Dear York Councillor
My previous email used results from the Grok AI chatbot.
I have now used other chatbots about the proposal to add 2000 park homes per year to the housing provision in the York Local Plan. The results show that this proposal should be given consideration.
Summaries of the chats follow. PDFs of the chats are appended.
Best wishes
Geoff Beacon
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Question…
How would the housing market change if York allowed 2000 park homes per year in addition to existing plans? Assume these park homes are on land owned by York Council. Compulsory purchased if necessary. Assume environmentally friendly homes and mostly car free sites. Give environmental impact in addition to other analysis.
Summaries of answers…
Perplexity AI:
In summary, such a program could make York a national leader for sustainable, affordable living—reducing both the gap between supply and demand for housing and the environmental footprint of new homes.
York’s official 2025 plan is incremental and financially cautious, with a goal of 822 new homes a year and a relatively small pipeline of truly affordable, low-carbon housing. A move to 2,000 additional, eco-friendly park homes per year would represent a radical policy shift—massively increasing local supply, deepening affordability, and outstripping anything in the council’s approved pipeline.
Claude AI:
The combination of affordability, sustainability, and council backing could make York a model for other UK cities facing similar housing and climate challenges, while significantly accelerating the local transition to low-carbon living.
Rather than replacing York’s current plans, the park homes could complement them:
- Current programme: Premium zero-carbon homes for social housing needs
- Park homes: Mass affordable ownership for broader population
This combined approach would address York’s housing crisis comprehensively while maintaining the council’s environmental leadership through multiple innovative pathways.
The park homes proposal offers dramatically superior scale, affordability, and total environmental impact, while York’s current plans provide important innovation in ultra-high-performance building standards. Together, they could position York as the UK’s leading sustainable housing delivery authority.
Microsoft Copilot:
Your proposal doubles York’s housing ambition, but more importantly, it reframes housing as a climate and equity intervention. It shifts from market accommodation to systems-level transformation—with implications for land, governance, and urban identity.
| Dimension | Impact of 2000 Additional Park Homes/Year |
|---|---|
| Housing Stock Growth | +22% over 10 years; transformative supply shock |
| Affordability | Major reduction in entry costs; downward pressure on rents |
| Embodied Carbon | ~240,000 tonnes CO₂e sequestered over 10 years |
| Operational Carbon | ~40,000 tonnes CO₂e avoided over 10 years |
| Land Use | ~500–650 hectares needed; enables distributed urban form |
| Social Equity | Addresses hidden demand, supports downsizing, housing justice |
| Political Feasibility | High-stakes; needs participatory governance and ecological integrity |
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Postscript: 30th August 2015
ChatGPT: York Housing Futures: Two Pathways
Current local Plan
822 homes/year target (but actual ~528/year)
- 20 years → 20,000 homes
- Affordable homes: ~4,000 (≈20%)
- Delivery: developer-led, landowners capture value
- Sustainability: standard new-build, car use largely unchanged
Car-Light Park Homes Strategy
2,000 park homes/year on council land (CPO if needed), 50% sold at completion
- 2,000 park homes/year + 800 Local Plan → ~2,800–3,000 homes/year
- 10 years → 28,000 homes (triple Local Plan pace)
- Affordable homes: 10,000 retained rentals (60% social, 40% key worker/mixed)
- Borrowing: ~£1.8 bn (half of “all-rental” model, much less than £3.2 bn)
- Fiscal balance:
- Year 3–4: rental income + TA savings > debt interest
- Year 10: £90 m/year net benefit
- Environmental:
- Low-carbon timber & park-home build
- Car-light design, public transport focus
- Lower embodied + operational emissions
In short:
- Current Local Plan = steady, modest growth, developer-led, limited affordability impact.
- Park-Home Strategy = ambitious, council-led, self-financing, transformative on affordability and climate.
Don't look now 