Agenda item

Question from Councillor Robin Stuchbury to Councillor Gareth Williams (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration)

Currently Buckinghamshire Council has a minimum target of 25% affordable housing in the VALP and the Council should be supporting neighbourhood plan aspirations for a higher percentage of 35%. These are testing times for the younger generation trying to get a foothold on the housing ladder or to be able to remain and work within Buckinghamshire and there is a real likelihood a large percentage may settle within the northern corridor through the Cambridge Arc. I genuinely seek an understanding of how Buckinghamshire Council will be able to meet demand for accommodation within the targets proposed in the recently adopted VALP and I should like to know what steps are going to be taken to maximise affordable housing within the area of the VALP, and also in the emerging Buckinghamshire plan ?

Question from Councillor Alison Wheelhouse to Councillor Gareth Williams (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration)

In a fast evolving planning environment, given the recent proliferation of Permitted Development prior notification applications for: 

• change of use from office user to residential use (Class O, now Class MA -  Part 3  Schedule 2 Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 (as amended) which permits change of use from Class E to C3) 
• addition of storeys to existing buildings  
• new Class ZA 

please will the Cabinet Member for Planning and the Leader ensure that Article 4 Directions be made as soon as possible in relation to Classes MA and ZA, and addition of storeys to existing buildings? While these types of development may be of benefit in the right circumstances, they should require full planning consent and should be capable of being called-in to planning committee, so that the community voice is heard in the planning system and the potential loss of commercial space is properly assessed. 

Question from Councillor Robin Stuchbury to Councillor Gareth Williams, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration

“Currently Buckinghamshire Council has a minimum target of 25% affordable housing in the VALP and the Council should be supporting neighbourhood plan aspirations for a higher percentage of 35%.  These are testing times for the younger generation trying to get a foothold on the housing ladder or to be able to remain and work within Buckinghamshire and there is a real likelihood a large percentage may settle within the northern corridor through the Cambridge Arc.  I genuinely seek an understanding of how Buckinghamshire Council will be able to meet demand for accommodation within the targets proposed in the recently adopted VALP and I should like to know what steps are going to be taken to maximise affordable housing within the area of the VALP, and also in the emerging Buckinghamshire plan.”

Response

“The VALP aims to secure a minimum of 25% affordable housing on sites of 11 dwellings or more or 0.3ha or more and we will implement this policy through our development management teams on sites at or above these thresholds. The VALP (paragraph 5.4) indicates that the total assessed need for affordable housing in the VALP area is 4,200 affordable homes or 20.4% of the total housing need for the area. Making an allowance for the fact that sites under 11 dwellings will not provide any affordable housing, a policy requiring 25% affordable housing on sites that are required to provide affordable housing should be sufficient to deliver the required total need.

It is important to note that developers will often challenge the level of affordable housing to be provided on viability grounds and the affordable housing policy in the VALP (Policy H1) sets out the Council’s position that we will need clear evidence on viability through an open book financial appraisal that is independently assessed. This will help ensure we can maximise the amount of affordable housing that is secured through implementation of the VALP policy.

In relation to neighbourhood plan aspirations, the Planning Inspector examining the VALP made clear that neighbourhood plans that set higher affordable housing percentage requirements would not be in conflict with the VALP policy of a minimum of 25%. He also made clear that the VALP would not override those neighbourhood plans that have already set a higher affordable housing requirement. For those neighbourhood planning groups considering setting higher requirements in future neighbourhood plans, it is important to highlight that they will need to provide evidence to justify their policy requirements. This will need to be robust enough to convince an independent examiner. As part of the Council’s duty to provide support on neighbourhood planning, officers will be able to provide some advice on this where necessary, but it will be for the neighbourhood planning groups to provide or commission the necessary evidence.

Looking ahead, the Council is commencing work on the preparation of the Buckinghamshire Local Plan and as part of this we will want to explore how to best deliver affordable housing across the whole of the county through the planning system. Critical to this will be undertaking a viability assessment of the Plan’s proposals to determine the most appropriate level of affordable housing on sites, having regard to other development costs including infrastructure requirements. At the same time we will need to update our housing needs assessments to understand both the scale and type of need for affordable housing going forward.”

Question from Councillor Alison Wheelhouse to Councillor Gareth Williams, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration

“In a fast evolving planning environment, given the recent proliferation of Permitted Development prior notification applications for:

·                     change of use from office user to residential use (Class O, now Class MA –Part 3, Schedule 2 Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 (as amended) which permits change of use from Class E to C3).

·                     addition of storeys to existing buildings.

·                     new Class ZA.

Please will the Cabinet Member for Planning and the Leader ensure that Article 4 Directions be made as soon as possible in relation to Classes MA and ZA, and addition of storeys to existing buildings?  While these types of development may be of benefit in the right circumstances, they should require full planning consent and should be capable of being called-in to planning committee, so that the community voice is heard in the planning system and the potential loss of commercial space is properly assessed.”

Response

“The Council recognises the importance seeking to retain healthy, vibrant and viable town centres and to protect our primary shopping frontages and core shopping areas from inappropriate development. I have therefore already asked officers to commence initial work on an Article 4 Direction that seeks to achieve the correct level of control and protection from Class MA Permitted Development (Class E to Residential). A paper on this subject will be brought to Cabinet at its earliest opportunity proposing to impose an Article 4 Direction on a number of areas across our Council area.

In relation to Class ZA, I can confirm that we are also looking at the appropriateness of imposing Article 4 Directions restricting the use of other PD rights in our area including class ZA. Whilst we are conscious that as part of the protection of the Green Belt we need to ensure that we maximise the housing land supply on Brownfield sites in our area, we also need to strike the right balance in regards to restrictions on Permitted Development rights. We will however, be considering the use of Article 4 Directions to restrict other Permitted Development rights as appropriate.”