To respond to any questions received from Members of the Council in accordance with Procedure Rule 11.2.
The deadline for receipt of questions is 5pm on Tuesday June 2021.
Question from Councillor Robert Knowles:
“Lloyd’s Bank PLC have announced the closure of Haslemere Branch by the end of the year. In my memory Haslemere has two Lloyds Branches, two Nat West, a Midland (HSBC), a Barclays and a number of Building Society Branches including Woolwich, Abbey National, National & Provincial and Halifax. With the closure of Lloyds, there will be no bank or building society in the town, with a population in three counties of some 19000. What representations are the administration making to preserve some vital financial facility in Haslemere”
Minutes:
19.1 The following question had been received from Councillor Knowles:
“Lloyd’s Bank PLC have announced the closure of Haslemere Branch by the end of the year. In my memory Haslemere has two Lloyds Branches, two Nat West, a Midland (HSBC), a Barclays and a number of Building Society Branches including Woolwich, Abbey National, National & Provincial and Halifax. With the closure of Lloyds, there will be no bank or building society in the town, with a population in three counties of some 19000. What representations are the administration making to preserve some vital financial facility in Haslemere”
19.2 The Portfolio Holder, Councillor Townsend, gave the following response:
“Many banks have closed across Waverley in recent years due to decreased financial viability, with customers moving online. The problem is now particularly acute in Haslemere with the news that the last bank in the town (Lloyds) is to close in the autumn. Although the borough is currently well served for post offices which are providing more financial services, there remains a particular issue with regard to access to cash through the day and night.
The Economic Development team has been working with Haslemere Town Council (HTC) and Haslemere Chamber to request installation of a cash machine in the town centre. A proposed site owned by HTC in the central car park was circulated to providers together with evidence of significant local footfall. There was unfortunately little interest pre-Covid. However, with the news of the last bank closure, we have asked the cash point providers to urgently reconsider the situation. We have also provided HTC with details for the CEO of Link and Jeremy Hunt, MP has written to him to support the case for a cash point in Haslemere.
We have put Lloyds mobile banking team in touch with Haslemere Town Council to discuss the provision of a mobile banking service, along the lines of the van they offer in Cranleigh.”
19.3 The Leader of the Council asked the following question:
“Several experienced members of this council have suggested in the press that LPP2 has a relationship to our five-year housing land supply, for example more recently in analysing our successful defence of the planning appeal for Land at Lower Weybourne Lane, for which I congratulate our team.
It is my understanding that this relationship is minimal and that LPP2 (although desirable) will not resolve many of the issues the planning system causes for Waverley Borough Council
Could the Head of Planning / PfH for planning outline what (if any) relationship LPP2 has to housing land supply and could they comment upon planning issues facing Waverley Borough Council that are not resolved by LPP2?”
19.4 The Portfolio Holder, Councillor Macleod responded as follows:
“The government’s requirement for a five-year housing land supply means the Council must provide evidence that enough homes in the Borough can realistically be completed within five years to meet the housing needed. Although it is desirable to have housing allocations in LPP2 adopted to provide some certainty for our communities, this does not mean that the homes on allocated sites within a Local Plan can automatically be included within the five-year supply, as such housing can only be included where there is clear evidence that the housing will be completed within five years. For the purposes of demonstrating a five-year housing supply the onus is on the Council to provide the evidence to demonstrate these sites will deliver housing within that period, which is not the case with every proposed allocation in either LPP2 or even in the already adopted Part 1.
It is also important to point out that the Local Plan is not the only plan allocating sites for housing in the Borough. Some of our local communities have decided to carry out their own site allocations for housing in their neighbourhood plans. Although excellent progress has been made within the Borough overall, some expected housing allocations within neighbourhood plans have yet to be made. As it currently stands LPP2 is only proposing to allocate around 200 homes in Witley parish and approximately 300 in Haslemere, which equates to less than 5% of our total housing requirement for the Local Plan period to 2032 . In Haslemere, most of the sites currently proposed for allocation in LPP2 lie within the built-up area or are on brownfield land; development which current strategic policies adopted in Local Plan Part 1 supports. It is not the case that these brownfield sites have to wait until LPP2 is adopted before they can proceed through the planning application process. Progress in housing being delivered on these sites is therefore not reliant on LPP2 being adopted.
Accordingly, whilst we fully recognise the importance of Local Plan Part 2 and are working hard to take it through to submission to the Secretary of State, simply adopting this Plan will not, in itself, alter the Council’s current position of not being able to demonstrate a five year housing land supply, without which countryside areas outside of the Green Belt will continue to be targeted by the development industry. What is really needed, is for sufficient full or reserved matters planning applications to be granted for housing on suitable sites and for developers to get on with delivering on the outstanding planning permissions for almost 3000 homes within the borough that have yet to be commenced.”