Agenda and minutes

Apologies had been received from Councillors Qaser Chaudhry, Andrea Baughan, Carl Etholen and Simon Rouse.

Councillors Peter Brazier and Robin Stuchbury were present as substitutes for Councillors Simon Rouse and Andrea Baughan respectively.

There were no declarations of interest.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 7 September 2023 be confirmed as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 7^th September 2023 were confirmed as a correct record.

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/get-involved-with-council-decisions/select-committees/

Question from Claire Molyneux, Clerk to Buckingham Town Council

Buckingham Town Council Planning Committee would like to ask:

Whether the system of referral to area committees is to continue; there are 150 – 180 Buckingham applications per year, some of which we or Shire councillors have called in, and yet none have been judged deserving of a public airing since February 2020.

So far 9 of the scheduled 13 meetings this calendar year have been cancelled, so it isn’t pressure of business.

Response from Councillor Peter Strachan, Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration

Planning Committee provides a very important scrutiny role over planning officer decision making.  The current referral system has been flexibly designed to ensure that any planning application can be subjected to Planning Committee consideration as appropriate. 

This system has been in place since Buckinghamshire Council was formed and has always worked well.  It has also been extended to allow Town and Parish Councils to request such scrutiny for certain deserving applications. 

As the Growth, Infrastructure & Housing Select Committee report explains the role of Planning Committee is to focus on those planning applications which would benefit from scrutiny, such as reviewing officer recommendations where the weighing and balancing of the issues is considered to be finely balanced. 

To ensure consistency, all requests are considered in consultation with the relevant Planning Committee Chairman. Taking any planning application to a Planning Committee means more cost and more delay in making a decision. This process ensures that only those applications that would benefit from scrutiny are taken to Committee, while the others are decided more efficiently under delegated powers. The cancellation of these planned meetings was therefore due to lack of business, i.e. applications that were not considered necessary to be considered by the planning committee meeting.   

The case officer report can be seen after all deleted decisions. Parish or Town Councils can see how the matters were handled and can ask the case officer or their Team Leader about anything they are unclear about. 

So, in response to the specific question raised, “referral” is part of the Council constitution and is intended to remain so

Question from Surinder Marshall

Please can you explain the process by which mitigation of, and adaptation to climate and environmental breakdown is addressed as a fundamental consideration in the housing strategy.  For example, what expertise is employed, at what stage and what evidence is there that this is understood as a crucial factor in developing the strategy, rather than just an add on.

Response from Councillor Mark Winn, Cabinet Member for Homelessness and Regulatory Services

The Housing Strategy acts as a framework for the development of more detailed housing-related plans. These will be devised under the annual housing strategy action plans, the first of which will be produced for 2024-2025. Plans to increase the number of affordable housing schemes built to a high level of energy efficiency will be included. In Buckinghamshire there are examples of affordable housing schemes which have been built to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Select Committee will review the performance of the Council’s Development Management functions for the financial year April 2022 to March 2023.

Contributors:

Cllr Peter Strachan, Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration

Christine Urry, Head of Planning and Development

The Committee received an update from Councillor Peter Strachan, Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration, Chrissy Urry, Head of Planning & Development, Mark Aughterlony, Development  Manager (Core) and Claire Bayley, Development Manager (Majors).

The Cabinet Member introduced the development management performance review for 22-23, highlighting that the efficiency and effectiveness of the planning service was taken very seriously.

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

·         In response to a Member query about staffing, the Cabinet Member assured the committee that the planning service was adequately staffed and was able to keep up with demand. A reduction in planning applications was due to a mixture of economic factors and uncertainty around planning legislation.

·         The number of planning application extensions of time was an indicator closely monitored by the planning team. At 54%, the team were looking to improve this - in practice the extensions were agreed with the applicants to address issues with applications and to allow for amendments.

·         Parish and Town Councils were advised to continue development of neighbourhood plans, even in parallel with the development of the Buckinghamshire Local Plan. It was noted the process itself can offer a degree of protection. If parishes were unsure about developing a neighbourhood plan, they could contact the planning policy team for further advice.

·         Planning officers were able to assist with spikes in demand across Buckinghamshire. More recently, there was an increase in work required for major planning applications and a slight decrease in ‘minor’ applications. This is being addressed with resourcing shifts across planning teams.

