Agenda item

To report to the Planning Policy and Local Plan Committee:-

 

·           the number of new homes built in the District of Tendring during the 2020/21 financial year and the up-dated year-by-year ‘trajectory’ for future housebuilding; and

 

·           the current housing land supply position (the ‘five-year’ supply).

Minutes:

The Committee had before it a detailed report of the Acting Director (Planning) (A.1) which reported to it:-

 

(a)    the number of new homes built in Tendring during the 2020/21 financial year and the up-dated year-by-year ‘trajectory’ for future housebuilding; and

 

(b)    the current housing land supply position (the ‘five-year’ supply).

 

Housing Requirement

 

Members were aware that, following successful examination, Section 1 of the Local Plan had been adopted by the full Council on 26 January 2021. Section 1 set out the ‘objectively assessed housing need’ (OAN) for the District of Tendring of 550 homes a year, and the housing requirement for the period of the Local Plan (i.e. 2013-2033) was therefore 11,000 homes.

 

It was reported that, with approximately 4,300 homes already built between 2013 and 2021, the remaining requirement between now and 2033 stood at approximately 6,700.

 

Housing Completions and Future Trajectory

 

The Committee was informed that in the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021, a net total of 646 new homes had been completed in the Tendring District. This meant that the housebuilding target of 550 homes a year had now been achieved for a fifth year in succession. Subsequently, COVID-19 and the associated lockdowns (particularly at the start of the pandemic) had had an impact on housing delivery as many building sites had been forced to shut down operations. However, the impact had not been as severe as expected, and housing delivery last year had been stronger than the Council’s estimates in the 2020 ‘Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment’ (SHLAA). In fact, many developers were expecting to see strong delivery this year and build out rates on some of the larger sites in the District appeared to be strong.

 

Members were made aware that Officers had updated the Council’s SHLAA, which contained a trajectory of predictions for the coming years for future housing building, based on information from developers as well as Officers’ own monitoring of building sites.

 

Five Year Housing Supply and Decision Making

 

The Committee was reminded that the Government required Councils to demonstrate an ongoing ‘five year supply’ of deliverable housing sites in order to ensure that they were well placed to meet their future housing needs. Following the adoption of Section 1 of the Local Plan in January 2021, the Council’s local housing need had been confirmed as 550 homes per year.

 

It was reported that, taking into account the future trajectory set out in the SHLAA, the Council could demonstrate a 6.66 year supply of deliverable housing sites. Around 4,000 homes were expected to be built within the next five years (i.e. 2021/22 to 2025/26), against a five year requirement of about 3,000 homes.

 

Having duly considered and discussed the contents of the report:-

 

It was moved by Councillor Scott, seconded by Councillor Fairley and:-

 

RESOLVED unanimously that the Planning Policy and Local Plan Committee endorses the contents of the report and the new Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) in order to demonstrate an up-to-date housing land supply position for the purposes of determining planning applications and contesting planning appeals.

 

Supporting documents: