A Plan for York

The version of the York Local Plan approved by York Council in February 2025, was governed by the 2012 National Planning Policy Framework. The new version of the plan will be governed by a new version of the NPPF. This introduces a recommendation that housing targets should be increased when the housing affordability ratio is high.

The 2012 NPPF allowed the interests of those with the most local political power to drive the aims of the 2025 York Local Plan. That was existing home owners and land owners. The plan allowed for a modest number of new houses to be built thus rewarding existing home owners and certain land owners by ensuring the value of new housing remained high.

The effect of the new NPPF is to increase the number of new houses that must be in the Local Plan, and eventually reduce the cost of housing in York.. This will benefit other sections of society like the poor, the young – and those people that want to move to York because York reflects their lifestyles.

Lowering the importance green belts by introducing the concept of grey belt land also helps any plans for building new homes. I believe the insistence of the inspectors of the 2025 Plan to lock York Green Belt to 2038 had the effect of also locking in the windfalls to homeowners and landowners. Now the mood on green belts has changed – albeit partially – so the new plan must be more sympathetic to renters and aspiring home owners.

However, the arguments here are not to just implement the provisions of the new NPPF in York. I will try to follow a wider perspective: one which shows the world one way in which human lifestyles could develop to be pleasant without bringing environmental catastrophes. This is wildly optimistic – but what else is worth-while?