Ryedale Planning Update

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 7th, 2023 at 10:28 am

Whilst it remains in existence, Ryedale District Council continues to carry out a review of their Ryedale Plan. The Ryedale Development Plan is the key document to assess planning applications. It currently runs from 2012 to 2027.

Development Plans are due for review at least every five years, and how much it is reviewed is a decision that the Council makes based on those changing priorities and circumstances. It also involves assessing how the current plan is working, and what if any changes need to be made to it to make it work better for the region.

The current review is only a partial review of the current Local Plan. The reasons being are twofold and politically driven: firstly, due to Local Government Reform taking place in 2023, and secondly, the joining of 8 Councils to form North Yorkshire Council on 1st April 2023.

As North Yorkshire Council will come into being on the 1st of April 2023, it means that the review will not be published by Ryedale District Council; it will be the responsibility of the new Council to determine how the review proceeds. Ryedale DC advise that the new Authority have two options: “either the review of the Ryedale Plan is subsumed into the preparation of a new Local Plan for North Yorkshire; or the review of the Ryedale Plan is twin-tracked, resulting in a standalone document alongside the new Local Plan for North Yorkshire. This will be decided in the coming months.”

In the meantime, RDC continues to undertake work on the review of the Ryedale Plan.

The Key Decisions consultation was formally undertaken between January and February 2023 and relates to the Review of the Ryedale Plan. It followed a Call for Sites exercise, a ‘Distribution of Development’ consultation, as well as a consultation on submitted sites, which is ongoing.

This consultation focused on a number of strategic considerations, namely:

1.  The proposed plan period/life of the review of the Ryedale Plan

2.  The proposed housing requirement

3.  The proposed distribution of  development strategy

4.  The settlement hierarchy and proposed consideration of Service Villages Additionally, the consultation sought views on a number of proposed key changes to specific policy areas. These relate to:

1.  Development limits and the possibility of a criteria-based policy

2.  Standalone renewable and low carbon energy schemes

3. Sustainable building standards

4.  Accessibility and space standards for new housing

Whilst we await the results from this most recent Consultation, of particular highlight from the 35-page ‘Key Decisions Consultation Document’ was Section 3: Specific Policy Considerations.  In this section of the Document, RDC propose not to continue with Local Needs Occupancy Conditions (LNOCs) as part of the review of the Ryedale Plan, setting out their 5 core reasons.  We could not agree more; it is only a shame that it has taken so long for RDC to arrive at this conclusion.  The suggested amendment to policy to allow for ‘Small-scale windfall housing schemes’ ought to be welcomed, as we have seen being implemented to reasonable success in our neighbouring, and soon-to-be amalgamated Hambleton District.

We continue to monitor the situation closely and will provide updates as soon as we receive them.

If you are a landowner in the Yorkshire area and are looking for expert, independent advice, please not hesitate to contact our Rural Property Team.

Henry Scott BA (Hons) MSc MRICS

Email: Henry.Scott@boultoncooper.co.uk

Telephone: 01653 692151