London Borough of Hillingdon LOCAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK AFFORDABLE HOUSING SUPPLEMENTARY PLANNING DOCUMENT (2006) STATEMENTS OF CONSULTATION AND SUSTAINABILITY APPRAISAL Policy and Environmental Planning Team Planning and Transportation Group London Borough of Hillingdon MAY 2006 0 Statements of Consultation and Sustainability Appraisal CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION 2.0 CONSULTATION STATEMENT 2.1 Consultation arrangements 2.2 Comments received 3.0 SUSTAINABILITY APPRAISAL (SA) 3.1 Purpose of this statement and the questions it responds to 3.2 Integration of environmental considerations 3.3 Consultation 3.4 Reasons for choosing the adopted SPD 3.5 Monitoring 4.0 OUTCOME APPENDICES APPENDIX 1 – List of SPD and Sustainability Appraisal consultees APPENDIX 2 – Summary of representations and the council’s response Affordable Housing SPD London Borough of Hillingdon 1 Statements of Consultation and Sustainability Appraisal 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 This document accompanies the adopted Hillingdon Affordable Housing SPD and it brings together the requirements under the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive (2001) and the Town and Country Planning Act 2004 for the preparation of both a Sustainability Appraisal Statement and a Consultation Statement at the adoption stage of any Supplementary Planning Document. 1.2 The Consultation Statement (Section 2 of this document) sets out the public participation and consultation process undertaken for the Affordable Housing SPD in accordance with regulation 18 (4) (b) of the Town and Country Planning (local Development) (England) Regulations 2004. 1.3 The preparation of the Sustainability Appraisal Statement (section 3 of this document) responds to the requirements of Article 9 of European Directive 2001/42/EC (Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive), the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s ‘Sustainability Appraisal for Regional Spatial Strategies and Local Development Documents’ (2005) and ‘Environmental Assessment of Plans and Regulations’, (2004). 1.4 The Cabinet Members of the London Borough of Hillingdon considered and endorsed the representations to the draft Affordable Housing SPD and its recommended changes on 9th March 2006. Affordable Housing SPD London Borough of Hillingdon 2 Statements of Consultation and Sustainability Appraisal 2.0 CONSULTATION STATEMENT 2.1 The requirement for the preparation of the Affordable Housing SPD is set within the Local Development Scheme (LDS) in Hillingdon’s Local Development Framework which was endorsed in July 2004 by Cabinet Members and signed off with the Government Office for London in April 2005. 2.2 Initial Affordable Housing Issues were raised in the LDF Issues and Options consultation in March/April 2005. At this stage 3 workshops with members of the public took place during the 6 weeks consultation and a further two workshops took place following the close of the consultation. 2.3 The LDF Stakeholder Working Group and Corporate Officers Working Group were involved in the preparation of all LDF documents including this SPD. 2.4 The Cabinet Members endorsed the Draft Affordable Housing SPD for public consultation on 9th of September 2005 and agreed that the results of the consultation were to be reported to Cabinet Members at a future meeting. 2.5 The Affordable Housing SPD is one of the Local Development Framework Documents in the LDS and therefore its sustainability was scoped as part of the main LDF Sustainability Scoping Report and the Sustainability Appraisal for the LDF Issues and Options. In addition, a Sustainability Appraisal was undertaken alongside the draft SPD. 2.1 Consultation arrangements 2.1.1 Evidence gathering took place from mid 2004 to mid 2005 and involved working partnerships with Social Services and Housing, the ALG Affordable Housing Working Group and the LDF Issues and Options Consultation. Data was updated as part of the Housing Needs Survey Update 2001 and the progress with the London Housing Capacity Study and the West London sub-regional development Framework and the Sustainability Appraisal Baseline data. 2.1.2 The preparation of the draft SPD took place alongside the LDF Core Strategy and the LDF Working Groups fed into its preparation. The LDF Stakeholder Working Group met in April 2005 and February 2006 the LDF Corporate Officers Working Group met in April 2005, August 2005 and January 2006. Individual meetings took place on a monthly basis with Social Services and Housing. 