Agenda item

Recommendation from the meeting of the Cabinet Planning and Parking Panel on 10 March 2022 on the Local Plan Annual Monitoring Report 2020/21.

Cabinet agreed to the publication of the Annual Monitoring report and, that the Head of Planning be given delegated authority to agree any minor alterations to finalise the AMR, following consultation with the Executive Member for Environment, Planning, Estates and Development.

Recommendation from the meeting of the Cabinet Planning and Parking Panel on 10 March 2022 on the Local Plan Annual Monitoring Report 2020/21.

The Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) covered the period between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021. It reported on a number of social environmental and economic indicators as well as more specific planning indicators related to the performance of the Local Plan.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) Mid-year Population Estimates

·         The AMR presented the most recently available mid-year population estimates, published by the Office for National Statistics. These are the 2020 Mid-year estimates, which estimated Welwyn Hatfield’s population at 123,893 persons. This was an increase of 0.7% on the mid-2019 estimates.

·         These were however estimates and the results of the 2021 Census will confirm the Borough’s population. These were expected to be released around late Spring/early Summer of this year.

Retail Vacancy

·         The AMR reports the Council’s latest retail vacancy survey, which was undertaken following the end of the monitoring year in September/October 2021.

·         Vacancy rates in both Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield Town Centres increased further. In Welwyn Garden City, vacant frontage length increased to 9.9% in 2021 from 8.6% in the 2020 survey.

·         In Hatfield Town Centre vacant frontage also increased, to 21.7% from 16.5% in the 2020 survey. However, part of the vacancy in Hatfield is due to the redevelopment at 1-9 Town Centre.

·         Vacancy at the out-of-town centre, the Galleria, continued to increase to 28.2% in 2021 from 22.4% in 2020.

·         At the neighbourhood centres in Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield vacancy largely remained unchanged, with nine of the 16 centres fully occupied. Vacancy remained unchanged in the Borough’s Northern villages. Meanwhile in the Borough’s Southern villages two units became vacant in Brookmans Park and Cuffley remained unchanged at 5.1% and all units in Welham Green remained occupied, with vacancy at 0%.

Housing Completions

·         Between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021, 352 net new housing units were completed, which included 48 new affordable homes.

·         The local authority level figures published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities , which include new build as well as acquisitions from the private sector, indicate a much higher number of affordable housing additions for Welwyn Hatfield at (358) for the same period.

Future Housing Supply

·         In the absence of an up to date housing target the default housing requirement position is the figure derived from the standard methodology. This takes the average annual household growth projections over a ten-year period as a baseline, then applies an affordability adjustment using the latest median workplace-based affordability ratio. Any increase was capped at 40% of the projected household growth. The AMR sets out that the required number of homes for Welwyn Hatfield, calculated using the standard methodology, had slightly increased to 878 dwellings per annum (for 21/22) from the 875 dpa previously required (in 2020/21). However, since the publication of the Cabinet Paper, the ONS has published data on affordability ratios for 2021/22.  The ONS affordability ratios inform the required number of homes under the standard method.  The latest ratios result in an increase to 888 dwellings per annum for the year 2021/22), a slight increase over the 878 dwellings per annum reported in the AMR. 

·         The Council would also have to produce an updated Housing Delivery Action Plan (which is required by the Housing Delivery Test when delivery over the past three years fall below 95% of the requirement). This will assess the causes of under-delivery and identify actions to increase delivery in future years.

Economy

·         The Borough continued to see a net loss of employment floorspace which totalled just over -2,200m2 in 2020/21.

·         Office loss from permitted development was expected to slow now that many of the earlier opportunities for this type of conversion have now taken place as well as the Article 4 directions which have now taken effect. These mean that planning permission is again required for change of use from office to residential as well as demolition and rebuild of offices to residential, in four of the key employment areas.

·         Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for the number of claimants of Job Seekers Allowance or Universal Credit shows that the rate of claimants in Welwyn Hatfield has been steadily declining since April 2021. The rate of claimants had more than doubled in March 2021 at 4.7%. The latest data for January 2022 still remained someway above the level prior to the pandemic which was now at 3.1% compared with 1.9% in March 2020.

RESOLVED:

(unanimous)

Cabinet agreed to the publication of the Annual Monitoring report and, that the Head of Planning be given delegated authority to agree any minor alterations to finalise the AMR, following consultation with the Executive Member for Environment, Planning, Estates and Development.