Bassetlaw District Council the Bassetlaw Plan Planning Policy Queen’S Buildings Potter Street Worksop Nottinghamshire S80 2AH
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Bassetlaw District Council The Bassetlaw Plan Planning Policy Queen’s Buildings Potter Street Worksop Nottinghamshire S80 2AH SENT BY E-MAIL ONLY TO [email protected] 26 February 2020 Dear Sir / Madam BASSETLAW DRAFT LOCAL PLAN CONSULTATION Introduction Thank you for consulting with the Home Builders Federation (HBF) on the above-mentioned consultation. The HBF is the principal representative body of the house-building industry in England and Wales. Our representations reflect the views of our membership, which includes multi-national PLC’s, regional developers and small local builders. In any one year, our members account for over 80% of all new “for sale” market housing built in England and Wales as well as a large proportion of newly built affordable housing. We would like to submit the following representations. Duty to Co-operate As set out in the 2019 National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the Council is under a Duty to Co-operate with other Local Planning Authorities (LPA) and prescribed bodies on strategic matters that cross administrative boundaries (para 24). This collaboration should identify the relevant strategic matters to be addressed (para 25). Effective and on-going joint working is integral to the production of a positively prepared and justified strategy (para 26). The Council should demonstrate such working by the preparation and maintenance of one or more Statements of Common Ground (SoCG) identifying the cross-boundary matters to be addressed and the progress of co-operation in addressing these matters. A SoCG should be made publicly available throughout the plan-making process to provide transparency (para 27). The Bassetlaw Local Plan should be based on effective joint working on cross boundary strategic matters that have been dealt with rather than deferred as evidenced by a SoCG (para 35c). To fully meet the legal requirements of the Duty to Co-operate, the Council should engage on a constructive, active and on-going basis with neighbouring authorities to maximise the effectiveness of plan-making. A key element of Local Plan Examination is ensuring that there is certainty through formal agreements that an effective strategy is in place to deal with strategic matters when Local Plans are adopted (ID : 61-010-20190315 & 61-031-20190315). As explained in the latest National Planning Practice Guidance (NPPG), a SoCG sets out where effective co-operation is and is not happening throughout the plan-making process (ID : 61-010-20190315). The NPPG also sets out that by the time of publication of a Draft Plan, a SoCG should be available on the Council’s website. Once published, the Council should ensure that the SoCG continues to reflect the most up-to-date position of joint working (ID : 61-020- 20190315). The HBF note that there is no SoCG available in the Council’s supporting evidence for this Draft Local Plan consultation. This omission should be rectified by the Council. The Local Plan should be prepared through joint working on cross boundary issues such as where housing needs cannot be wholly met within the administrative areas of individual authorities. As set out in the 2019 NPPF, the Local Plan should be positively prepared and provide a strategy which as a minimum seeks to meet its own local housing needs in full and is informed by agreements with other authorities so that unmet need from neighbouring areas is accommodated (para 35a). Bassetlaw District adjoins seven other LPAs, which are Bolsover, Doncaster, Mansfield, Newark & Sherwood, North Lincolnshire, Rotherham, and West Lindsey. It has been determined that Bassetlaw District Council is a part of the North Derbyshire & Bassetlaw Housing Market Area (HMA) together with North East Derbyshire, Bolsover and Chesterfield Councils. There is also an identified overlap between this HMA and the Sheffield City Region HMA (including neighbouring authorities of Doncaster & Rotherham) with recognised functional economic links between the two HMAs. Bassetlaw is a full member of the Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). Bassetlaw is also part of the Sheffield City Region Combined Authority but no longer a member of its LEP. It is understood that the Council is proposing to deliver all its development requirements within its own boundaries and no requests to address the development needs of neighbouring local authorities have been received. However it is known that the Inspector’s Interim Findings on the North East Derbyshire Local Plan Examination indicated an insufficient land supply in years 6 -10 to meet housing needs with potential implications across the HMA. An agreed position should be set out in a signed SoCG, which should be publicly available. The HBF may submit further representations on the Council’s compliance with the Duty to Co-operate and any implications for the soundness of the Local Plan during the pre-submission Local Plan consultation, which is expected to be held in September 2020. 