Agenda item

(Planning Policy Portfolio Holder) To consider the attached report (C-033-2015/16).

(Planning Policy Portfolio Holder) The following background papers are attached:

1.         West Essex/East Herts Strategic Housing Market Assessment.

(1)        That the findings of the updated Strategic Housing Market Assessment be noted and accepted into the Local Plan Evidence Base.

The Portfolio Holder for Planning Policy presented a report on the Strategic Housing Market Assessment.

The Portfolio Holder stated that the existing Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA), which covered the Epping Forest District (along with the East Herts, Harlow and Uttlesford Districts), was out of date and required revision. A revised, robust SHMA had been prepared by consultants, covering the same four districts, and complied with the current requirements in the National Planning Policy Framework, the Planning Practice Guidance and technical advice from the Planning Advisory Service. The revised SHMA had reconsidered the factors defining a Housing Market Area, and had found that the four Districts still formed an effective Housing Market Area. The SHMA had then proceeded to assess housing need on that basis.

The Portfolio Holder advised the Cabinet that the revised SHMA provided figures for the Objectively Assessed Housing Need (OAHN) for the Epping Forest District, and the other three Districts named above. For the Epping Forest District, the OAHN had been calculated as 11,300 additional dwellings over the Local Plan period of 2011 – 2033. This figure for OAHN was not the final housing target, but an important step towards establishing one. The Council now had to take account of a number of Policy and Supply Factors to arrive at the final Housing Provision Target. It was recommended that the revised SHMA be accepted into the Local Plan Evidence Base, so that it could be balanced along with all the other evidence, to help find the eventual future housing target for the District through the Local Plan process.

The Portfolio Holder added that the Council was not looking for economic growth within the District per se, as the Council’s main priority within the Local Plan was the protection of the Metropolitan Green Belt. The Council would inquire of the other Councils within the Housing Market Area whether they would be willing to accept some of Epping Forest’s Housing Need to fuel their own economic growth.

It was highlighted to the Cabinet that, although there was a breakdown between affordable rented housing and intermediate housing within the SHMA, recent Government announcements on requirements for ‘starter homes’ meant that in future there might be more reliance on affordable housing for purchase rather than building affordable housing for rent. The Government had not yet released many details on the likely future requirements regarding ‘starter homes’. The Senior Planning Policy Officer emphasised that the SHMA was linked to the Joint Economic Report considered earlier in the meeting, and took account of residents in the District commuting to work in London. It was possible that some of the District’s housing numbers could, through negotiation, be allocated to Uttlesford, for example, to provide for additional workers for the planned expansion of Stansted Airport.

Decision:

(1)        That the findings of the updated Strategic Housing Market Assessment be noted and accepted into the Local Plan Evidence Base.

Reasons for Decision:

To ensure that the Evidence Base for the new Local Plan included a robust and up to date SHMA, conforming to national policy and guidance, and demonstrating cross border co-operation. This was fundamental to preparing a Local Plan which could be found ‘sound’ at Examination in Public.

Other Options Considered and Rejected:

To not include the updated SHMA into the Local Plan Evidence Base. However, this would jeopardise the Local Plan timetable, and risk the new Local Plan being found unsound at the Examination in Public stage. Also, as the updated SHMA was a joint study with three other authorities in the Housing Market Area (East Herts, Harlow and Uttlesford District Councils), even if it were not accepted by this Council into the Local Plan Evidence Base, it was extremely likely to appear in the other authorities’ Evidence Bases, and so would be public and in use within our Housing Market Area.