·         The drop in five-year land supply seen recently in the north & central planning areas could be explained by multiple factors. The overarching industry position, increased cost of materials, the cost of living crisis as well as measures relating to the Chiltern Beechwoods special area of conservation were contributing to the drop. There were planning performance agreements in place with large housing developers on strategic allocations to support delivery on prioritised sites.

·         Benchmarking comparison with neighbouring authorities could be included in future versions of the report for the committee.

·         The One Uniform project would eventually provide efficiencies for the Council. The use of legacy systems across Buckinghamshire required separate access and when merged would allow for greater flexibility in how the Planning team utilised their resources.

·         97% of planning applications were determined under delegated authority, compared to 3% taken at planning committee. Not all planning applications benefited from the increased scrutiny at planning committee, and it was up to the chairman of the relevant planning committee to determine whether it is necessary. It was noted the 97% figure for delegated decisions was exactly the same as Cornwall Council, a comparable unitary authority.

·         A Member requested that Planning Performance information broken down by planning committee area be provided to the committee.

Members will consider the draft Buckinghamshire Housing Strategy 2024-2029.

The strategy is out for consultation from 8 November 2023 until 18 December 2023. This consultation can be accessed from the website.

Contributors:

Cllr Mark Winn, Cabinet Member for Homelessness and Regulatory Services

Lisa Michelson, Service Director, Housing & Regulatory Services

Duncan Smith, Head of Housing Assets & Development

The Chairman welcomed Councillor Mark Winn, Cabinet Member for Homelessness and Regulatory Services, Lisa Michelson, Service Director, Housing & Regulatory Services and Duncan Smith, Head of Housing Assets & Development to the meeting.

The following points were highlighted from the presentation.

·         There were critical success factors for the listed priorities in the Housing Strategy. For priority 1, following adoption of the Housing Strategy, a Housing Needs Assessment would commence and this would feed into the Local Plan process. A new allocations policy, tenancy strategy and 100% compliance with the Councils nomination rights with registered providers would deliver fair, consistent and effective allocations of tenancies for affordable housing. Temporary accommodation costs and homelessness would be addressed within the strategy through effective maximisation and “move on” options.

·         As part of Priority 2, the Council would look to ensure Private Landlords and Registered Providers actively maintain the quality of the properties provided. Effective remediation of housing issues as well as enforcement of HMO licensing would take place through intelligence led cooperation with partners. Accessibility in new and existing homes would be improved through the Disability Facilities Grants Programme Delivery.

·         The Housing Strategy committed Buckinghamshire Council to support and enable registered providers in delivering new affordable homes, including for those with special needs. As part of this, the use of local authority assets and resources would be considered for delivery new housing. The creation of an affordable housing framework will allocate additional financial resources (S106 contributions) which would be used to bring forward sites for new affordable housing development for completion over the Housing Strategy horizon.

·         It was noted that there was a large gap between need for one-bedroom residences and those currently provided. By examining gaps in current provision, the best approach to future housing provision could be determined.

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

·        Reference was made to a historic council motion, regarding the evaluation of whether the council or a Local Housing Company, should be involved in the direct delivery of affordable housing. It was acknowledged that this piece of work was to be undertaken both to respond to the motion and as a commitment in the Housing Strategy. The aspects of risk and reward of this direct delivery model were to be evaluated, but it was acknowledged that there would be a requirement for significant land and resources to be available. The work to evaluate the opportunity would be provided in due course.

·        Steps taken to brief Members on the Housing Strategy, as well as the attendance of the Cabinet Member to present the strategy to the Growth, Infrastructure & Housing Select Scrutiny prior to approval at Cabinet was praised for transparency and allowance for proper scrutiny.

·        A variety of members challenged whether the 500 new affordable homes (per annum) was a sufficiently aspirational target. It was stated that the target was derived by speaking to the Registered Providers who will be delivering the homes. There is pressure placed on their business plans to fund the new  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

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

The Committee noted the Work Programme. Members could contact the Scrutiny Officer for the committee with any additional topics they wished to be included in the Growth, Infrastructure and Housing work programme.

15^th February 2024 at 10.00am.

The next meeting will take place 15th February 2024 at 10.00 a.m.