Residents in North Yorkshire are being urged to have their say on an ambitious new strategy which provides the framework for housing development in the county over the next five years.
The draft North Yorkshire Housing Strategy includes proposals to deliver almost 13,000 new homes based on existing Local Plan commitments – some of which will be council homes to add to the authority’s existing 8,500 properties.
It follows three key themes – people, places and homes which focus on:
- Preventing and tackling homelessness.
- Meeting the needs of the ageing population.
- Meeting supported housing needs and the needs of specific groups.
- Growing the supply of affordable and available housing.
- Addressing the rural housing crisis.
- Supporting communities through neighbourhood renewal and regeneration.
- Decarbonising homes.
- Ensuring that new housing supply contributes to the council’s net zero ambitions.
- Addressing stock condition issues.
- Ensuring that council stock remains of a decent standard and continues to improve.
A 10-week consultation exercise which opened today (Tuesday, October 3) will include face-to-face meetings and forums with partner organisations and key stakeholders in the housing, community and voluntary sector. Local people can have their say by completing a survey online.
Executive member for housing, Cllr Simon Myers, said: “This is the first housing strategy of the new North Yorkshire Council, outlining our vision for housing across the county, our priorities and the actions we will take.
“With that in mind, it is very important that we get the views of local people and stakeholders so they can be fed into the final version of the strategy, which we hope will be adopted by the council next spring.”
The consultation will run until 11 December.