MPs and council chiefs are lobbying the government to lower its house building target for North Yorkshire amid fears housing development could become a “free-for-all”.
A new target of more than 4,000 new homes a year — up from 1,384 — is putting unprecedented pressure on rural land in the county, it is claimed.
Senior councillors are worried the figure is unachievable, with the most homes previously built in the county being around 3,200 a year and an average over the last five years of under 3,000.
Conservative MP for Wetherby and Easingwold, Sir Alec Shelbrooke, is one of several MPs who have raised concerns about the target with ministers.
He said:
“Combined with the withdrawal of agreed timescales to merge our district local plans into one North Yorkshire local plan, halting the Selby local plan in its tracks, there is real concern among my constituents that house building will become a free-for-all and not a plan-led process.
“Together with my North Yorkshire MP colleagues, we have teamed up with the council’s leadership to lobby government on this, asking for a review of their imposed housing targets.
“We’re committed to delivering the right homes in the right places, but this can only happen through a plan-led programme that includes adequate infrastructure in the region.”
The new rules mean North Yorkshire Council is unable to demonstrate a five-year land supply for housing.
This further tips the balance in favour of housing applications being approved and means schemes might be given the go-ahead when they otherwise might have been rejected, for example, if the site had not been allocated for development in the local plan.
Senior planners are worried developers may submit speculative applications in the hope they get approved due to the new target.
There are concerns that this could lead to land banking by house builders rather than plots being developed to ease the housing shortage.
Councillor Mark Crane, North Yorkshire Council executive member for open to business, said a housing and economic needs assessment had been carried out which showed the county needed between 2,500 and 3,000 new homes a year.
“We feel the target of 4,144 properties is too high and not one we can achieve.
“We are grateful to our MPs for making the case on our behalf.”
Cllr Crane added that it was unclear if there were even enough “joiners and bricklayers” to build the number of homes required to hit the target.
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