Decisions

Purpose

England’s Economic Heartland is consulting on a Draft Transport Strategy which runs until 6 October 2020. England’s Economic Heartland is a Sub-national Transport Body – an organisation which seeks to provide strategic transport governance at a larger scale than existing local transport authorities, by grouping councils together. It represents a region which covers Swindon, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Milton Keynes, Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, Luton, Herefordshire, Peterborough and Cambridgeshire. England’s Economic Heartland represents 5.1m population and 280,000 businesses and works in collaboration with government and partners in the heartland focusing on strategic infrastructure and identify investment priorities in the region. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority is not a member of EEH but has Associate Member status. Cambridgeshire County Council is a member of EEH.

The key principles of the Draft Transport Strategy are as follows:

• Achieving net-zero carbon emissions from transport no later than 2050

• Improving quality of life and wellbeing through an inclusive transport system accessible to all which emphasises sustainable and active travel

Supporting the regional economy by connecting people and businesses to markets and opportunities

• Ensuring the Heartland works for the UK by enabling the efficient movement of people and goods through the region and to/from international gateways.

Consultation response

A summary of the proposed consultation response is included below. The detailed response which is proposed to be submitted is included as appendix 1 to this decision.

The response has been drafted as a joint response with Cambridge City Council.

The consultation response considers the document under a number of headings which relate to topics in the Draft Transport Strategy.

Net Zero carbon to 2050 

The focus in the document on achieving net zero carbon by 2050 is supported. In particular, the polices relating to delivering electrification on the East West Rail route, the focus on rail freight to reduce carbon emissions by reducing road traffic and the focus on digitalisation to reduce the need to travel are supported.

Biodiversity and Environmental Net Gain

The strategy should be more ambitious in dealing with biodiversity in the region and it is recommended that Biodiversity/Environmental Net Gain be explicitly referenced in the strategy’s Key Principles. 

Wellbeing and Social Inclusion 

The inclusion of Improving quality of life and wellbeing through an inclusive transport system as a Key Principle of the Draft Transport Strategy is welcomed but the document should be more explicit in promoting active travel opportunities as part of strategic transport interventions.

Mobility for the Future  

The document recognises the importance of strategic transport schemes such as East-West Rail and the Cambridgeshire Autonomous Metro which are supported. We note that the CAM is intended to support the Greater Cambridge sub-region as a whole rather than being a Cambridge-only scheme as referenced in the document. Further clarification is requested in relation to the Southern Arc rail link referenced in the document which suggests a rail link between Buckinghamshire, southern Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire but with no detail is provided. The reference to the M11 Junction 13 Cambridge West as a supported project is welcomed.

Rural connectivity

The strategy’s focus on improving rural connectivity, both physical and digital connectivity of rural communities to jobs and services, is supported and will feed into the Key Principle of the strategy to Improve quality of life.

The role of the Local Authority

The document recognises the need to work with Local Authorities to use the opportunities created by investment in strategic transport infrastructure and services to shape the location of future economic and housing growth proposals. Both Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council have recently sought to engage with England’s Economic Heartland under the Greater Cambridge Duty to Cooperate & Statement of Common Ground Proposed Approach for the new Greater Cambridge Local Plan and provided the proposed approach for comment. 

Next Steps

Once agreed by Executive Councillor for - Strategic Planning and Transport  at South Cambridgeshire District Council and the Executive Councillor for Transport and Community Safety at Cambridge City Council (in conjunction with Chair and Spokes of Planning and Transport Scrutiny Committee) the consultation response will be submitted to England’s Economic Heartland and a record of the decisions will be published on both websites.

To confirm that the response set out in Appendix 1 of this decision should be made to England’s Economic Heartland’s consultation on it’s Draft Transport Strategy.

Council Agreed:

A)       The Housing Revenue Account Revenue Budget Carry Forwards in the sum of £0.020 million, in relation to tenant participation.

B)       In relation to the Capital Programme:

                      i.        The carry forwards to 2020/21 of £1.611 million in relation to HRA Housing improvements due mainly to slippage.

                    ii.        The bringing forward of £1.530 million from 2020/21 in relation to HRA housebuilding during 2019/20, due to works being ahead of expectations.

Council Agreed

A)       A General Fund Revenue Carry Forward in the sum of £30,000.

