Issue - meetings

To receive a report by the Assistant Director Environment, Growth and Planning.

Noted the effective partnership working that has taken place between all the planning authorities within the strategic housing areas on assessing the need for additional housing to 2031. Also endorsed the associated Memorandum of Co-operation.

The Cabinet considered a report by the Assistant Director, Environment, Growth and Planning (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) to which was attached a proposed Memorandum of Co-operation setting out the objectively assessed need for additional housing to 2031. The report had been considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Environmental Well-Being) whose comments were relayed to the Cabinet.

Members were reminded that Local Planning Authorities have a requirement under the National Planning Policy Framework to have a clear understanding of housing needs in their area.  The guidance states that planning authorities should prepare a Strategic Housing Market Assessment to assess their full housing needs, working with neighbouring authorities within their strategic housing areas. 

Attention was drawn to the methodology employed to determine housing allocations across each local area including housing mix and density.  Members were advised that 17,000 homes would be required in Huntingdonshire by 2031 and 21,000 homes by 2036. 

In the discussion that ensued, Executive Councillors stressed the need to be mindful of the plans of neighbouring authorities outside the strategic housing area which could have a considerable impact on the district.

Whereupon, it was

RESOLVED

(a)  that the effective partnership working that has taken place between all the planning authorities within the strategic housing areas be noted; and

(b)  that the Memorandum of Co-operation appended to the report now submitted be endorsed.

To receive a report from the Assistant Director for Environment, Growth and Planning.

(At 8.15pm, during discussion on this item, Councillor Mrs D C Reynolds left the meeting).

Consideration was given to a report prepared by the Assistant Director for Environment, Growth and Planning (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) which outlined the joint work undertaken by the Council with other partner authorities in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to assess the District’s future housing needs. Under the requirements of the National Planning Policy Framework, the Council could now set its own future housing targets. The Panel noted that the work had been undertaken in compliance with the Duty to Co-operate as outlined within the Localism Act 2011.

It was reported that there would be a need for 93,000 homes across the Cambridge Sub-Region Housing Market Area between 2011 and 2031. Peterborough’s housing market area overlapped into Cambridgeshire, and as Peterborough had already accommodated a proportion of its housing need, its contribution was assumed to amount to approximately 2,500 homes. This would mean that 90,500 dwellings were required in the Cambridge Sub-Region Housing Market Area, with Huntingdonshire contributing 17,000 homes by 2031 and 21,000 homes by 2036. The Assistant Director for Environment, Growth and Planning reported that in Huntingdonshire, 10,000 of these homes would roll forward from the former Core Strategy and that there currently were planning applications for around 11,000 dwellings within the planning system. It was therefore, expected that the 21,000 homes allocation for Huntingdonshire would be achieved by 2036. In addition, the Planning Service Manager (Policy) confirmed that the housing need assumptions which underpinned the future growth proposals contained within the emerging Local Plan were in accordance with the Memorandum of Co-operation.

In response to a question by Councillor G J Harlock, it was reported that Huntingdonshire had been the only authority to identify housing allocations up to 2036 because it already had a Local Plan in place to 2026 and there was a requirement for the new Plan to last for at least a further 15 years. It was for this reason that the District’s housing needs had been forecast for the period to 2036.

Having been advised of the methodology employed to determine allocations across each local authority area and of the factors that were likely to produce an increase in demand for housing including fluctuations in birth rates, the ageing population and local economic pressures, the Panel noted that the Council regularly collaborated with partner authorities on infrastructure matters such as local bus services and the rail network. Whereupon, it was

RESOLVED

  that the Cabinet be recommended to

(a)  note the effective joint working that has taken place; and

(b)  endorse the content of the Memorandum of Co-operation as appended to the report now submitted.