Agenda item

Members of the public may ask questions or make statements at this meeting if they have given notice to Melanie Carr of Democratic and Scrutiny Services and supplied the text (contact details below) by midday on Thursday 7 December, three working days before the day of the meeting.  Each speaker should limit themselves to 3 minutes on any item.  Members of the public who have given notice will be invited to speak:

·         at this point in the meeting if their questions/statements relate to matters which are not otherwise on the Agenda (subject to an overall time limit of 30 minutes);

·         when the relevant Agenda item is being considered if they wish to speak on a matter which is on the Agenda for this meeting.

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There were a number of public questions and statements relating to Agenda Item 6 – Delivery of the new settlement (Maltkiln) Development Plan, which the Chair agreed to consider as part of that agenda item.

There were two further public submissions.  The first a statement from Ms Rose Winship a second home owner in Filey, as follows:

‘Good morning Councillors, and thank you Chairman for allowing me to address you remotely to allow me to care for my father in Warwick.  I have asked to speak today to give you a personal insight into my position as a long standing second home owner in North Yorkshire. As we are all aware, throughout the last 18 months there has been much written and debated across the country, including in North Yorkshire, about the strain that second home ownership is putting on a range of communities. 

As a recently retired senior local government officer, I fully appreciate the challenges facing these communities, and understand the strong views held by some individuals on the subject. However I do think that the blanket approach to penalise all second home owners is somewhat of a blunt instrument and risks damaging the all-important sense of community which makes us value the places that we choose to call our “second home”.

I would like to share with you our family story and our connection with Filey.

The Winship’s have a long and strong association with the town. As one of the local “fishing families” the family have had a presence in the town for many years. My grandfather was born in the town and along with his numerous brothers, lived and worked in the town. Aged 19, an accident in the army left him having his right leg amputated and being invalided out of the army. He never let this disability get in the way of doing anything he wanted to and he joined with family members to manage a grocery shop on Belle Vue Street, and later buy and run a tobacconists in Murray Street.

My father was born and raised in Filey, and the family bought 1, The Avenue in August 1939 close to my great grandparents living opposite on Raincliffe Avenue. 

Post war, my grandfather and other locals founded Filey Sailing Club that has hosted many national championships and built a reputation for introducing many local people to the sport of sailing and raising the profile of Filey through the many visitors that come to sail there each year. My grandfather and father both served as Commodore at the club, and my father remains a member today.

I share the above history with you in the hope that you will realise the strength of connection that we have with Filey. The house continues to play a huge part in our family life; family and close friends use the house on a regular basis throughout the year and in recent years has hosted 85th and 90th birthday parties and been the base for 2 honeymoons during the post COVID period.

We do not consider ourselves to be the “second home owners” that merely visit and then leave. The house was hard earned by my grandparents who both lived there until their deaths, and we have no plans to sell the property in the foreseeable future.

The proposals to double our Council Tax really are a bitter pill to swallow when the family have such strong attachments to the town. I genuinely feel like a local when I am there, knowing many of the neighbours by name, Last summer I participated in the community engagement to form the Vision for Filey, and offered my professional expertise to the “Active” theme of the Community Partnership Executive Board, but was told that only permanent residents could be part of the Board

I don’t expect the decision to be changed as clearly a democratic process has been followed, but I would ask that when you as elected members consider the implications of your decision, you don’t assume that all second home owners are “incomers” and that we have no connection to the area. Clearly this is not the case.’

Councillor Gareth Dadd thanked Ms Winship for her submission and in response confirmed the Policy on second homes and the principle behind it received cross party support, which was due to be ratified or not, as part of the budget setting in February 2024.

This was followed by Mrs Anne Seex who made the following submission in relation to the Council’s Housing Strategy:

‘Does North Yorkshire Council have any idea how many new homes, in which areas and at what sale price or rental levels, are required to meet the predicted housing needs of people currently living in North Yorkshire? Does it know how many homes do not meet decent standards and where such homes are located?  Related to this, what resources does North Yorkshire Council predict it will have to invest in housing in the next 10 years?’

Councillor Simon Myers thanked Mrs Seex for her submission and in response confirmed the Council had begun work to prepare a Local Plan for North Yorkshire which would meet housing needs over a minimum 15-year period. The new Local Plan would be based on new evidence from the whole Council area and would address the need for new housing of all types, including affordable housing. He also noted the Council’s intention to explore additional measures to improve the quality of housing in the Plan including the use of nationally described space standards, raising design standards and building efficiency.

He also confirmed the Council had developed a high level Housing Strategy which provided a framework for the housing policies and projects to be carried out in the next five years, as well as a council housing growth plan which would increase and improve the Council’s existing stock of 8,500 homes.  He noted it set out the Council aspirations but lacked specifics and confirmed that in due course associated policies would be developed and costed.  Finally he confirmed his commitment to improve Housing across the county and reduce the number on the County’s housing waiting list.