A discussion at the LCC Full Council Meeting today revealed worrying concerns from a range of Councillors experienced in Leeds Plans. They fear Green Belt and agricultural sites will be lost to unnecessarily high housing targets and argue the current direction of the Local Plan, now in its first stage of public consultation, will not deliver the housing Leeds needs, let alone in the right places.

There was also criticism, that the current Local Plan consultation is difficult to complete, the site assessment methodology opaque, and that it is ‘frightening’ the public who fear it will damage their communities.

After taking a good look at the plan in the consultation ourselves and seeing the reaction of people trying to understand it, we have to agree. In addition, we believe there is evidence that LCC have enough sites/potential sites for a justified housing NEEDS figure – rather than the centrally planned Government housing TARGET up to 2029 that LCC have simply extended up to 2042 on an unjustified per annum basis.

You will find the video of the the Full Council meeting here starting at 3:37:31; where the Council justify their current approach.

You will find the details of the Local Plan consultation and some guides here

It is extremely disappointing that after our engagement in local plans for 13 years to try and help deliver proper placemaking for local people, that we should find LCC going through the same debacle again !! This is especially so given that we had to prove the point last time through the High Court in a case where LCC was shown to have got its calculations on housing land supply wrong . An exercise that cost the council over £140,000!

We, along with many others, just want the Council to listens to residents, understand the needs and character of the wide variety of settlements and landscapes in Leeds District, and makes sensible, well thought out plans to deliver an agreed spatial strategy. Further, that strategy should be done in conjunction with the wider West Yorkshire Region so that there are not clashes and overlaps between neighbouring areas.