Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Tom Fowler 

Media

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Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for Absence/Changes in Membership

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Apologies for Absence had been received from Councillors Nic Brown, Sue Chapple, Carl Etholen.

 

Councillor Susan Morgan was in attendance substituting for Councillor Tom Hunter-Watts.

Councillor Peter Brazier was in attendance substituting for Councillor Derek Town.

2.

Declarations of Interest

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Minutes:

Councillor Thomas Hogg declared an interest in item 7, National Modern Design Code Pilot Update, due to involvement in work establishing the code.

3.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 109 KB

That the minutes of the meeting held on 13th July 2022 be confirmed as a correct record.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The minutes of the previous Joint Select Committee – Communities & Localism and Growth, Infrastructure & Housing meeting held on 13th July 2022 were agreed as an accurate record.

4.

Chairman's update pdf icon PDF 153 KB

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Minutes:

The Chairman noted the response received from the Leader regarding the Visitor Economy Item discussed at the previous meeting.

5.

Public Questions

Public Questions is an opportunity for people who live, work or study in Buckinghamshire to put a question to a Select Committee. The Committee will hear from members of the public who have submitted questions in advance relating to items on the agenda. The Cabinet Member, relevant key partners and responsible officers will be invited to respond.

 

Further information on how to register can be found here: https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/your-council/getinvolved-with-council-decisions/select-committees/

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There were no public questions.

6.

Local Plan for Buckinghamshire Update pdf icon PDF 152 KB

Members will receive an update on progress with the development of the Buckinghamshire Local Plan.

 

Contributors:

Cllr Peter Strachan, Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration

Darran Eggleton, Head of Service, Planning, Policy and Compliance

John Cheston, Planning Policy Manager

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed Cllr Peter Strachan, Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration, Darran Eggleton Head of Service for Planning, Policy and Compliance, John Cheston, Planning Policy Manager and Rosie Brake, Planning Policy Team Leader to the meeting.

Councillor Robin Stuchbury submitted a question for the Cabinet Member and Officers to consider.

While the local authority subgroup and officers are working on putting together a sustainable development plan for Buckinghamshire - What work is being undertaken to ensure policies are written into the new development plan, in respect to providing contributions from developers towards health services within Buckinghamshire through infrastructure levy or section 106 Agreements in partnership with the NHS? Noting at this point no serious contributions have been collected to mitigate from developers in North Buckinghamshire.

At what point will there be for consultation with the greater membership of Buckinghamshire Council, and are Buckinghamshire Council reaching out to partner councils and parishes soon to gain their involvement in these important matters? which will affect how Buckinghamshire grows and becomes prosperous in the coming years through the new Buckinghamshire development plan.

The written response to the question has been attached to the minutes.

 

The following points were highlighted from the report:

·         The Council was awaiting an update on proposed planning reforms from central government, this would provide a steer for the Council in how they can pursue development of the Local Plan.

·         It had been rumoured that the Council would be permitted to take a more local approach -  rather than the top-down approach of housing targets, the plan would be built with local support. The Cabinet Member emphasised that this is the ideal approach to development of the Local Plan.

·         The timeline was outlined in the report, if Buckinghamshire Council followed the 30-month timetable from the first quarter of 2024, the Local Plan for Buckinghamshire could be submitted to the Secretary of State in quarter 2 of 2025.

·         Technical work was ongoing, as well as the call for sites which would inform the housing and economic land availability assessment. The key components would be the housing allocations.

·         Results from the attitudes survey findings had been outlined and published.

 

During discussion, comments and questions raised by the Committee included:

·        Policy BE3 in Wycombe Local plan provides for medical centre facilities in Bourne End and Wooburn, however Section 106 funds were not allocated for this. The CCG had responded that they believe section 106 funds should be used for this. It was emphasised that existing policies should be followed.

·        Officers were working to consider the Investment Zone proposals before any expression of interest was made. While investment zones attracted additional funding, there was the expectation that further development would be included.

·        Members were assured that Green Belt protection continued to be pursued by the Council, with several recent planning applications rejected. It was recognised that it is possible to build on the Green Belt only under very special circumstances.

·        The Head of Planning Policy and Compliance expressed their confidence that the budget  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Response to Councillor Robin Stuchbury's Question pdf icon PDF 58 KB

Additional documents:

7.

National Model Design Code Pilot Update pdf icon PDF 2 MB

Buckinghamshire Council was chosen as one of 16 local authorities to pilot the National Model Design Code, which has been introduced to encourage quality design and to allow some local influence over design to preserve local character. The Select Committee will receive an update on how this pilot is progressing and review any key findings.

 

Contributors:

Councillor Peter Strachan, Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration

Rebecca Hart, Natural Environment Manager

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received an update from Cllr Peter Strachan, Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration and Rebecca Hart, Natural Environment Manager on the Buckinghamshire National Model Design Code Pilot.

 

During the presentation, the following points were highlighted:

·         A design code is a set of concise codes for the physical development of a site or area.

·         In 2021, the government published a draft national model design code and invited Councils to take part in a pilot programme to test the production and use of Design Codes. Buckinghamshire was 1 of 15 successful pilot teams and 1 of only 3 producing an authority-wide code.

·         Buckinghamshire Council was developing a 2 tier code, a high level “A Code”, focusing on strategic and structural issues, and a more specific local code “B Code”, including architectural designs and materials.

