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Agenda item

Local Plan Monitoring Report 2019-2020

Purpose:

To consider the Council’s Local Plan Annual Monitoring Report for 2019-2020.

Recommendation:

That the content of the Local Plan Annual Monitoring Report be noted.

 

Minutes:

The Cabinet received the report of the Planning Policy Manager, which asked Members to consider the Council’s Local Plan Annual Monitoring Report for 2019/20.

The report advised that under current legislation, the Council was required to prepare an Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) providing an update on the matters including Progress of the Local Plan; Implementation of Local Plan policies; Neighbourhood Planning; Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL); and How the Council had fulfilled its obligations under the Duty to Co-Operate.

The AMR had to be made available on the Council’s website, at its main offices and any other appropriate locations and a copy of the AMR covering the period 1 April 2019 – 31 March 2020 was attached as an appendix to the report. A brief overview of the main points arising was provided at section 2 of the report.

Councillor Haine proposed the recommendations in the report subject to the following amendments:

Page 20 of 36 – the figure of 32833m2 net should read 33133m2 net;

Figure 10 on page 20 – fourth column labelled ‘Eynsham-Woodstock’, the red area be reduced by 300m2;

Page 21 of 36 – the bottom bullet point be amended to read “Permitted changes of use to residential in 2019-20 would result in a loss of 989m2 employment floorspace, including a scheme to convert offices to residential in Witney and two light industrial to residential schemes approved under permitted development in Bampton and Burford”.

Councillor Haine thanked officers for their work on the report, in particular Chris Hargraves and his team and highlighted the key sections in the report.  He brought Members attention to section 2.21, which advised that 1086 new homes had been completed in the District with affordable housing making up 454 of that number.

The proposal was seconded by Councillor Davies, who agreed that officers had put together a positive and comprehensive overview.

Councillor Graham asked questions relating to an update on the provision of Gypsy and Traveller Sites, registration of self-build properties and the need for infrastructure to keep pace with the development of housing.

In response, Councillor Haine agreed that infrastructure was a vital piece of the process and assured him that the Council was doing everything it could to improve it.  He also advised that he would get back to Councillor Graham about the Gypsy and Traveller information.

Councillor Leffman noted that the past 12 months had brought about a large amount of change and queried how this may impact on next years’ report.  She asked if the report could be produced earlier for the 2021 period.  Councillor Haine stated he would note the request and advised that at present, the report was planned for Autumn 2021.

Comments were made relating to the use of colours in the pie charts, which were sometimes hard to distinguish, the drop in numbers on the Council’s housing waiting list, the delivery of affordable housing targets and how greater investment was encouraged from Thames Water and the Environment Agency.

In response to a query from Councillor Postan, Councillor Haine advised that officers had communicated with Parish Councils regarding the creation of their Neighbourhood Plans and had encouraged them to develop them.  However, despite the potential increase in CIL contributions it was noted that this was often a time consuming exercise for the parishes.

Councillor Poskitt referenced the Woodstock Neighbourhood Plan, which mainly focused on Green Spaces and queried if the town would benefit from higher levels of CIL as a result.  Councillor Haine advised he would respond after the meeting.

Having considered the report and having heard from the officers present, Cabinet approved the recommendations.

DECISION: That the content of the Local Plan Annual Monitoring report be noted.

REASONS: To give Councillors the opportunity to consider the content of the AMR, which the Council was required to prepare under current legislation.

OPTIONS: Councillors could choose to request amendments or agree the document as written.

 

Supporting documents:

 

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