Concerns raised over planning process stifling city’s economic growth

A developer and a planning consultant have warned that economic growth in Leeds could be hampered by a plan that would reduce the number of new sites allocated to build new housing.

The Site Allocation Plan (SAP) is set to be discussed today by Leeds City Council. The SAP identifies sites for housing, employment, retail and greenspace to ensure that enough land is available in appropriate locations to meet the growth targets set out by the council. New developments in the Leeds area need to be included in the plan in order to be considered in the planning process.

The council’s executive board will be asked to endorse the SAP to 2023, which outlines 32 sites less than were initially sought across all areas of Leeds. Previously, the plan was to be adopted to 2028. Inspectors have issued their final report on the 2023 plan, concluding it provides an appropriate basis for planning of the city, subject to modifications.

However, speaking to TheBusinessDesk.com, Chris Gilman, Managing Director of GMI Property and Mark Johnson, of Johnson Mowat planning consultants, said that new housing was needed across the UK to address the shortfall and that Leeds would miss out because of the reduced number of sites that could be developed for housing in the SAP.

Gilman said: “Leeds is losing out on economic activity because people are having to move to places such as Wakefield and commute in.

“On some levels Leeds is doing well, with Channel Four and HMRC moving here. But people who will come to work at those places need new places to live. That connection between having a vibrant city centre and the need to provide more houses seems to get lost sometimes.”

He noted the Leeds plan previously included proposals for a new settlement at Parlington in the Outer North East part of the district. “Originally this was going to provide 3,000 new houses to 2033,” he said.

“This was later reduced to 850 up to 2028. Leeds have now had to remove Parlington from their plan following the most recent decision to cut this plan short with a revised end date of 2023.

“At the moment they are not proposing to replace this site with any others in this area.

“Lack of new housing in this area will drive up house prices and potentially force ‘aspirational’ purchasers to buy outside Leeds district, most likely in Selby or Harrogate.”

Gilman said there absolutely was a need to have a policy for the delivery of new build, family housing but that it had been a difficult and lengthy process in terms of getting the site allocation plan adopted to move ahead. “Originally Leeds were proposing 5,000 new homes between 2012 and 2028 in Outer North East.,” he said.

“Without Parlington, this will drop to less than 3,000 new homes in the period 2012 to 2023, with no additional homes beyond that date putting greater pressure on other parts of the district.”

Johnson highlighted “hesitancy” in the housing market, adding: “The shortages are in the outer zones of Leeds district. The slack is instead getting taken up by places like Wakefield and Selby.

“It’s taken Leeds five years to get these allocations adopted and they have to get new allocations in place by 2023. If the council doesn’t meet the deadline we’ll run out of housing sites.

“The biggest concern now is the fact that the site allocation plan has been stunted to 2023 and the council has chopped out 32 of the proposed housing sites.

“The risk is that if we don’t get enough housing sites, house builders will just spill over into adjoining districts.”

Johnson added that annual targets for housing supply had not been met in previous years and raised concerns that would continue.

A Leeds City Council spokesman responded: “Leeds is now in the top three for local authority housing areas for new housing delivery in the country, and between 2013 and 2018 a total of 12,788 new build homes were delivered in Leeds.

“That is more than any of the other UK Core Cities delivered over the same period.”

The council spokesman added: “The inspectors’ final report means we can now get this plan adopted and officially recognised in all future planning decisions, shaping the places where people will live, work and spend time.

“It will bring certainty for residents and investors, meeting the needs of the city and protecting the majority of green spaces by offering defence against speculative development.”