Out-Law News 1 min. read
16 Mar 2012, 3:56 pm
Planning Inspector David Vickery said that there were concerns about the strategy's compliance with legal requirements and its potential soundness.
Ahead of an exploratory meeting in late April, the Inspector has listed the concerns which he said should be addressed before hearings on the full core strategy can be set up.
The Inspector said that he had concerns as to whether York had complied with the duty to co-operate imposed by section 110 of the Localism Act. If this were the case, Mr Vickery said that he would "have no choice other than to recommend non-adoption of the CS".
"The duty to co-operate looks set to be an issue not just for York, but across Yorkshire and indeed nationally," said planning law expert Jon Riley of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-law.com. "Leeds City Council’s recent objection to housing policies in neighbouring Bradford is an early indicator of the political tensions inherent in strategic planning in the brave new world of Localism."
"I predict more instances of the duty to co-operate being cited amongst local authorities and public bodies who are subject to the duty. Evidence that the duty has been complied with will be key," said Riley.
York is proposing the building of 16,000 new homes but locations have only been specified for 12,270 dwellings, leaving 3,730 dwellings geographically unaccounted for in the strategy.
In particular, the Inspector noted that the core strategy is reliant on windfalls of available land in the first 10 years of the plan period, which is contrary to Government policy unless there is compelling evidence of genuine local circumstances that prevent specific sites being identified.
Vickery concluded that "the shortfall is so large that [York] has to take this hard, strategic decision now – it cannot rely on the hope that windfalls or other brownfield sites will take up a shortfall of such a large extent".