B)       In relation to the Capital Programme:

                      i.        The carry forward of £2.081 million in relation to General Fund capital projects due mainly to slippage.

                    ii.        Additional funding of £105,000 from earmarked reserves to meet the expected cost of the Lighting renewal programme.

Council Noted that

Our recently adopted Zero Carbon Strategy highlights the need for a fundamental change in how we generate and consume energy in all aspects of our lives. Both electricity generation and distribution are undergoing rapid evolution, in both shape and scale. The distribution grid, must now cope with power flows in both directions and South Cambridgeshire is at the limit of renewable generation capacity for that reason. In scale, electrification of heat and transport will require a quadrupling of electricity capacity. Local, community-based energy schemes can make a significant contribution to addressing both issues and encourage a sense of local empowerment to tackle climate change. Community schemes encourage local generation and storage to match local demand thus relieving pressure on the grid. Local schemes would be given new impetus and be able to contribute more renewable energy if local people could buy their electricity directly from local suppliers. But the disproportionate cost of meeting regulatory approvals makes it impossible to be a local energy supplier at a local scale and so, under the current system, this local energy gets sold back to the central grid.

The Local Electricity Bill is a private members’ bill with cross-party support that was introduced unopposed in June 2020. If this Bill was passed in Parliament it would give the energy regulator, OFGEM, a duty to create a Right to Local Supply. This would enable local community energy groups to achieve their vision of supplying generated energy back to the local area, help us as a Council to meet our carbon reduction aspirations for the district,and also bring multiple benefits to the local community. It is supported by many stakeholders, local authorities, and town councils (including Cambourne) and currently has the backing of 198 MPs. 

Council

Agreed to

A)   Resolve to support the Bill.

B)   Authorise the Leader to contact our MPs to discuss their support for the Bill and how they can enable its passage into law.

C)   Authorise the Chief Executive to write to the Minister of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, supporting the aims of the Bill and asking for these aims to be taken into account in the forthcoming Energy White Paper.

Council Agreed to:

·         Approve the appointments of Peter Campbell and Jeff Membery as Directors of the Council’s housing company, Ermine Street Housing Ltd, alongside their roles as Head of Housing and Head of Transformation respectively.

·         Appoint Councillor Pippa Heylings to the outside body – Natural Cambridgeshire.

Council Agreed to approve an additional 0.75% to all spinal column points of the pay grade.

Council

Agreed          To actively promote a public awareness campaign about the impact of fireworks on animal welfare and vulnerable people including the precautions that can be taken to mitigate risks by committing to sharing suitable RSPCA content on social media about the impact on welfare and vulnerable people. This will use material produced by OPSS [Office for Product Safety and Standards], in partnership with the RSPCA, and as published at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/consumer-safety-awareness-campaigns-materials under section “Fireworks campaign”.

Council

Agreed          that South Cambridgeshire District Council recognises illegal parking is a serious problem for many communities in our district. This council commits to tackling this problem and to continuing to explore the options available to us, as an authority, to assume the responsibility of civil parking enforcement, in common with over 9 in 10 local authority areas in England.

Council

Agreed          To refer the following motion to the Civic Affairs Committee.

Council expresses deep concern that:

• Trades Union Congress (TUC) research revealed nearly half of workers had witnessed bullying at their workplace.  https://www.tuc.org.uk/resource/bullying-work
• Female employees are more likely to be victims of bullying than males. https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/Bullying%20at%20Work%202019.pdf

Council notes that:

• 16^th to 20th? November 2020 is Anti-Bullying Week, organised by the Anti-Bullying Alliance.
• The theme of this year’s Anti-Bullying Week is ‘United against bullying’.
• The Anti-Bullying Alliance’s definition of bullying is: ?“the repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. It can happen face to face or online”?.
• Bullying behaviour can be done by an individual or by a group, and can be physical, verbal, emotional, sexual or online.

Council resolves:

• That bullying in any form, by any group or individual, in any walk of life, is unacceptable.
• To adopt the Anti-Bullying Alliance’s definition of bullying.
• That as councillors we should lead by example in our actions and interactions, and will support efforts in our communities to highlight and end bullying. We will further demonstrate this by asking members to sign a pledge that we will refrain from bullying behaviour.
• That once signed these pledges will be displayed on councillors’ official Council website profiles to show that we take bullying seriously and are determined to stand up for our communities.
• To launch a review to ensure that for Council colleagues and our residents, there is clear signposting to helplines and support groups- such as Childline, ACAS, Citizens Advice Bureau, Bullying UK, and others.

