North Yorkshire Local Access Forum

 

29 September 2021

 

Secretary’s Update Report

 

 

1.0     Purpose of the Report

 

1.1     To update members of the Local Access Forum on developments since the last meeting of NYLAF.

 

2.0     Consultation Submissions & Responses

 

2.1     There have been four consultation requests received since the last meeting:

 

          July 2021      -     Minerals & Waste Joint Plan – Main Modifications;

-      Selby District Local plan Additional Site 2021

         

          August 2021 -    Scarborough District Local plan – Draft Residential Design Guide

-      Thirsk Station

 

3.0     Other Updates              

 

3.1     Local Development Plans

          One of the key areas of involvement for the Forum is to ensure appropriate engagement in the preparation of Local Development Plans. Set out in the table below is an updated summary of the current position in relation to each District Council area, and in relation to the Minerals and Waste Joint Plan. This information is taken from the websites of the relevant authorities and correspondence received.

 

Authority

Status

Craven

In Craven, the Plan was adopted in November 2019 and a provisional date of October 2023 was set for the publication of results of a formal review of the Craven Local Plan, in order to meet the Government’s requirement for a review to be completed 5 years after its adoption i.e. by Nov 2024.

Hambleton

The Hambleton Local Plan was submitted to the Secretary of State (Planning Inspectorate) for examination on 31 March 2020.

 

The estimated timetable for progressing to the adoption of the Plan is as follows:

·          Estimated examination period March 2020 to February 2021

·          Receipt of inspector's report March 2021

·          Estimated date of adoption April 2021

 

The Council’s website has no further updates.

Harrogate

The council formally adopted its Local Plan with new settlement policies on 9 December 2020.

 

Richmondshire

The Local Plan 2018-2035 will be a single document and comprise of a review of the adopted Local Plan Core Strategy 2012-2028 and will provide site allocations, area strategy for Catterick Garrison, land use designations, revised Development Limits for settlements identified in the settlement hierarchy and detailed development policies. It will include an updated and revised Proposals Map.

 

Examination Hearings took place in Spring 2021, followed by a ‘Preferred Options’ consultation which ran for 8 weeks from 28 May 2021 until 23 July 2021.  The Council is now preparing the Pre-Submission Draft (Regulation 19). This is the final stage of the process before submission of the Local Plan to the Secretary of State. The Pre-Submission consultation will be held in winter 2021.

 

Ryedale

Ryedale District Council are in the process of reviewing their Local Plan which covers the period 2012- 2027.  A two-month ‘Call for Sites’ consultation concluded on 5 July 2021.

 

Community consultation and consultation with stakeholders began in August 2021.  Once they have a group of potential allocations, an options consultation will be undertaken in the spring of 2022 to explore the choices, informed extensively by the initial consultation, evidence base collection and analysis and interactive development of the distribution strategy.

 

Proposed site allocations are expected to be published in September 2022.

 

Scarborough

Scarborough Borough Council formally adopted their Local Plan 2011/32 on 3 July 2017. A consultation on the first stage of the review (the Issues and Options stage) concluded in late 2020 and work continues on the review – see: Review of the Scarborough Borough Local Plan (2011/32) | SCARBOROUGH.GOV.UK

Selby

A new Local Development Scheme for the period 2019 to 2023 came into effect on 17 September 2019. The scheme identified which Local Plan documents the Council would progress over the next four years, together with the programme for their preparation, and key consultation milestones.

 

In line with the Scheme, a six-week consultation on the Local Plan Issues and Options ended 6 March 2020, and a six week consultation  for the Preferred Options Local Plan 2021 concluded on 12 March 2021.

 

Most recently, a Local Plan Evidence Base Consultation started on 3 September 20201 and is due to run until 15 October 2021.  We currently have no District Liaison for Selby so it would be helpful if this role could be allocated to a member of the Forum at this meeting, so that this latest consultation could be considered. 

 

Minerals and

Waste Joint

Plan

The Minerals and Waste Joint Plan, prepared by North Yorkshire County Council, City of York Council and North York Moors National Park Authority, was submitted to the Secretary of State for independent examination. Elizabeth Ord LLB (Hons) LLM MA DipTUS was appointed as the Planning Inspector to undertake the Examination and public hearings were held between 27th February and 13th April 2018, and 24th and 25th January 2019.

 

Through the Examination several policies and supporting text in the Minerals and Waste Joint Plan were identified where a Main Modification was required to address concerns identified by the Inspector or other representations to the Joint Plan, or to reflect changes in evidence or national planning policy and a schedule was prepared for consultation.

 

The Main Modification consultation started on Wednesday 21st July 2021 and closed on Wednesday 15th September 2021.

 

All previous documents and evidence reports that underpin the Minerals and Waste Joint Plan, can be viewed online at: www.northyorks.gov.uk/examination.

 

The Examination is a continuous process running from the date of submission through to the receipt of the appointed Planning Inspector’s Report. The representations provided relating to the Schedule of Main

Modifications consultation will be considered by the Inspector while she is writing her report.

 

3.2     Open Access Restrictions 

          The Forum is consulted on a range of restrictions under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. Since the last meeting, there has been one discretionary dog restrictions, received from the Open Access Contact Centre at Natural England confirming restrictions under Section 23(1) of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. 

 

3.3     There has also been two discretionary ‘28 Day’ restriction under Section 22 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 - Landowners may close their access land for up to 28 days in any one year. They are not permitted to close their land on (a) bank holidays, (b) more than 4 days in a year that are Saturdays or Sundays, (c) any Saturday between 1 June and 11 August, (d) any Sunday between 1 June and 30 September. Landowners are not obliged to tell the public about forthcoming closures, or give reasons. Their legal duty is simply to inform the relevant authority of their intentions. 

 

3.4     Regional Forum

The Chair previously circulated via email a brief outline of the last meeting of the Yorkshire Humber and North Lincolnshire Regional Access Forum held on 8 September 2021. Thedraft Minutes from the meeting circulated to Forum members via email by the Chair on ? 2021.

 

3.5     The next meeting of the Regional Forum will be held on the 9 March 2022 at Leeds Civic Hall (Covid restrictions permitting).

 

3.6     2026 / Definitive Map

There are no changes or updates to report.

 

4.0     Draft Position Statements

 

4.1     The Forum has two position statements in draft still awaiting a decision regarding their adoption. The first, the Yorkshire & Humber Regional Access Forum’s position statement on shared use. It was offered to Local Access Forums within the Region for them to consider for adoption, either as written or modified to suit local circumstances – see Appendix A.

 

4.2     At the last meeting, this was considered alongside NYCC’s position on UURs, together with a report on the sub-group’s review of NYCC’s position.  As no consensus was reached on a way forward, it was agreed the sub-group review should continue and the decision around adoption deferred until this meeting.

 

4.3     The second draft position statement on ‘Preliminary Involvement in Major Projects’ was also considered at the last meeting, but again no decision was reached and instead its sign off was deferred to allow further engagement with Forum members.  This resulted in a number of amendments and an updated version is now being presented for consideration and sign off – see Appendix B..

 

5.0     Report Recommendations

 

5.1     The Local Access Forum is recommended to:

i)        Note the update report;

ii)       Agree a way forward in regard to the two draft Position Statements at Appendices A & B.

 

BARRY KHAN

Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Democratic Services)

County Hall, NORTHALLERTON

 

Report Author:   Melanie Carr, Secretary to North Yorkshire Local Access Forum

 

Appendices:

Appendix A – Draft Position Statement on Shared Use

Appendix B – Draft Position Statement for Preliminary Involvement in Major Projects