Agenda item

To report to the Planning Policy and Local Plan Committee:

·      The findings of the most recently updated Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) including:

o  The number of new homes built in Tendring during the 2021/22 financial year and the up-dated year-by-year ‘trajectory’ for future housebuilding; and

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

·      The findings of the Authorities Monitoring Report (AMR), which monitors the key indicators set out in the adopted Local Plan.

The Committee considered a detailed report of the Director (Planning) (A.2) which reported to it:-

(1)    the findings of the most recently updated Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) including:

(i)  the number of new homes built in Tendring during the 2022/23 financial year and the up-dated year-by-year ‘trajectory’ for future housebuilding; and

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

(2)    the findings of the Authority’s Monitoring Report (AMR), which monitored the key indicators set out in the adopted Local Plan.

Housing Supply Position

Housing Requirement

The Committee was aware that Section 1 of the Local Plan set out the ‘objectively assessed housing need’ (OAN) for Tendring of 550 homes a year, and that the housing requirement for the period of the Local Plan 2013-2033 was therefore 11,000 homes. With approximately 5,850 homes already built between 2013 and 2023, the remaining requirement between now and 2033 stood at approximately 5,150 and the historic shortfall in housing delivery had now been addressed. Officers felt that there was sufficient land allocated for housing development in the adopted Local Plan, along with sites that already had planning permission, to comfortably achieve the District’s housing requirement up to 2033 without the need to consider the release of additional sites. The Council would however, as part of the mandatory five-year Local Plan review, revisit the housing requirement in order to comply with the latest national planning policies and to meet longer-term needs over the rolled-forward plan period.

Housing Completions and Future Trajectory

It was reported that in the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023, a total of 810 (net) new homes had been completed within the District. This meant that the housebuilding target of 550 homes a year had now been achieved for a seventh year in succession.

Officers had updated the Council’s ‘Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment’ (SHLAA) which contained a trajectory for future housing building up to 2033. Information from developers as well as Officers’ own monitoring of building sites had informed the forecast for the coming years.

Five Year Housing Supply and Decision Making

Members were aware 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.

Taking into account the future trajectory set out in the SHLAA, it was the opinion of Officers that the Council could demonstrate a 6.44 year supply of deliverable housing sites. Around 3,700 homes were expected to be built within the five years 2023/24 – 2027/28, against a five-year requirement of approximately 2,900 homes. This meant that the Council remained in a strong position to resist speculative and unwanted housing developments that fell outside of the settlement development boundaries set out within the Local Plan unless there were material benefits that might exceptionally justify a departure from Local Plan policy.

Authority’s Monitoring Report

The Committee was informed that, following the first full financial year since the adoption of the Local Plan, Officers had prepared the Authority’s Monitoring Report (AMR) which presented high level information in relation to the key indicators set out in the monitoring chapter of the Local Plan.

The AMR included chapters relating to the Local Development Scheme, Housing Delivery, and Employment, Commercial and Retail development. There was also information about the provision of infrastructure and community facilities, protection of the natural and historic environments, and the Tourism Strategy.

The structure of the report would enable an annual update that would be beneficial to the process of reviewing and updating the Local Plan.

The Planning Policy Team Leader (Paul Woods) gave a detailed oral presentation that highlighted the salient points of the information contained within report A.2 on the SHLAA and the AMR. He drew the Committee’s attention to typing errors in three places within that report that referred to the financial year 2021/22. However, the data being reported was in fact for the period 1^st April 2022 – 31^st March 2023 (i.e. the financial year 2022/23).

Mr. Woods also referred to the fact that, under the newly released NPPF, Local Planning Authorities (such as Tendring District Council) with an up-to-date Local Plan (i.e. less than five years from adoption) were no longer required to demonstrate annually that they could identify a five year housing land supply for decision-making purposes, if their adopted Local Plan had identified at least a five year supply of specific, deliverable sites at the time that its examination had been concluded. However, he felt that the SHLAA was a useful document to have so Officers intended to continue to make that annual calculation.

Mr. Woods then responded to Members’ questions in relation to the above.

At the invitation of the Chairman, the Housing & Planning Portfolio Holder (Councillor Baker) commented on the contents of report A.2.

Having duly discussed this matter:-

It was moved by Councillor Fairley, seconded by Councillor Bush and unanimously:-

RESOLVED that the Planning Policy and Local Plan Committee -

(a)    endorses the contents of report A.2;

(b)    notes that the new Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment demonstrates an up-to-date housing land supply position for the purposes of determining planning applications and contesting planning appeals; and

(c)    notes that the Authority Monitoring Report forms a baseline assessment of the key monitoring indicators set out in the Local Plan which will help inform the upcoming review of the Local Plan.