Agenda item

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.

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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 a very high standard of energy efficiency; they can act as a model for the development of future schemes.

The Housing Strategy contains the following priority which focuses on improving the energy efficiency of housing stock in response to climate change:

Priority two – Better Homes: good quality, sustainable and matched to need.

The Housing Strategy supports the Buckinghamshire Council Climate Change Strategy. This strategy contains a section devoted to improving the energy efficiency of housing in Buckinghamshire, with the following actions:

Action 52: Supported registered housing providers’ implementation of sustainable energy and climate change adaptation initiatives in their housing stock.

All affordable housing in Buckinghamshire is owned and managed by registered housing providers. Buckinghamshire Council works closely with its registered provider partners. This includes monitoring their plans to improve the energy efficiency of their housing stock in Buckinghamshire.  All Registered Providers have asset management strategies, investment plans and net zero carbon road maps in place. Three of our partner registered providers have been awarded funding under the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund to improve the energy efficiency of their homes in Buckinghamshire. The improvements will include the installation of cavity wall insulation, external wall insulation, roof insulation, solar panels, and air source heat pumps. A number of innovative housing retrofit schemes are being carried out.

Action 53: Promote opportunities for residents to improve their homes to help them mitigate and/or adapt to climate change and poor air quality.

The following schemes are included in the Housing Strategy:

i)                    The Housing Sustainable Warmth and Home Upgrade Grant.

ii)                  The Energy Doctor Scheme.

iii)                The Buckinghamshire Solar Together Scheme which aims to assist residents in installing solar panels and battery storage.

Question from Alan Thawley

Given the acknowledgement that demand for affordable homes outstrips supply by 3:1, as well as concerns that homes built by developers under this category are not always genuinely affordable, how can the strategy look more creatively at other means to narrow this gap, such as support for Community Land Trust initiatives of the sort that already exist in Buckingham, and construction of social housing directly by the council, which would make it easier to more effectively address sustainability, another of the strategy's priorities, for instance by building to Passivhaus standard as has successfully been done in places such as Norwich or Exeter?

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

The Housing Strategy contains the following priority:

Priority three – New Homes: affordable, accessible, and appropriate.

Buckinghamshire Council will commit to undertaking the following:

i)        Support and enable Registered Providers in delivering new affordable homes, including for those with special needs.

ii)      Explore the use of local authority assets and resources for the purposes of delivering additional new housing.

iii)    Ensure that Residential Development (including Affordable Housing) is considered in Regeneration Strategies, brownfield and redevelopment proposals for mixed use developments where appropriate.

The council will undertake the following actions in order to adopt an innovative approach to increasing the supply of affordable housing in Buckinghamshire:

·         Ensure that residential development, including affordable housing, is considered in regeneration strategies, brownfield and redevelopment proposals for mixed use developments where appropriate.

·         Support registered providers with funding for the development of affordable homes on under-used or disused land in their ownership.

·         Ensure that housing, including affordable housing, is included in regeneration plans by the council and partners.

·         Explore opportunities for Build to Rent schemes, including the use of institutional

o   Investment.

·         Explore opportunities for the council to deliver more housing using its land, property and financial assets through the creation of an Affordable Housing Enabling       Framework

·         Identify three council-owned sites to bring forward for new development and complete these developments by 2027. Three new developments completed and let by December 2027.

·         Agree priorities for capital funding (including commuted sums) and implement a list of priorities for section 106 monies to be developed. An option which can be considered is lowering the level of rents in certain affordable housing schemes.

Direct delivery by the council is a possibility and an outcome that should be considered. At present we are not able to advise if the council can commit to this, as it would require extensive consideration by the council’s senior management team.

In order to understand direct delivery, the council would have to obtain substantial new resources in terms of funding, land, and staff with sufficient skills in finance, development, and property and housing management. A dedicated housing company would need to be set up. Funding would need to be obtained from the Public Works Loans Board; interest rates are high so this would incur significant costs from council resources. In addition, the direct development of affordable homes carries a range of risks. Registered housing providers are generally better equipped to carry this level of risk than local authorities. 

As part of the affordable housing development programme, the council will encourage and support the development of affordable homes built to a high standard of energy efficiency. We have two schemes in the county which are being/have been constructed to Passivhaus Standard, and we monitor good practice from other local authorities.