Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Ben Mabbett.

To adopt and sign as a correct record the minutes of the committee meeting held on 26 March 2015 (previously published). 

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 March 2015 were agreed as a correct record and were signed by the Chairman as such.

Matters arising

Sc.214: The Chairman reported that the former Chairman had handed over to her his correspondence with the Chief Executive of Sovereign Housing Association.  It was agreed that the Chief Executive be invited to the next meeting to report on the housing association’s arrangements with the Council.

Sc.217: A member asked whether sample correspondence regarding the council tax reduction scheme had been circulated, as agreed at the last meeting.  Officers agreed to check and, if this had not been done, to circulate the correspondence as soon as possible.

Sc.218: The Strategic Director reported that the draft Homelessness Strategy 2015-2020 had been sent out for consultation and the response had been extremely positive. The priority was to publish the approved Strategy as soon as possible and, accordingly, it would not now be going to Joint Scrutiny Committee in October.

None.

None

The Committee received three requests to address the meeting.

1 Julie Mabberley made a statement on behalf of the Wantage and Grove Campaign Group as follows:

“We note that the District Council appears to be agreeing not only that Oxford City will have an unmet housing need but that the Vale has the capacity to take it.

We would remind the Scrutiny Committee that next month the Inspector will examine the need for housing of 20,560 new dwellings as set out in Local Plan Part 1, and is questioning if the figures are soundly based and supported by robust and credible evidence.

We dispute the SHMA figures and would ask that the SHMA be revisited in the light of new evidence. In particular:

1.    The evidence provided by West Oxfordshire Council in their recent Housing Position Statement.

2.    The evidence provided by government statistics which show that employment in the Vale of the White Horse has actually decreased between 2001 and 2015.

3.    The evidence that population growth in the Vale since 2001 is only 0.6% per annum but almost entirely in the over 65 age group.

4.   
The evidence that the maximum number of dwellings completed in the Vale of the White Horse in any year since 1994 is 810 and the average over the last 20 years is 402 per year yet the SHMA requires an average of 1028 – more than 250% of the average over the last 20years (without any addition from Oxford).

Even after the housing need assessed in the SHMA has been revisited, the Council has a duty to ensure that the need can be met in accordance with the objectives of the
NPPF.

This means that any new developments to meet the housing need in the Vale must be sustainable with:

·         increased traffic congestion on roads already admitted to be over 95% capacity,

·         increased carbon emissions counter to the EU requirements,

·         reductions in emergency services (evidenced by the articles in the Herald
this week about reductions in police services and a 2½ wait for an
emergency ambulance in Wantage)

·         an existing and projected shortage of school places

·         reductions in public transport and

·         no increase in net employment to date.

You must also be able to provide evidence that this growth in housing can be achieved with:

·         Sufficient construction workers and materials when similar targets are being imposed all around the country,

·         Sufficient employment opportunities forthcoming to provide the demand,

·         Sufficient key infrastructure (schools, medical facilities, leisure facilities, public transport etc.) provided in a timely manner to make the new dwellings attractive to buyers,

·         Sufficient profits generated for developers to encourage them to continue building at this rate, and

·         Incomes sufficient to make the dwellings affordable.

We do not believe that the Vale has the capacity to absorb the level of housing need included in Local Plan Part 1 and believe that your plan has already defined a number of homes required each year which exceeds anything which can be achieved  ...  view the full minutes text for item Sc5

The report sets out a high level approach for the council to address its share of any unmet housing need arising from elsewhere in Oxfordshire, once the scale of the need has been defined and evidenced. Scrutiny is asked to consider the proposals set out in the Cabinet Report of 7 August 2015 on ‘Planning to address Oxford unmet housing need in Vale of White Horse.’ Following consideration of the views of the Scrutiny Committee, the Leader (in the absence of the Cabinet member for planning policy) will take an individual Cabinet member decision confirming the decision on this matter. 

Report of the Head of Planning attached

The Committee considered an approach, as set out in the head of planning’s report to Cabinet on 7 August to address the Council’s share of any unmet housing need arising from elsewhere in Oxfordshire. Although Cabinet had been minded to endorse the report’s proposals it had invited the Scrutiny Committee’s views following which the Leader (in the absence of the Cabinet member for planning policy) would be making an individual Cabinet member decision.

Accordingly the Leader and the head of planning attended to introduce the report and answer members’ questions.

The Leader thanked the members of the public for their comments (Sc.5 above refers) and stated that the purpose of the report was to set out a high level approach to address Oxford City’s unmet housing need, once defined and justified and to begin planning for the likelihood that some additional housing might need to be accommodated in the Vale of White Horse.  Accordingly, it was sensible to begin planning now whilst recognising that the quantity of unmet housing need had yet to be quantified, based on evidence.

The head of planning reported that, following the recent Court of Appeal judgement, the reference to affordable housing provision in paragraph 15 (i) of the report no longer applied.  However this would have no significant impact on the other figures in the report.

The Leader reported Cabinet’s view that the most appropriate way to determine the correct level of unmet housing need was for Oxford City to review its local plan. Following the motion passed at the Council meeting on 16 July 2015, the Leader had written to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government asking him to intervene and compel Oxford City to review its local plan.  To date there had been no response.

In response to questions regarding Oxford City, the Leader expressed the following views:

·         Oxford City had allocated too much land for economic development and not enough for housing;

·         there were other brownfield sites that could be released for housing within the City;

·         Oxford City had identified capacity for 10,000 new homes for the period up to 2031 whereas Cherwell, South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse District Councils had commissioned a study which indicated that Oxford had capacity for 16,000 homes over the same period.

·         Oxford City had the same obligation as the other Oxfordshire districts to co-operate. However, without an examination of their new local plan it could not be compelled to take further action without the Secretary of State intervening.  Although the Leader considered the City’s local plan to be out of date, it would not expire until 2026.

The report proposed that in considering unmet housing need, the Council should also consider how options accord with the spatial strategy set out in the Vale Local Plan Part1 (LPP1. It suggested that the starting point should be the three sub-areas as defined in Core Policy 3 of LPP1:

i.      Abingdon-on-Thames and the Oxford Fringe Sub-Area

ii.     South East Vale Sub-Area  ...  view the full minutes text for item Sc6

To review the attached scrutiny work schedule. Please note, although the dates are confirmed, the items under consideration are subject to being withdrawn, added to or rearranged without further notice.

The Committee reviewed its work programme and agreed that an updated Section 106 planning obligations monitoring report should be submitted to the Committee in the autumn.