Agenda item

Minutes

Minutes:

The Minutes of the Special Meeting held 20 December 2016 and the meeting held 13 January 2017 were agreed as correct records and were signed by the Chairman.

 

The Chairman noted that in relation to Item 7, County Durham Plan Update - Government Housing White Paper, as set out in the minutes of the Special Meeting held 20 December 2016; a summary of the Housing White Paper and the Building our Industrial Strategy Green Paper had been circulated to Members of the committee for consideration.  The Chairman noted the Council’s Spatial Policy Manager, Mike Allum would provide further information in relation to the Housing White Paper and James Cook,  Principal Spatial Policy Officer would provide detail on the Industrial Strategy Green Paper.

 

The Spatial Policy Manager explained that the Government had published a Housing White Paper entitled “Fixing our broken housing market” which had included a series of consultation questions, with responses sought by 2 May 2017.  It set out four steps to achieving boosting housing supply to deliver between 225,000 and 275,000 homes every year nationally. 

The four steps are:planning for the right homes in the right places principally via local and neighbourhood plans; building homes faster, by linking infrastructure and housing development; diversifying the housing market with a focus on, increasing the number of small and medium sized builders; and helping people now by helping to meet all of the population’s diverse housing needs.

 

The Spatial Planning Manager added that in terms of the building the right homes in the right places element, an important factor would be the requisite national methodology in determining the number of houses required.  It was added that this was not included within the White Paper and would be subject to separate consultation later in the year.  Accordingly, further discussions would take place with the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and further information would be brought back to the Committee.

 

The Chairman thanked the Spatial Planning Manager and noted he would have expected a lot more detail included in the White Paper at this stage.  Councillor Crute continued commenting that he was concerned that there is currently not the number of skilled workers in the relevant trades to deliver the numbers of housing required each year.  The Principal Spatial Policy Officer commented that there is no emphasis in the White Paper regarding a skills gap.

 

Councillor Kellett commented that some products such as the Lifetime ISA will be of limited benefit to people on low incomes as they do not have the level of income to save.

 

Councillor Nicholson stated that in relation to housing development, this is driven by demand which varies across the County and that in some areas of the county there is a need for properties to be demolished and replaced by new homes of the type required locally.

 

Councillor Armstrong continued that the missing detail from the White Paper in relation to the national methodology for calculating the housing requirement makes it difficult to determine the possible impact on the County Durham Plan and that there is a need to determine how DCC moves forward as members are currently having to determine planning decisions based on existing local planning policies.  The Spatial Planning Manager commented that Government is no longer looking for a single plan so there may be opportunities to progress the relevant policies in the plan on an individual basis for use by planning officers and members.

 

Councillor Crute commented that reducing the time the developer can implement permission from 3 to 2 years to reduce land banking, whilst welcomed, there is little that the authority can do to compel the developer to start work on site.  The Spatial Planning manager responded that land banking is an issue in County Durham and that currently developers only have to provide an access onto the site for it to be classed as development taking place on site.

 

The Chairman asked the Principal Spatial Policy Officer, James Cook to speak as regards the Government’s recent Green Paper relating to the connected issue of “Building our industrial strategy”.

 

The Principal Spatial Policy Officer explained that the Green Paper had been published on 23 January 2017 and was a consultation document which had the objective of “improving living standards and economic growth by increasing productivity and driving growth across the whole economy”.

 

Members noted that key areas set out included: investing in science, research and innovation; developing skills; upgrading infrastructure; support business to start and grow; improving procurement; encouraging trade and inward investment; delivering affordable energy and clean growth; cultivating world leading sectors; driving growth across the whole country and creating the right institutions to bring together sectors and places.

 

The Principal Spatial Policy Officer added that while the Green Paper was welcomed, there was a need for further details to fully understand the implications for County Durham, with the consultation questions having a deadline of 17 April 2017.

 

The Chairman thanked the Officer for a lot of information and noted reference to “continued support for Mayoral Combined Authorities” (CAs) within the paper and wondered about the possible implications for DCC.  The Principal Spatial Policy Officer commented that this concern could be included in DCC’s response to the Green Paper.

 

Councillor Crute continued by asking whether a response at a regional level would be prepared to both papers and if so would they be shared with DCC.  The Spatial Planning Manager responded that DCC will have sight of the responses from neighbouring authorities in relation to the Housing White Paper and would expect the NELEP to do a response in relation to the Green Paper.

 

Councillor Armstrong suggested that the committee receive a copy of the response to both papers when prepared and that further updates on both papers come to a future meeting of the committee.

 

Members noted the issues and the Chairman thanked the Officers for their information.

 

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