2.1.3 Cabinet Members endorsed the draft SPD for public consultation on 9 September 2005. Affordable Housing SPD London Borough of Hillingdon 3 Statements of Consultation and Sustainability Appraisal 2.1.4 Statutory consultation (public participation) on the draft SPD and its sustainability appraisal took place for six weeks and it was carried out from 12 October 2005 to 23 November 2005. This included (in accordance with the Statement of Community Involvement): • Advertisement in local press on the 12th and13th October (being the Uxbridge and West Drayton Gazette, Ruislip and Northwood Gazette, Hayes and Harlington Gazette, Uxbridge and HillingdonTimes. An advert was placed in the Talking Newspaper and ‘Hillingdon People’, the quarterly magazine sent to all Hillingdon’s households included an article announcing the consultation. • Notification by letter to statutory authorities, stakeholders, organisations, community groups, schools and other interested parties (1296 individual and organisations). The consultees are identified in Appendix 1. • Placement of documents at all 17 Hillingdon libraries, Hayes One– Stop-Shop and the Civic Centre (Planning and Transportation Group reception). A CD-Rom with power point presentation and voiceovers in 7 different languages advertised through posters in 7 different languages in the libraries and Hayes One-Stop-Shop and regular adverts on local radio stations in English, Punjabi and Hindi. • Public events - road shows, workshops, forums and partnerships events. This included publicity and officer’s presence at Brunel University Careers Fair and Council’s Democracy Week, the LDF Road Show (8 half days where officers met the general public at different locations in the borough), three public meetings for the LDF at (Uxbridge, Ruislip and Hayes). Connecting Communities LDF discussion groups took place in Hayes and Uxbridge Civic Centre. • Individual meetings with the following stakeholders took place in early 2006: − Metropolitan Police – November 2005 − Government Office for London – January 2006 − Ministry of Defence – January 2006 − Highways Agency – February 2006 − Environment Agency – February 2006 • Meetings with the 4 Council Forums during the October- November consultation period 2.1.5 Appendix 1 contains further details on consultation arrangements, a copy of the public notice and the consultation list. Affordable Housing SPD London Borough of Hillingdon 4 Statements of Consultation and Sustainability Appraisal 2.2 Comments received 2.2.1 The SPD received 142 representations. Comments were received from 12 organisations, 8 Specific Consultees (Statutory Consultees), one local resident, one Resident Association (South Ruislip) and one Housing Association. 2.2.2 The main issues raised during the public consultation on the Draft SPD relate to the requirements of affordable housing on privately developed sites: (i) Lowering the threshold for the provision of affordable housing to sites of ‘at least 0.5 hectares’ or sites capable of accommodating ‘at least 15 units per hectare’. (ii) The requirement of 45% affordable provision on sites capable of achieving at least 250 hr/ha and 35% on any other sites. 2.2.3 A number of representations queried the status of the Affordable Housing SPD. 2.2.4 Appendix 1 contains the representations made to this SPD and the Council’s response. The representations are also available at the Council’s website on www.hillingdon.gov.uk/LDF 2.2.5 The draft SPD was reviewed in light of the representations received and further discussions with the LDF Corporate Officers and Stakeholders Working Groups, Government Office for London and the Greater London Authority. The following changes were made: D SPD Summary of main changes made to Specific point of objection and/or changes in r a the SPD planning policy addressed f t 1 Listing of the material considerations A number of representations questioned the which lead to the preparation and weight it should be given to the provisions in the adoption of the SPD SPD whilst there are still outstanding objections to the policies set out in the LDF Core Strategy 3 Clarification of Housing Need Survey One consultee questioned the robustness of the finding as part of the material Housing Needs Survey Update (2005). considerations which support the SPD’s provisions 4.1 In acknowledgement of the need for a The changes to the SPD reflect the policy balance to be achieved between the change in the LDF Core Strategy and responds need for affordable housing and the to: economic viability of development • a greater emphasis on draft PPS3 on the proposals, DC44 (now DC58) was economics of housing development; amended to require the maximum • objections requiring a level of flexibility to be reasonable affordable housing applied to the policy to take into account the provision from privately developed economics of affordable housing provision; sites demonstrated through an • the draft policy’s capability to meet the overall economic viability assessment. The strategic affordable housing requirements in Council take the 50%