

“Not one Labour councillor was able to answer this question.

“The simple fact is there aren’t enough brown field sites to accommodate the number of extra houses Labour want to build. If they increase house building targets, they are giving the go ahead to development on the green belt.

“Labour need to remember that whenever residents have been asked about development on the green belt they have resoundingly rejected the idea.

“Liberal Democrat councillors in Huntington and New Earswick have campaigned to protect the green belt for many years and we have been strongly supported by local residents.

“The Liberal Democrat council listened to residents and made sure the Local Development Framework protected the green belt. For Labour to undo that at the last minute before it is submitted to Government would be a massive blow for local people and the city’s historic setting.

“During the election campaign we warned local residents of Labour’s threat to our green belt.

“I hope that Labour will now have a change of heart and listen to the wishes of local people.”

Coun James Alexander, Labour leader-elect of City of York Council, retorted: “The Liberal Democrats have just lost an election which shows a lack of support for their policies including that on housing and the local economy.

“The Chamber of Commerce, York Economic Partnership and council officers shared Labour’s concerns about submitting a planning framework to the Government that would be rejected as unsound due to a lack of required housing figures.

“This would mean the green belt would still not be defined or protected from uncontrolled development.”

Earlier this year the Yorkshire Post reported how business leaders had accused politicians of potentially jeopardising the economy after plans to build hundreds of new homes each year over the next two decades were scaled back dramatically.

The development blueprint set an annual target of 575 homes to be built in the city until 2031.

But the York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce claimed house building needed to increase significantly to support economic growth.

And Coun Steve Galloway, then the executive member for city strategy, also told the Yorkshire Post that residents had been consulted over the city’s housing needs and they “were keen the city’s character and the surrounding green belt should be conserved.”

He said the planning policies that were in place were sufficient to meet York’s property demands for 20 years.

But York’s construction industry is still, like most of the country, in the doldrums as the aftershock of the recession shows little sign of lifting.