Issue - meetings

To consider the attached report.

The Executive Board:

(a)        RESTATED its support to seek achievement of 1,000 additional affordable homes and asked officers to bring forward a report on this issue at its next meeting.

(b)        AGREED to consider the introduction of a stretch target after the Local Plans had been adopted.

(c)        NOTED progress towards delivery.

Councillor Lewis Herbert, Chairman of the Executive Board, invited Councillor Bridget Smith to put forward a statement on this item. 

Councillor Smith referred to a number of historical supporting documents and press releases relating to the City Deal commitment to provide 1,000 additional homes and noted that key words in each of the publications were ‘commit’, ‘affordable’ and ‘for local people’.  She felt that when local Members were asked to sell the City Deal to their residents, the big headline for those in South Cambridgeshire was that the Deal itself would deliver 1,000 additional, affordable homes on rural exception sites for local people.  She was therefore disappointed that the report was seeking the Board to renege on that deal so that the 1,000 additional homes were not delivered by the City Deal and that they would not be affordable, exclusively on rural exception sites or for local people. 

Councillor Smith was of the opinion that the report manipulated the figures and the long accepted definition of rural exception sites, which she assumed was in order to tick off a target.  She did not believe that the recommendations in the report, or the alternative suggestion put forward at the meeting of the Joint Assembly on 7 July 2016, would stand up to legal challenge, believing that this would cause irreparable damage to the reputation of the City Deal.  Councillor Smith therefore called for the Executive Board to stick firmly to the vision and principles of the City Deal which were originally signed up to.

Councillor Herbert in response to the question said that this issue would be debated by Members of the Board as part of considering the item.

The Executive Board considered a report which set out how a commitment in the City Deal to provide 1,000 additional dwellings on rural exception sites by 2031, in addition to the accelerated delivery of 33,480 homes, was progressing and the way it would be monitored. 

Stephen Kelly, Joint Director of Planning and Economic Development at Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council, presented the report and explained that the City Deal commitment was to provide 1,000 additional units above the Local Plan allocation.  In terms of a methodology, officers had identified a process for monitoring those additional homes which should be included.  Mr Kelly referred Members to the appendices of the report which set out a list of eligible sites, as published in housing trajectory for 2015, together with predicted completions from eligible planning permissions permitted since the housing trajectory up to June 2016.  It was noted on this basis that 430 homes on top of planned housing growth could now be included towards the City Deal’s commitment of 1,000 additional dwellings, with a further 170 dwellings having recently received planning permission that would also be eligible. 

Mr Kelly reflected on the meeting of the Joint Assembly held on 7 July 2016 where this issue was debated and a suggestion was made to include solely those affordable homes of the developments  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11

To consider the attached report.

The Joint Assembly:

(a)        NOTED progress towards delivery.

(b)        REQUESTED that the Chairman of the Joint Assembly reports the concerns raised by Members of the Assembly at this meeting to the Executive Board in relation to the definition of rural exception sites for the purposes of monitoring the City Deal commitment.

The Joint Assembly considered a report which set out how a commitment in the City Deal to provide 1,000 additional dwellings on rural exception sites by 2031, in addition to the accelerated delivery of 33,480 homes, was progressing and the way it would be monitored.

Caroline Hunt, Planning Policy Manager at South Cambridgeshire District Council, presented the report and explained that the City Deal commitment was for homes on rural exception sites, which was in the context of another commitment to accelerate delivery of 33,480 planned homes at the time of the agreement.  As this was coincident with the 33,500 homes requirement for Greater Cambridge as part of Local Plans for Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire, only once delivery exceeded the level to meet the Local Plan requirement could any eligible homes be counted towards the 1,000 additional home commitment.  It was therefore necessary to define the developments that comprised as eligible sites for the purposes of monitoring the Councils’ performance against the City Deal agreement.

Caroline Hunt referred to the report and advised that developments of traditional rural exception sites were currently not coming forward due to a lack of five year housing land supply.  She highlighted, however, that what was coming forward were developments in rural areas as exceptions to normal policy, which included an element of affordable housing as well as additional housing generally to meet the needs of the area.  Under the circumstances it was proposed that eligible sites be considered to be traditional rural exception sites and five year supply sites.

The Joint Assembly was referred Members to the appendices of the report which set out a list of eligible sites using this definition, as published in housing trajectory for 2015, together with predicted completions from eligible planning permissions permitted since the housing trajectory up to June 2016.  It was noted that on this basis 430 homes on top of planned housing growth could now be included towards the City Deal’s commitment of 1,000 additional dwellings, with a further 170 dwellings having recently received planning permission that would also be eligible. 

Councillor Roger Hickford, Chairman of the Joint Assembly, made the point that examination of the submitted Local Plans had been suspended with a significant number of speculative planning applications being submitted.  He was concerned that developments resulting from these applications in rural areas were being classed as being within rural exception sites for the purpose of meeting this City Deal objective.

Caroline Hunt explained that the adoption of the Local Plan would resolve the lack of five year housing land supply but that in the interim period the Council would remain open to speculative applications, but was taking all possible steps to deal with that situation as robustly as possible. 

Councillor Hickford said he understood that the City Deal’s commitment was for 1,000 additional homes on rural exception sites and that these should all therefore be affordable homes.  He did not think this was being delivered and felt that the original commitment was being  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9