The Government is also consulting on changes to the current planning system between 6 August and 1 October 2020. The four main proposals are:

·                     Changes to the standard method for assessing local housing need, which as well as being a proposal to change guidance in the short term has relevance to proposals for land supply reforms set out in ‘Planning for the Future’ consultation paper;

·                     Securing of First Homes, sold at a discount to market price for first time buyers, including key workers, through developer contributions in the short term until the transition to a new system;

·                     Temporarily lifting the small sites threshold below which developers do not need to contribute to affordable housing, to up to 40 or 50 units to support SME builders as the economy recovers from the impact of Covid-19;

·                     Extending the current Permission in Principle to major development so landowners and developers now have a fast route to secure the principle of development for housing on sites without having to work up detailed plans first.

A summary of the consultation proposals, and the proposed response is included below. The detailed response which is proposed to be submitted is included as appendix 1 to this decision.

The response has been drafted as a joint response with Cambridge City Council. Cambridge City Council will be considering the consultation response at their Planning and Transport Scrutiny Committee (PTSC) on 29 September, and confirm if they support submission as a joint response. If they do not, minor amendments would be required prior to submission. There may also be a need to consider any changes arising from PTSC and whether to include them in the joint response. If so this may require an urgent decision to be made to amend.

Proposed changes to the methodology for calculating the standard method housing requirement

Consultation Proposals: sets out a revised methodology for calculating the standard method minimum housing requirement which it intends will be used as the basis for plans created prior to any wider reforms being introduced. It proposes changes to the baseline data used, and the approach to how market signals are used to adjust for affordability.

Changes to the standard method would slightly reduce the minimum housing need for the Greater Cambridge area to 1,518 dwellings per annum, compared with 1,748 under the current standard method (and 1,675 in the 2018 Local Plans). It is slightly higher for Cambridge and lower for South Cambridgeshire. The consultation is clear this remains a minimum and that other factors may need to be taken into account as is currently the case.

Summary of Proposed Response: Support the principles on which the proposed changes to the Standard Method are aimed, but the volatility in the figures is likely to remain. It is noted that the standard method provides the starting point and not the final housing requirement. Implications would be more significant if the proposals in the white paper are implemented.

Securing of First Homes

Consultation Proposals: ‘First Homes’ are flats and houses built on new developments, sold with a discount of at least 30 percent. Through the current consultation, the government proposes a national threshold requiring a minimum of 25 per cent of all affordable housing units secured through developer contributions to be First Homes. First Homes will take precedence over other affordable housing tenures.

Summary of Proposed Response: Replacing shared ownership with First Homes would also impact on providers’ ability to deliver social/affordable rent, as shared ownership is often used as cross-subsidy. Also, as it is likely to be the Councils who will oversee the allocations of First Homes, this process will create a huge burden.

Supporting small and medium-sized developers – raising the affordable housing threshold

Consultation Proposals: Current national policy is that affordable housing contributions should not be sought for developments of fewer than 10 units. The consultation proposes to raise the threshold to either 40 or 50 dwellings, to ‘stimulate economic recovery with a particular focus on SMEs’. This would be for an initial period of 18 months.

Summary of Proposed Response: Increasing the threshold, even for a temporary period, is not supported. Again, it will reduce the Councils ability to deliver affordable housing in an area where there is a high level of need. It is particularly concerning for rural areas, where in many villages few schemes reach this scale.  There is no evidence locally that schemes below 40 or 50 homes are not viable, or that developers are being put off by the affordable housing requirement. There is a risk of schemes being resubmitted in the period this applies, to avoid the affordable housing requirements.  

Extension of the Permission in Principle consent regime

Consultation Proposals: ‘Permission in Principle’ (PiP) is comparable to outline planning permission, in so far that PiP establishes that development of the site is appropriate, with technical details reserved for a future application. At present, PiP applies only to sites for minor development of less than 10 dwellings. Through the consultation, the government proposes extending this to include major developments (up to 150 dwellings).

Summary of Proposed Response: The changes are not supported. They would mean a significant scale of site to go through this process, where many issues of technical detail would not be explored until after the principle has been established.   

To confirm that the response set out in Appendix 1 of this decision should be made to the government consultation on Changes to the Current Planning System.