Issue details

Purpose

1.    The purpose of this report is:

a.    To agree the Greater Cambridge Housing Trajectory and Five Year Housing Land Supply document (Appendix 1 of this decision) to be published on the Councils’ shared planning service website. The Greater Cambridge housing trajectory and five year housing land supply calculations have been prepared jointly with Cambridge City Council, consistent with the adopted Local Plans.

b.    To delegate any further minor editing changes to the Greater Cambridge Housing Trajectory and Five Year Housing Land Supply document to the Joint Director for Planning and Economic Development where they are technical matters.

2.    In January 2019, Cabinet agreed that the Greater Cambridge housing trajectory and five year supply calculations would be agreed by the Cabinet Member for Planning via a decision outside of a meeting (together with the Executive Member for Planning Policy at Cambridge City Council).

Greater Cambridge Housing Trajectory and Five Year Housing Land Supply

3.    The government through national planning policy requires that all local planning authorities identify sufficient deliverable sites to deliver a minimum of five years worth of housing against their housing requirement, as set out in their Local Plans. The Greater Cambridge housing trajectory is used by Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council to calculate their five-year housing land supply and also to demonstrate that anticipated housing delivery will meet or exceed their housing requirement.

4.    The Councils have prepared the Greater Cambridge housing trajectory and five-year supply calculations based on national planning policy and guidance for housing trajectories and five-year supply calculations.

5.    The adopted Cambridge Local Plan 2018 (Policy 3) and the adopted South Cambridgeshire Local Plan 2018 (Policy S/12) state that “the housing trajectories for Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire … will be considered together for the purposes of phasing of housing delivery, including for calculating 5-year housing land supply in development management decisions that concern housing development” and that the “five year housing land supply will be calculated using the Liverpool Method and a buffer of 20%”. The use of the Liverpool methodology remains appropriate having regard to national planning guidance, as there have been no changes in circumstances. However, national planning policy has changed the approach to the assessment of previous under delivery from that set out in national planning policy against which the Local Plans were examined. National planning policy now sets out that a 20% buffer should be applied where there has been significant under delivery of housing over the previous three years, and that this will be measured against the Housing Delivery Test results, with the 20% buffer applying where the Housing Delivery Test indicates that delivery was below 85% of the housing requirement. On the basis of the latest Housing Delivery Test results, the Councils consider that it is no longer appropriate to apply a 20% buffer and that a 5% buffer should be applied.   

6.    The Greater Cambridge housing trajectory and five-year housing land supply calculations show that jointly for Greater Cambridge, the Councils can demonstrate a five-year housing land supply, using the Liverpool methodology and 5% buffer. The Councils jointly have 6.1 years of housing land supply for the 2021-2026 five-year period. The Councils can also demonstrate a five year housing land supply, using the Liverpool methodology and 20% buffer, if a different view was taken and it was concluded that a 20% buffer should still be applied. The Councils have taken a robust and conservative approach to assessing the deliverability and / or developability of each of the sites in the Greater Cambridge housing trajectory.

7.    National planning policy and guidance sets out the circumstances where planning policies should be considered out of date when making decisions on planning applications, and this includes where the Council cannot demonstrate a five-year housing land supply. On the basis of the five year supply calculations in the Greater Cambridge Housing Trajectory and Five Year Housing Land Supply document (which is Appendix 1 of this decision), this does not apply to Cambridge or South Cambridgeshire, as the Councils can demonstrate a five year supply.

8.    Through the process undertaken to prepare the Greater Cambridge housing trajectory and five year supply calculations, the Councils have taken into account the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic that have already been felt by the housebuilding and construction industries, and the impacts that are still ongoing such as the social distancing guidelines and the availability of materials.

9.    The Cambridge Local Plan 2018 sets a housing requirement of 14,000 homes to be delivered between 2011 and 2031. The new housing trajectory shows that 14,129 dwellings are expected to be delivered in Cambridge between 2011 and 2031. The South Cambridgeshire Local Plan 2018 sets a housing requirement of 19,500 dwellings to be delivered between 2011 and 2031. The new housing trajectory shows that 23,097 dwellings are expected to be delivered in South Cambridgeshire between 2011 and 2031. Therefore, together the Local Plans set a housing requirement of 33,500 homes between 2011 and 2031 for Greater Cambridge. The new housing trajectory shows that 37,226 dwellings are expected to be delivered between 2011 and 2031. The Greater Cambridge housing trajectory shows that anticipated housing delivery within each Council’s area is more than its respective housing requirement.

Next Steps

Once agreed by Cabinet Member for Planning at South Cambridgeshire District Council and the Executive Member for Planning Policy at Cambridge City Council, the Greater Cambridge Housing Trajectory and Five Year Housing Land Supply document (April 2021) will be published on the Councils’ shared planning service website.