A Plan for York

23rd July 2026

Ten headlines …

• York Council should tell the truth about carbon footprints.
• York Council should increase the supply of local housing.
• York Council should promote high yield market gardens.
• York Council should plan for some new housing areas to be car free.
• York Council should recognise the success of prefab estates.
• York Council should ask universities to solve their housing problems.
• York Council should show groups that benefit from green belt policies.
• York Council should use compulsory purchase for planning gain.
• York Council should purchase new areas for housing in A plan for York.

1. Net zero.

York Council hides its abandonment of the “net zero by 2030” resolution passed in 2019 by changing the measurement of greenhouse emissions from consumption to territorial. York’s consumption emissions are roughly three times its territorial emissions. The change has been encouraged by the UK business department – ignoring the work of Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Measurement of York’s consumption emissions was done in 2019 by researchers at the University of York.

–York Council should tell the truth about carbon footprints.–

2. Housing affordability.

The ratio of house prices to average incomes in York has increased from 3 in the 1970s to 10 now. This has enriched affluent home owners at the expense of renters and those wishing to their own homes. This has been driven by policies such as the green belts restricting land for housing and the expansion of York’s Universities, which causes a demand for student accommodation.

–York Council should increase the supply of local housing.–

3. Future food security

Climate change and geopolitical events may affect the security of food supply both locally and globally. The UK is generally self-sufficient in only a few specific food classes. This points to a precautionary requirement to grow more food locally.

Market gardening can produce much more food than conventional agriculture by using different growing methods and more labour. The Chichester District Council Local Plan formally protects and regulates “market gardening” and the wider commercial glasshouse industry through the designation of Horticultural Development Areas (HDAs).

–York Council should promote high yield market gardens.–

4. Embodied carbon in housing ignored

I have been writing to the Council since 2008 on this topic.

The embodied carbon of an average two-bedroom timber-framed house with brick cladding ranges from 30 to 45 tonnes of CO₂e (upfront A1-A5 emissions). This is often 10% to 20% lower than a traditional brick-and-block masonry home, largely due to a lighter substructure and carbon-storing timber – but is more than double the remaining carbon budget for a 1.5 C rise in global temperature.

The Passivhaus standard ignores embodied carbon, so by using this York Council obscures the emissions from conventional housebuilding on greenhouse emissions.

–York Council should not ignorie the emissions from building construction.–

5. Car ownership

Some inner urban areas in York have low car ownership – some because residents have low incomes, others because they have chosen to live in areas where there are fewer cars. In such areas (e.g. The Groves and Micklegate Ward), fewer cars means better local services and pleasanter walkability.

In the next York Local Plan there should be some substantial areas where all but exceptional car use should be suppressed. This would create housing for people who could really benefit from very low car neighbourhoods.

–York Council should plan for some new housing areas to be car free.–

6 Prefabs

Prefabs were the most liked housing form since the war. They were single storey buildings with gardens in estates planned with few cars. Planners have ignored their success, often forcing residents into multi storey flats, many of which were demolished as social and physical disasters. Planners have been prejudiced against prefab living.

Modern prefabs can bring large increases in sustainability.

–York Council should recognise the success of prefab estates.–

7. Housing for university students.

Housing in York has been made much more expensive due to the influx of university students.

–York Council should ask universities to solve housing problems they cause.–

8. York’s green belts and brownfield land

The idea of a green belt has enormous emotional pulls on most of us. Also York’s green belt does contain areas of food production at a time when food security is an issue. However, as Timothy Worstall says that the point of green belt is to stop any housing anywhere near where upper middle class people want to live.

Brownfield land is previously developed land that has been abandoned or left underused. Government prioritises the development of brownfield land over the use of green belt land. However, many brownfield sites are ideal for becoming nature parks close to local inhabitants. In York, ex-brownfiel areas such as St Nicholas Fields bringing “greenness” much closer to typical urban residents than the greenbelts that surround York.

The Barker Report of Land Use Planning found that the public valued urban parks much more than land on the edge of cities (i.e. greenbelt land). This supports the idea that some brownfield land should be turned into urban parks.

York’s greenbelt restricts the delivery of new housing increasing the value of housing for homeowners and the value of building land for landowners.

–York Council should identify the groups that benefit from green belt policies.–

9. Land acquisition and planning gain

High demand has pushed up the cost of housing in York. Hitherto this demand has not been matched by a sufficient increase in housing provision. This is reflected in the value of land that has permission for houses: Currently the granting planning permission gives enormous sums to land owners. A plot big enough for a house is worth less than £1000 at agricultural prices becomes worth around £200,000 of building land when planning permission is granted.

The adopted York Local Plan requires a minimum of 13,152 new homes to be delivered in the period 2017 to 2033. The planning gain for these amounts to approximately £2.5 billion, which will be about the same as York Council’s total budget for that period.

Recent changes in the law about compulsory purchase mean that councils could now pay much less for land they acquire. Acquiring land at unimproved prices could mean that the council could capture planning gain. This may be used to help council finances and cut the cost of housing.

–York Council should use compulsory purchase to capture planning gain.–

10. A backup plan

There are strong political sentiments that will prevent housing provision in the next York Local Plan to be exclusively car free prefab developments – although that would be a sensible approach.

As it stands the new plan is unlikely to provide enough homes to reduce the price of housing back to the affordability ratios of the 1970s. Even if the plan expands the paper provision, it is likely that landowners and developers will want to build at a rate slow enough to give them decent returns. That may mean at a slower rate than the new plan hopes for.

A backup plan would be to follow the suggestions in A plan for York and acquire the six development sites (of 150 hectares each) with the aim of shaking up the housing market when an incentive for more housebuilding is needed. This can be a mechanism for lowering the housing affordability ratio.

— York Council should purchase six new areas for housing in A plan for York.–

Extra notes …

local food production – vertical farming – food vats – market gardens

Local food production is rapidly evolving in 2026, driven by technological innovations in vertical farming, the localization of supply chains, and a shift toward sustainable, urban-centric agriculture. These methods are designed to minimize transport, enhance food security, and offer year-round, nutrient-rich produce while reducing environmental impacts

And … The farmers and growers producing food in London

Housing ladder

Approximately 64.5% of UK adults own a property, but getting on the ladder is increasingly difficult, with first-time buyers relying on family for financial help or inheriting wealth. Average house prices are now roughly 7.7 to 8.6 times average annual household incomes, with first-time buyer ratios even higher at 10 to 16 in areas like London. GOV.UK +4

Key insights on getting onto the UK housing ladder as of 2026:

• Declining Ownership: Home ownership peaked 20 years ago at 70% and has since fallen, with young adult ownership (25-34) dropping from 59% in 2000 to only 39% in 2022–23.
• The Deposit Gap: The average deposit in England is 72% of an individual’s gross salary, rising to 137% in London, making savings alone difficult.
• Regional Disparity: While 62.3% of households own their home in England, that number is 46.8% in London.
• Heavy Reliance on Support: Over a third (34%) of first-time buyers in England rely on family gifts or loans, up from 1 in 5 seven years prior. GOV.UK +4

Many potential buyers in the North are restricted primarily by the deposit (29% of renters aged 25–39), while in the South, only 9% are solely hindered by the deposit, meaning others cannot afford the mortgage payments themselves. IFS | Institute for Fiscal Studies