Issue - meetings

Mrs Sarah Lee, Principal Planning Officer (Strategic Planning), presented a report to the Committee which outlined the Council’s proposed response to the government’s consultations on proposed revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework and Supporting Housing Delivery through Developer Contributions.

Mrs Lee outlined the Council’s proposed response to the proposed revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework. The Committee made the following comments about the proposals and the Council’s proposed response:

·  The requirement to plan for unmet housing need in other areas and the requirement to factor in affordability uplift could result in Maidstone needing to accommodate both due to its location and affordability issues.

·  Therefore the consultation response should state that those authorities who are subject to factoring in a 40% affordability uplift must not also be subject to unmet need from other areas. A combination of affordability uplift and unmet need should not exceed 40% of the authority’s proposed housing figure, and any subsequent or excess unmet need over this figure should be transferred to a neighbouring authority.

·  Statements of Common Ground would be difficult to agree if neighbouring authorities had different objectives in their local plans.

·  The Housing Delivery Test was seen as unfair as it relied on developers building out permissions, something that Local Authorities had little control over.

·  The provision of a housing requirement figure for neighbourhood plan areas derived from the authority’s housing need figure was welcomed.

Mrs Lee explained the Council’s proposed response to the consultation on Supporting Housing Delivery through Developer Contributions. The Committee noted the contents of the proposed response and requested that an emphasis be placed on ensuring that the Community Infrastructure Levy and Section 106 Contributions could be used more flexibly when major infrastructure was required to support large housing sites.

In summary, the Committee supported the suggested response by Officers but requested that the areas of objection to the proposals in the consultation were worded more robustly.

RESOLVED:

1.  That the responses set out in paragraphs 1.5 to 1.37 be agreed as a basis for the Council’s consultation response to the revised National Planning Policy Framework, subject to the inclusion of the comments of the Committee contained in the minutes.

2.  That the responses set out in paragraphs 1.40 to 1.53 be agreed as a basis for the Council’s consultation response to ‘Supporting housing delivery through developer contributions’, subject to the inclusion of the comments of the Committee contained in the minutes.

Voting:  For - 8  Against - 1  Abstentions - 0