People in the Yorkshire Dales National Park are being invited to put forward potential sites in their towns and villages for new housing.
Letters have been emailed to about 400 organisations and bodies including all Parish Councils in the National Park.
Members of the public, including landowners, are encouraged to take part in the consultation, which started on Wednesday (6 January) and will end on 26th February.
To take part please go to this page for maps, guidance and consultation response forms. People can also email localplan@yorkshiredales.org.uk or phone 01969 652334 with enquiries.
The call for housing sites constitutes the third public consultation on a new Local Plan, to cover the period 2023-2040. The Local Plan will determine where development will and won’t take place across the whole National Park.
The first consultation on a new Local Plan took place from December 2019, when people were asked general questions, such as what they thought were the most important planning issues in their part of the National Park. In summer 2020, a second consultation garnered views on housing numbers, low carbon development and farm related development; the views of young people were sought specifically.
Carl Lis, Member Champion for Sustainable Development at the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, said: “We’ve listened to what people have told us in the first two consultations. Whilst there is support for a more ambitious Local Plan, there is also a sizeable minority who think we should not be planning for any more new housing in the National Park. Now the time has come to get down to detail and start drawing lines on the map. I would like to ask communities to think carefully about whether their town or village has capacity for more housing and, if so, where development should happen. In other words, I am urging local people to help identify the land that is suitable for housing development in their area, and the land that is not.
“Now is the time to get involved if you would like to shape the development in your area, as the Local Plan determines the principle of developing land. The new Local Plan will guide all decisions on development in the National Park from 2023 onwards.”
In November 2019 a Strategic Housing Market Assessment recommended that at least 50 additional dwellings needed to built every year in the Yorkshire Dales National Park to counter population decline and increase the stock of affordable housing. The new consultation asks whether that target should be even higher, to enable the population to grow.
Mr Lis continued: “Quite a number of sites that were allocated for new homes the last time we created a Local Plan, eight years ago, regrettably remain undeveloped. It’s been very disappointing to see new housing completions at a low level in the National Park for several years running. So, as part of this consultation, we will need to understand whether there is any point carrying over housing sites allocated in the existing Local Plan that have stood undeveloped.
“I would like to see sites being allocated for new housing only where there is a genuine commitment to build. All comments and suggestions for sites will be carefully considered in this consultation, but speculators are not welcome. It’s vitally important we get this right because without new homes, it is very likely that the resident population in the National Park will decline. To make the National Park a better place, we need to see affordable new homes being built and permanently occupied.”
I wound like to see the demographics around the cohort of people who stated that they do not think that there should be any further building of new homes in the YDNPA . Is this information available? Can it be published? I very much doubt that any young person living in the Dales or in fact any person who has lived in the Dales for generations and who have extended family in the Dales would be suggesting such a thing.
The Committee Report is available here https://www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2020/12/Item-8-Local-Plan-Consultation-and-Timetable.pdf
Inevitably there are a range of views when it comes to future housing policy. The current consultation No.3 is continuing the engagement and refers to the background evidence available for releasing more land for housing.
I’m looking at the plan of West Witton, but I cannot locate any key as to what the various tints and lines relate to. Is future planning restricted to the area within the red line? In which case buildings have already been built outside this, some going back 20 years. I’ve probably got it wrong so can you shed some light?
Hello there,
The map key is on this page underneath ‘Settlement Maps’
https://www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/park-authority/living-and-working/planning-policy/local-plan-2023-40/consultation-no-3-exploring-our-options-building-new-homes/
One of the questions we are asking is whether the red line should be extended or replaced with a criteria based policy. There are advantages and disadvantages of both approaches. We are also inviting a call for new sites to provide the supply of housing over the next 20 years. Other existing policies in the current local plan (2015-2030) or previous plans may have permitted some homes outside eg. a replacement dwelling, conversion, sub division or agricultural worker perhaps.
Kind Regards
Hello there,
The map key can be found under the settlement maps on this page:
https://www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/park-authority/living-and-working/planning-policy/local-plan-2023-40/consultation-no-3-exploring-our-options-building-new-homes/
One of the questions that the consultation is asking is whether the red line should be expanded to accommodated some more housing or whether it should be replaced with a criteria based infill and rounding off policy in which case the decision about location would be taken at the point of application rather than through the local plan process. The process is also inviting options for future allocated housing sites that would be developed over the next 15 years.
Some new houses may have been permitted outside the red line in the past perhaps as replacement homes, conversions, for agricultural workers or prior to the adoption of the current local plan.
Regards,
There are 3 abandoned houses in my dale, multiplied across the dales there’s dozens. If these houses had never been left empty usually for economic reasons, no one would bat an eye lid that they were still inhabited. Why not be more sympathetic in your attitude in bringing live back into these dying localities.
Former dwellings are permissible for re occupation in relation to the current policy L2 (Conversion of Traditional Buildings) see page 73
https://www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2019/06/Yorkshire-Dales-National-Park-Local-Plan-2015-30.pdf
The problem is that conversion and re-occupancy is expensive to implement and can be expensive to live in. New homes with modern amenities that are located near to existing facilities and services are also necessary.
Yes but the original dwellings have character and is what gives the dales its unique character . Anyone trying to get planning for such a property tell me its a nightmare with objections from the outset. They need to be supported not obstructed.
I have a building plot next to me which was granted planning permission in 2016 for local occupancy. It is still a scruffy plot with too high a price tag on it. Perhaps an audit should be made of such sites and enforcement action taken?