Agenda item

The purpose of the report is to:

-        highlight the content of the Interim Housing Position Statement to Boost Supply which has been prepared as a positive and proactive response to the lack of a five-year housing land supply,

-        note the timeline for next steps to progress to Cabinet for a decision to approve the document.

Contact:  Mathias Franklin,  Head of Planning and Development and Andrea Lane, Senior Planning Officer,

Councillor Graham Turner, Cabinet Member for Finance and Regeneration, introduced the item, advising the Panel that the report being presented, outlines the aim to boost housing supply, in light of the fact that there is no longer a five year housing land supply, which needs to be addressed.   He explained that the presenting officers will go through this in more detail and there will be an opportunity for the Panel to ask questions and make comment regarding the content of the report.

Andrea Lane, Team Leader, Planning Policy and Strategy, informed the Panel that the Kirklees Local Plan requirement is to build 1,730 new homes each year.  Since the local plan was adopted in 2019, Kirklees has successfully maintained a rolling supply of housing land against this requirement.  However, the 2023 annual update of the five-year housing land supply positions, demonstrates 3.96 years supply of housing land.

The Panel was informed that when an authority does not have a five-year land supply, this triggers a presumption in favour of sustainable development.   This means that when planning applications for housing are being determined, they should be considered in the context of presumption in favour of sustainable development, known as ‘Tilted Balance’.

The presumption in favour of development is triggered, unless the policies that protect areas or assets are of a particular importance, such as the green belt, or listed buildings provides a clear reason for refusal, or the adverse impacts of the development significantly outweigh the benefits.

The Panel was informed that as a response to this trigger, officers have prepared an Interim Housing Position Statement to provide clarity to agents, developers and the public, regarding how the Tilted Balance will be applied to planning applications for housing, in light of the lack of a five-year housing land supply.

The statement sets out three principles that will be used in the decision making when determining planning applications:

First principle  -       sets out what the presumption in favour of development means, what the policy is, and that is taken from national planning policy guidance which has to be applied when there is a lack of five-year land supply.  This does not mean it will overrule general planning considerations

Second principle -   relates to safeguarded landsites as these sites are currently protected in the local plan from development but are intended to be assessed for future development in the next local plan.  These sites were not allocated for housing in the local plan because they would have some specific site constraints, such as highway issues. Assumption in favour of sustainable development will be applied to these sites where these constraints can be overcome

Third principle -       relates to the quality of design, high quality design to ensure developments continue to achieve well-designed high-quality homes and quality places

The summary also includes a summary of wider council actions that are already being undertaken to boost supply and deliver new homes, such as work with Housing Growth and the Homes and Neighbourhoods team.

The Panel was informed that in terms of the next steps, the position statement will go to Cabinet on the 21^st December, to seek approval for it to be used to help determine planning applications.

In response to the information presented the Panel asked a number of questions and made comments including some of the following:

-          What guidance will be given to planning officers to follow, in order to determine which safeguarded land can actually be used, and help them to understand how the planning application is going to be looked at?

Responding to the question regarding what guidance will be given to officers, Mathias Franklin, Head of Planning and Development advised the Panel that, if developers are going to speculate on safeguarded sites at this time, they should use the pre-application service to gain technical support from council officers such as Highways, Planning and Design and allied services. 

Mr Franklin explained that the Tilted Balance is a significant material planning consideration, which will not outweigh highway safety, however as a principle matter, in order to boost supply, there is a need to find suitable sites that can add housing to the total number of planning permissions. As a broader principle, the issue is not planning permission that is at stake, it is the amount of buildout of those permissions that is causing the lack of a five-year supply. 

In terms of guidance to officers, each officer will be allocated a case and they will have the usual checks and balance, through the Group Leader for the Development Management Service, they will have the Head of Planning and Development input for consistency and overview and there will be member input in the pre-application process.  As with any planning application, there will be consultation, site notices and letters, and the views of the public will also be taken into consideration. 

Where Tilted Balance comes in, is could this site be developed, and if it can in principle be developed, is there the right level of plans, the right level of quality, and is it a safe and attractive development and if those factors align, it is likely that it will result in a positive recommendation to a planning committee. That is the process map officers would apply, and in this process the aim is to be more pragmatic in dealing with proposals on safeguarded land.

The Panel made further comments and asked questions as follows:

-          The council has significant plans to develop some of the land that it owns, what statement is being brought forward to try and speed up the development and buildout, as it is a land that the council owns and therefore has more influence over? 

-          Are there additional incentives that could be given to some of the developers on those sites to encourage them to build faster, and increase buildout?

-          It may be useful at a future meeting to have a specific item which outlines the individual council sites and how they are progressing

-          In the report that will present this item to Cabinet, will it just be the statement, or will it be expanded to include other areas for example, what the council is going to be doing?

-          How is this linked with the council’s requirement to have a certain number of affordable housing each year as the report being considered today does not address affordable housing need?

-          In the presentation it was mentioned that these sites have been looked at and constraints can be overcome, have they been assessed in terms of highway safety, environmental health and land stability, and has that work already been undertaken?

RESOLVED

That the officers and the Cabinet Member be thanked for providing an Interim Housing Position Statement for Boosting Supply.