·         In absence of a local design code, the Council would have to refer to the National Model design code as a material planning consideration. This could be problematic for Buckinghamshire as the National Model Design code has a more metropolitan focus.

·         Engagement with the public took place through the website Bucks.place. This was developed during the COVID Pandemic, where face-to-face interaction wasn’t possible. This is the primary method for the public to engage prior to a formal consultation, expected winter 2023. It was noted that this engagement method wasn’t the best method for every demographic/age group.

·         The project has overrun past the original 6 months’ timescale set by the pilot. This was due to the extensive work required in developing a design-code, and none of the 3 local authorities producing an authority-wide code finished within 6 months.

·         Following completion of the Design Code, options included full adoption as a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), partial adoption as a SPD, guidance only with some weight, or further iteration and eventual inclusion in the Buckinghamshire Local Plan.

 

During discussion, comments and questions raised by the Committee included:

 

·         Communications had been issued, including Twitter and Facebook advertisements. Due to the project taking place during the pandemic, the budget was structured around the use online engagement. Findings from the pilot projects noted that interest was higher for the more local codes and engagement via in-person events would’ve attracted a wider audience.

·         A draft design code draft was expected to be ready for testing within the next few months. Once the Council is confident, public engagement will take place for feedback.

·         Additional time was required due to the scale of the code and the need to ensure the code is correct. There was no expected additional cost to the Council from this project.

·         A Member expressed concern over the work required for local Town & Parish Councils to develop a design code, and the amount of guidance necessary from Buckinghamshire Council which could incur high costs.

·         The lessons learnt from the Pilot would be used to apply the codes. Guidance was being developed to assist Town & Parish Councils. It was noted that local codes could also be developed by Buckinghamshire Council.

·         Localised  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

Affordable Housing Update pdf icon PDF 126 KB

Members will receive an update on the Council’s approach to delivery of Affordable Housing, following Cabinet’s adoption of an Interim Affordable Housing Position Statement in May 2022.  This statement set out the Council’s plans for encouraging more Affordable Housing in the county including the possibility of delivering affordable residential properties on Council owned sites. 

 

Contributors:

Councillor John Chilver, Cabinet Member for Accessible Housing and Resources

Nigel Dicker, Service Director, Housing and Regulatory Services

Michael Veryard, Head of Housing

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed Cllr Mark Winn, Cabinet Member for Homelessness and Regulatory Services, Cllr John Chilver, Cabinet Member for Accessible Housing and Resources, and Nigel Dicker, Service Director, Housing and Regulatory Services to the meeting.

 

The following points were highlighted from the report:

·         The Cabinet Member for Homelessness and Regulatory Services noted and recognised the difficulty in addressing the need for affordable housing within Buckinghamshire.

·         Housing costs in Buckinghamshire are far above average for the whole of England. The price of land was expensive and this affected the ability to house key workers and recruit staff for key sectors.

·         In Buckinghamshire, developers continued large house building projects, averaging 643 homes a year (Aylesbury & Wycombe areas) affordable homes since the unitary authority formed in 2020.

·         Affordable Housing by definition is up to 80% of market rent. It was acknowledged that this was too expensive for many within the county due to high costs.

·         There are 4800 people registered on Bucks Home Choice awaiting social housing.

·         Discussion was ongoing with Buckinghamshire Councils registered providers to see how we could increase the number of affordable homes. A small development was set to be announced that looked at providing affordable homes at social rent level for over 55’s who are looking to downsize.

·         The number of empty homes has been catalogued for Buckinghamshire, work would now take place to review these properties. This would be part of the Housing Strategy.

·         Opportunities were available to use Section 106 funds to convert affordable housing to socially rented.  Within the planning system, breaking down the definition of required affordable housing to include socially rented could be looked at.

·         The delivery of affordable housing on council owned land continued to be investigated. An update on the progress of the former Stoke Mandeville sports & social club site was highlighted in the report. Cabinet approval was given for 30 units out of 100 for affordable housing units.  This was called into GHIS and was again considered by Cabinet on 12/7/2022 when permission was given to work towards submitting an outline planning application

·         Outline planning permission had been secured for the site at Horns Lane which included affordable housing provision of 48 percent in accordance with the Wycombe Local Plan. This followed a public consultation which included local Members and other stakeholders.

·         The Cabinet Member for Accessible Housing and Resources drew attention to several developments. Outline planning consent had been secured for 68 apartments of affordable housing on Bellfield Road in High Wycombe subject to reserved matters. Collins House on Desborough Road was in the process of being transferred to a Housing association, where the Council will retain 100 percent of nomination rights on units constructed, ensuring they are usable by those on the Buckinghamshire Housing register.

 

During discussion, comments and questions raised by the Committee included:

·         Members expressed concern on the length of time it was taking to achieve development of affordable housing. The Council aimed to accelerate delivery as quickly as possible, however the complexity of affordable housing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

9.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 53 KB

The Committee will discuss and note the Work Programme for future meetings.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members were advised to contact the Scrutiny Officer for the committee with any additional topics they wished to be included in the Growth, Infrastructure and Housing work programme.

10.

Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting will take place on 6th December 2022 at 10.00 a.m.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The next meeting of the Growth, Infrastructure and Housing Select Committee would be on 1st December 2022 at 10am.

 

*Subsequent to the meeting the date was changed to 15th December 2022 at 10am.