Agenda item

A report of the Head of Planning and Regeneration to enable the members of the Committee to be consulted on the Draft Charnwood Local Plan 2019-36.

A report of the Head of Planning and Regeneration, to enable the members of the Committee to be consulted on the Draft Charnwood Local Plan 2019-36, was submitted (item 8 on the agenda filed with these minutes).

The Head of Planning and Regeneration and the Group Leader for Plans, Policy and Place Making assisted with consideration of the item and gave the following responses to questions raised:

      i.        Once it had been adopted, the Local Plan 2019-36 would supersede the Housing Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) (2017).

    ii.        The draft Local Plan continued the approach set out in the Housing SDP of using a threshold approach. In high concentration areas, the threshold would be considered as part of the balance of issues in the decision-making process.

   iii.        The development west of Snells Nook Lane had been through a formal testing process. The planning application included an analysis of the possible impacts of the development at the Priory crossroads. The evidence had satisfied the highway authority, with the proposed schedule of infrastructure improvements planned to mitigate the impacts. The developers were not required to mitigate existing traffic problems, only those that arise as a consequence of their proposal.

   iv.        Purpose built student accommodation blocks were not included within the calculations for thresholds on HMO applications. This was due to student accommodation blocks often being too large to entirely fit into the 100m radius used. The proximity of Halls of Residents and purpose-built student accommodation was taken into account in the decision-making process.

    v.        There was currently no evidence to support the comprehensive restriction of HMOs in Loughborough. A saturation threshold was used to identify tipping points in communities, in which one section of a community had become dominant. Each applicant was considered individually to ensure an appropriate balance was maintained.  Available evidence indicated that approximately 50% of HMOs were not occupied by students, providing an important part of the housing market for the town.

   vi.        Both Cabinet and the Scrutiny Management Board had confirmed that  recommendations of previous scrutiny panels set up to review the impact of student accommodation in Loughborough had all been satisfactorily implemented.

  vii.        A range of options, including the concentration and dispersal of new homes, were contemplated in the formulation of the draft Local Plan 2019-36, as well as the options of a new settlement in Cotes. Urban concentration and intensification was the preferred model, a decision based upon evidence and local priorities. The Sustainability Appraisal demonstrated the assessment of options and formed part of the consultation documentation.

 viii.        The Council was not a major landowner and this was an issue with regards to the potential for building new local authority owned social housing for rent.

RESOLVED that the members of the Committee considered the Draft Charnwood Local Plan 2019-36 as it related to Loughborough and that Members provided their responses through the consultation process including;

·         The consideration of re-establishing reference to instances where the impacts of new HMOs in the area with an already high concentration might be considered acceptable, preferably with similar wording to that used previously in the supplementary planning documentation from 2017 (4.11).

·         A high degree of transparency should be communicated to residents across Charnwood, and in particular in Nanpantan, where there would be considerable development planned. Further consultation would be desirable.

·         The consideration of including purpose built student accommodation in the calculations for the threshold during the decision-making process on HMO applications.

·         The consideration that there should be no more family homes in Loughborough converted into HMOs.

·         The consideration of alternative locations for growth as there were existing infrastructure concerns within and around the Loughborough area, specifically heavy traffic, which could worsen with the additional developments proposed.

Reason

To perform the Committee’s function to be consulted on matters of policy and strategic direction which relate to or affect the Loughborough town area.