City of York Council approves new affordable housing plan

City of York Council’s executive has approved a new strategy to move forward with plans to build 315 affordable homes across five sites, but highly energy-efficient Passivhaus standards have been ditched.

Cllr Michael Pavlovic, the council’s Labour housing spokesperson, said they were taking a prudent approach which recognised the current realities of the construction sector.

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

The new strategy approved on Tuesday, April 14 is set to see affordable homes planned for council-owned sites built to Homes England’s Healthy Homes Standards going forward.

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It comes after a council report on the plans stated current requirements to build them to Passivhaus standards had struggled to attract interest from construction firms.

The report added the lack of interest was due to current market conditions in the industry and the complexity of building homes to Passivhaus standards.

Homes built in line with Passivhaus codes consume up to 90 per cent less energy than typical houses.

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

Ordnance Lane is among the sites where 315 affordable homes are planned, with the other four at Castle Mills, Lowfield, Manor School and Willow House.

An impression showing how homes planned at Ordnance Lane, off Fulford Road in York, could look. (Image: City of York Council)

Plans approved at the executive meeting are set to see the council appoint a commercial Strategic Delivery Partner to get homes on the sites built.

The meeting heard the model, which would see the council keep control of over the schemes on each site, aimed to reduce risk and provide more certainty to developers.

Estimated timescales for work on council-owned sites would see preparatory work at the Ordnance Lane and Willow House sites start in spring next year, with local elections set for May.

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

The executive member said: “This isn’t just paying lip service to social housing, this is the biggest council house building programme for a generation.

“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.”

Cllr 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 per cent of homes of council-owned sites being affordable.”