Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence from Members of the Advisory Group

Councillors Dr Tumi Hawkins and Tim Bick sent Apologies for Absence. Councillors Henry Batchelor and Katie Porrer were present as substitutes.

With the absence of the Chair, the Vice-Chair assumed the role of Chair for the meeting and nominated Councillor Peter Sandford as Vice-Chair for the meeting. This was seconded by Councillor Henry Batchelor and approved by affirmation.

With respect to Minute 3, Councillor Peter Sandford declared that he was a non-renumerated director of Ermine Street Housing, a subsidiary of South Cambridgeshire District Council. Councillors Katie Thornburrow and Katie Porrer (Anglia Ruskin University) and Dr Richard Williams (University of Cambridge) declared that their employers had made comments as part of the consultation.

The Planning Policy Manager introduced the report. The Principal Planning Policy Officer, Jenny Nuttycombe, introduced the overview of the Housing section. Members asked a number of questions and received responses from officers on various topics. Build to Rent housing, first home provision, application of national space standards and requirements for amenity space were discussed, and officers highlighted the relevant national legislation and Government guidance that impacted these, as well as the commercial context surrounding development. Officers provided clarity on the criteria for what constitutes a custom build in response to a question.

 Analysis of housing need and mix, both in exception sites and more general development, was discussed and some Members shared a view that they felt the provision of smaller market dwellings was insufficient. Officers referenced studies conducted as part of the evidence base for the initial proposals of the Local Plan, as well as the evidence used by the Council’s Housing Department when assessing local need as part of their response. The Group was also informed that, due to the rate of change in housing policy being far quicker than the Local Plan cycle, officers were of the view that it was best to avoid being overly prescriptive in the Local Plan and instead use Local Plan policies to give weight to local housing policies that were constantly evolving.

Some concerns were raised over the housing density policy approach and the ability to resist inappropriately dense development; officers responded that fixing density did not reflect national guidance but policy would seek to bring forward the right densities in the right locations with a design led approach to effectively protect local distinctiveness. Officers agreed to take away comments around amenity space standards and how these were relevant to redevelopments the levels of M4(3) compliant dwellings in market housing developments and the standards applied to developments with uncommon housing usage that are not specifically accounted for in policy- “apart-hotels” were used as an example of this.

The Senior Planning Policy Officer, Mark Deas, presented the subsections regarding a number of policies (H/BR, H/MO, H/DC, H/RM, H/RC H/GT and H/CH) and the Principal Planning Policy Officer, Bruce Waller, presented the Student Accommodation (H/SA) subsection. The Chair noted that some of the questions asked earlier in the meeting were relevant to the policies presented and further comments were made on Build to Rent and housing density. Members stated that they would welcome further consultation once the gypsy and traveller needs assessment was completed and comment 56656 regarding policy H/DC was endorsed. Officers provided further detail on policy H/GT and how traveller sites would be addressed. The standards in policy H/MO were welcomed but reservations were raised over how the policy would apply to different types of occupancy, such as through the use of a dwelling as an AirBnB. The Group was informed that Visitor Accommodation was to be covered under the Jobs section of the Local Plan at a later meeting and officers agreed to take away the comments on AirBnBs  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.