New strategy to build affordable homes in city

Plans hailed as a city's biggest council house building drive for a generation have been approved, amid opposition claims construction has ground to a halt.

City of York Council's executive has approved a new strategy to build 315 affordable homes on five sites, but previous proposals to construct them using highly energy-efficient standards have been ditched.

Michael Pavlovic, the council's Labour housing spokesperson, said the authority was taking a prudent approach, recognising current realities of the construction sector.

But Liberal Democrat opposition leader Nigel Ayre said only building affordable homes on council sites meant none would be built during the administration's current term.

The new strategy, approved last week, would see affordable homes planned for council-owned sites built to Homes England's "Healthy Homes" standards.

It comes after a council report stated current requirements to build them to what are known as "Passivhaus" standards had struggled to attract interest from construction firms due to market conditions and the complexity of building homes to such specifications.

Homes built in line with Passivhaus codes are said to consume up to 90% less energy than typical houses.

Recent procurement efforts to build 101 affordable homes in Ordnance Lane, Fulford, failed to see a contract awarded almost two years after plans for the site were approved in August 2024, the Local Democracy Service reports.

Affordable homes are also planned for sites at Castle Mills, Lowfield, Manor School and Willow House.

Pavlovic said the administration recognised that previous procurement efforts had failed and a new approach was needed.

"This isn't just paying lip service to social housing, this is the biggest council house building programme for a generation," he said.

"The best way of doing that is to have a strategic partner that works alongside us to deliver genuinely affordable, warm and healthy homes that meet the needs of York's growing population and hard-pressed residents."

However, Ayre said the council was further away from building homes than it had been when Labour took office in 2023.

He said: "This executive's reverse Midas touch has brought delivery to a crushing halt.

"The shift away from Passivhaus to the weaker Healthy Homes standards is a direct result of the insistence on 100% of homes of council-owned sites being affordable."

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