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Agenda item

Affordable Housing Revised Draft SPD Consultation

Purpose

To consider the revised draft Affordable Housing SPD and provide comment where necessary.

Recommendation

That the report be noted and a consultation response formulated.

Minutes:

The Committee considered the report of the Planning Policy Manager who gave a brief introduction to the supplementary planning document which was in need of updating with the previous version having been adopted in 2007.  The draft document was currently the subject of consultation, which would close on 16 April 2021 after which point a final version would be prepared for adoption later in the year. 

Comments and queries from Members related to issues such as:

The policy on working with travelling communities and park home sites and whether this should be included in the document; making sure that local people with housing need were being provided with housing locally.  Officers explained that the document would be of relevance to those members of the travelling community who are seeking affordable ‘bricks and mortar’ accommodation and that the issue of prioritising people for new affordable homes was determined through the Council’s choice based lettings system. Officers also explained that the Local Plan includes a commitment to accommodate a proportion of unmet need from Oxford City.

Concern was expressed over the size of houses being built, with larger houses such as four and five bedroomed houses dominating and not meeting the identified need for smaller 2 and 3-bed accommodation. 

Officers explained that there is a predominance of larger properties within West Oxfordshire’s existing housing stock and that in permitting new developments, there is a need to encourage smaller units to help counter-balance this, with a number of recent instances where developers were revising schemes and applying for smaller houses.

The question was also raised as to whether affordable unit size requirements could be broken down by the different bands that are used for the Council’s choice based lettings system. Officers agreed to try and obtain this information outside of the meeting.

It was also suggested that the Council should be encouraging people to register for self-build or custom building housing and requested that Officers should provide greater publicity of the Council’s self-build register.

The issue of ‘pepper-potting’ affordable homes amongst other market homes was also raised and whether this was addressed in the SPD. In response, Officers clarified that this issue is addressed with reference to ‘clusters’ of new affordable homes. 

The issue of Oxfordshire County Council’s market position statement on supported living was raised and the question asked as to whether information was being captured on independent providers who were providing housing and supported day time care, on a small scale for people who would otherwise be on the housing list. Officers agreed to further consider this in discussion with Oxfordshire County Council. 

The approach to energy and sustainable housing was raised, with a concern expressed that the revised draft SPD was now less ambitious and rather more vague than the previous iteration in respect of energy efficiency and sustainable design.  In response, Officers explained that the revised text reflects concerns raised by a number of previous respondents that the SPD cannot go beyond the adopted Local Plan in terms of stipulating requirements of new development (e.g. zero carbon).

Keyworkers were mentioned in the housing for essential local workers, one category, of which was teachers.  The Chair requested that keyworkers should also include support staff who play a vital role alongside teaching staff.  

RESOLVED that the report be noted and a consultation response be formulated.

 

 

Supporting documents:

 

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