2 Local Housing Needs (LHN) and Housing Requirement Under the 2019 NPPF, the Council should establish a housing requirement figure for their whole area (para 65). As set out in the 2019 NPPF, the determination of the minimum number of homes needed should be informed by an LHN assessment using the Government’s standard methodology unless exceptional circumstances justify an alternative approach (para 60). The standard methodology is set out in the updated NPPG. The LHN for Bassetlaw is set out in the Council’s Spatial Strategy Background Paper dated January 2020. Bassetlaw’s minimum LHN is calculated as 306 dwellings per annum between 2018 – 2037. This calculation is based on 2014 Sub National Household Projections (SNHP), 2018 as the current year and 2018 affordability ratio of 6.21. The calculation is mathematically correct. As set out in the NPPG, the LHN is calculated at the start of the plan-making process however this number should be kept under review until the Local Plan is submitted for examination and revised when appropriate (ID 2a-008- 20190220). The minimum LHN for Bassetlaw may change as inputs are variable and this should be taken into consideration by the Council. The Government’s standard methodology identifies the minimum annual LHN. It does not produce a housing requirement figure (ID : 2a-002-20190220). LHN assessment is only a minimum starting point. The Government’s objective of significantly boosting the supply of homes as set out in the 2019 NPPF remains (para 59). Any ambitions to support economic growth, to deliver affordable housing and to meet unmet housing needs from elsewhere may necessitate a housing requirement figure above the minimum LHN. In Bassetlaw, there is justification for a housing requirement above the minimum LHN. The NPPG indicates that if previous housing delivery has exceeded the minimum LHN, the Council should consider whether this level of delivery is indicative of greater housing need (ID : 2a-010-20190220). In Bassetlaw, housing delivery between 2010 - 2018 has averaged 329 dwellings per annum. The NPPG also recommends that recent assessments of housing needs should be considered too (ID : 2a-010-20190220). The Council’s latest Objective Assessment of Housing Need (OAHN) is set out in North Derbyshire & Bassetlaw OAN Update Final Report dated October 2017 by G L Hearn. This SHMA identified the following housing needs for Bassetlaw :- • 340 dwellings per annum based on a demographic calculation comprising of 2014 Sub National Population Projections (SNPP) plus adjustments for 10 year migration trends & household formation rates in younger age groups ; • 374 dwellings per annum with an uplift to enhance affordable housing delivery ; and • 417 dwellings per annum to align housing / jobs and to support an ambitious economic growth scenario (4,800 jobs). 3 As set out in the recently published Planning Inspectorate Guidance for Local Plan Examination, evidence base documents, especially those relating to development needs and land availability, that date from two or more years before the examination submission date of a Local Plan may be at risk of having been overtaken by events, particularly as they may rely on data that is even older. Any such documents should be updated as necessary to incorporate the most recent available information. The Council has prudently reviewed and updated its assessment of housing needs. Jobs growth in Bassetlaw will generate a need for an increased labour supply to meet increasing employment demand, which will in turn lead to a need for new homes to accommodate the new population. The 2018 Economic Development Needs Assessment (EDNA) by G L Hearn uses three economic forecasting models from Oxford Economics (OE), Cambridge Econometrics, and Experian to assess jobs growth over the plan period and to inform the number of new homes required to support such jobs growth. In the District over the last decade or more, evidence of the strong performance of the transport and manufacturing sectors implies that uplifted scenarios to the baseline economic forecasts are appropriate. After the inclusion of uplifts to the transport and manufacturing sectors, the OE forecasts are considered to reflect the District’s economy. The OE midpoint has been identified as the expected future economic scenario. This results in an increase of 3,400 jobs to 2035, which in turn results in a need for an increase of 3,323 people in the resident labour supply. This translates into an economic led housing need of 390 dwellings per annum. A market for commercial development along the A1 corridor in the north of the District is emerging, which will serve a sub-regional market for distribution and industrial land that may exceed historic competitions. When jobs growth of 3,400 to 2035 is projected forward to 2037 (5550 jobs), the EDNA 2019 identifies a housing requirement of minimum 478 dwellings per annum. The NPPG states that total affordable housing need should be considered in the context of its likely delivery as a proportion of mixed market and affordable housing developments.