Agenda item

Local Plan Part 1 (LPP1) was adopted in February 2018. In accordance with statutory requirements, the Council undertook a review of the Plan within five years of its adoption to decide if an update was required. The full Council on 21 February 2023 resolved that LPP1 required updating and instructed officers to explore options for carrying out this work.

This report sets out two broad options and makes recommendations on the preferred approach.

Recommendations:

1.            Work commences on a comprehensive update of the Local Plan (option A), meeting the requirements of the existing development plan system but ensuring flexibility to migrate to the new system if implemented.

And, the Executive agrees that:

2.            A detailed work programme for completing the comprehensive update, and briefs for preparing up to date evidence are prepared in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Regeneration.

3.            Evidence should include a local assessment of housing needs as an alternative to the Government’s ‘standard method’ for considering an appropriate housing requirement for the updated local plan.

4.            The emerging spatial strategy and housing numbers need to be discussed at the earliest opportunity with the Town and Parish Councils to enable them to consider the implications for Neighbourhood Plans.

5.            The preparation of robust Affordable housing policies should be a priority so that the Council can withstand challenges to affordable housing requirements based on scheme viability.

6.            The existing adopted Local Plan (parts 1 and 2) must be defended vigorously during the preparation of the Local Plan update.

The Executive RESOLVED to recommend to Council that:

work commences on a comprehensive update of the Local Plan (option A), meeting the requirements of the existing development plan system but ensuring flexibility to migrate to the new system if implemented.

And further RESOLVED that:

1.            a detailed work programme for completing the comprehensive update, and briefs for preparing up to date evidence are prepared in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Regeneration.

2.            evidence should include a local assessment of housing needs as an alternative to the Government’s ‘standard method’ for considering an appropriate housing requirement for the updated local plan.

3.            the emerging spatial strategy and housing numbers need to be discussed at the earliest opportunity with the Town and Parish Councils to enable them to consider the implications for Neighbourhood Plans.

4.            the preparation of robust Affordable housing policies should be a priority so that the Council can withstand challenges to affordable housing requirements based on scheme viability.

5.            the existing adopted Local Plan (parts 1 and 2) must be defended vigorously during the preparation of the Local Plan update.

This matter has already been considered by Overview & Scrutiny – Services Committee.

23.1   Cllr Liz Townsend, Portfolio Holder for Planning, Regeneration and Economic Development, introduced the report and moved the recommendations. Cllr Townsend began by thanking the Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee for their consideration of the Local Plan Part 1 review report and noted that the Committee’s recommendations had been incorporated into the Executive recommendations and would be an integral part of the work programme.

23.2   Cllr Townsend went on to outline the proposed approach and emphasised the importance of assessing local housing need and presenting an appropriate and achievable housing strategy whilst also acknowledging the constraints, whether those were government policies or AONB or other landscape designations. She emphasised, too, the importance of working within the rules of the planning policy system and reminded that ignoring these as had been done in the past did not provide any protection in the long term. It would be an uphill struggle to persuade an Inspector that a partial update with an end date of 2032 would meet the requirements of the NPPF that strategic policies look ahead 15 years. The advice of the Planning Advisory Service and their consultants had warned of the risks of this approach, and that these were possibly understated, and a comprehensive update was the only feasible approach.

23.3   Cllr Townsend drew attention to the proposed timeline for the update under Option A, which was very ambitious but realistic and it was unlikely that the update could be completed more quickly. The aim was to produce a single local plan document for the borough and to submit the plan for examination in summer 2026. The approach also took account of the uncertainty around the government’s proposed planning reforms and would enable a move to a more streamlined approach if the planning reforms were to be confirmed. A key part of the work would be to update the housing delivery action plan to identify reasons for under delivery of housing within Waverley and identifying measures for improving levels of housing delivery.

23.4   Finally, Cllr Townsend confirmed again that the exiting Local Plan continued to provide an up-to-date statutory development plan for Waverley which remained the starting point for decisions on planning applications while an updated plan was brought forward. However, the council remained vulnerable to the government’s 5 year housing land supply and the tilted balance away from local decision-making. Cllr Townsend hoped the Executive would support the report and its recommendations.

23.5   The Leader thanked Cllr Townsend for her statement. While a large portion of the council did not agree to the government’s rules on planning, it was the duty of the administration to carry out the update and to do it properly and in the way that was being proposed.

23.6   Cllr Jerry Hyman had registered to speak on this item, and he referred to the Council resolution from 21 February 2023 on the Local Plan Part 1 Review. In his view the proposed approach would not be in line with that resolution, and the solution was to follow the requirement of the Habitats Regulations and complete an Appropriate Assessment with evidence provided by Natural England, to justify the current and a future local plan.

23.7   In response, Cllr Townsend assured Cllr Hyman that the council would follow every statutory process that it needed to in the production of the Update to the Local Plan.

23.8   Cllr Nick Palmer noted that he was pleased to see the concerns of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee regarding developers avoiding affordable housing provision on the grounds of viability, but he disagreed with the implication within the scrutiny recommendations that fewer houses was good. He noted that there was a prevailing view that there wasn’t enough housing, especially for younger people and people on lower incomes, but at the same time opposing examples of additional housing. In updating the local plan, the starting point shouldn’t be that we want as few new houses as possible, but rather we want the appropriate number of houses that ordinary people can afford.

23.9   Cllr Townsend thanked Cllr Palmer for his comments and reminded the Executive that the Affordable Housing SPD had just been updated, which set out clearly the data required in relation to assessing the viability of affordable housing. She also noted that the Standard Methodology was not based on objective need and the uplift for affordability had not worked to push down house prices. Waverley needed a housing allocation that recognised the constraints within the landscape and environment, and the latest census data, and affordability.

23.10  Cllr Mark Merryweather highlighted the disconnect between the system for granting planning permissions, and the actual delivery of housing, and agreed with Cllr Palmer regarding the need for the appropriate mix of housing type, density and tenure.

23.11  The Leader referred to the recommendations of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and noted that the recommendations to the Executive largely reflected the sentiment of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. As a detailed response, the Executive:

·       Agreed that existing Local Plan remained the starting point for planning decisions;

·       Understood the sentiment behind the second recommendation, but the housing figure needed to be evidence-based and relate to local need.

·       Agreed that the spatial strategy and housing numbers would be shared with parish councils and neighbourhood planning groups as soon as possible.

·       Agreed that the council would continue to defend its affordable housing policies and do as much as it could to ensure that affordable homes were delivered by developers in line with planning permissions granted.

23.12  Having considered the recommendations of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee – Services, the Executive RESOLVED to recommend to Council that:

work commences on a comprehensive update of the Local Plan (option A), meeting the requirements of the existing development plan system but ensuring flexibility to migrate to the new system if implemented.

And further RESOLVED that:

1.     a detailed work programme for completing the comprehensive update, and briefs for preparing up to date evidence are prepared in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Regeneration.

2.     evidence should include a local assessment of housing needs as an alternative to the Government’s ‘standard method’ for considering an appropriate housing requirement for the updated local plan.

3.     the emerging spatial strategy and housing numbers need to be discussed at the earliest opportunity with the Town and Parish Councils to enable them to consider the implications for Neighbourhood Plans.

4.     the preparation of robust Affordable housing policies should be a priority so that the Council can withstand challenges to affordable housing requirements based on scheme viability.

5.     the existing adopted Local Plan (parts 1 and 2) must be defended vigorously during the preparation of the Local Plan update.