Agenda item

Report of the Executive Director (Place) on the Housing Delivery Test Action Plan.

Report of the Executive Director (Place) on the Housing Delivery Test Action Plan.

The Housing Delivery Test (HDT) is an annual measure of housing delivery which compares ‘total net homes delivered’ against the ‘number of homes required’. As the Council does not have a recently adopted Local Plan, the number of homes required for Welwyn Hatfield is taken from the Government’s local housing need figures, calculated using the Standard Methodology.

The Government published the housing delivery test results on the 14 January 2022, covering the period 2018/19 – 2020/21. This confirmed that 1,486 homes had been built in Welwyn Hatfield during the three years, against a target of 2,245 homes (therefore meeting 66% of the requirement). This means that the Council is required to prepare an Action Plan in order to assess the causes of under-delivery and identify actions to increase delivery in future years. This is the third action plan the Council has produced, the last was published in March 2021.

The Action Plan also includes an update to the Council’s Five-Year Housing Land Supply position. The update has been provided as of 1 April 2022 for the period 2022/23 to 2026/27 against a requirement of 888 dwellings per annum, as required by the standard methodology for 2022/23. A 20% buffer was also applied, which is required by the Housing Delivery Test when delivery falls below 85% of the requirement. The Council’s updated Housing Land Supply is 2.63 years. This is marginally higher than when it was last published in the 2020/21 Annual Monitoring Report, at which point the Council had 2.46 years supply (as at 30/09/2021).

An updated Action Plan has been prepared and is included as an Appendix to this report. The Action Plan aims to highlight reasons for past under-delivery, as well as setting out ways to reduce the risk of further under-delivery in future years through setting out a number of actions. These actions have been carried forward from the previous Housing Delivery Test Action Plan, in summary, they are:

·        Progress the adoption of the Local Plan;

·        Continue to determine planning applications for housing schemes as fast as reasonably possible;

·        Apply the presumption in favour of sustainable development when determining planning applications for housing schemes;

·        Continue to consider the necessity of planning conditions for housing permissions;

·        Continue to discharge planning conditions for housing schemes as fast as reasonably possible;

·        Continue to prepare S106 agreements as fast as reasonably possible/Work with HCC to prepare S106 agreements involving contributions for their services as fast as reasonably possible;

·        Continue to devise, submit, and determine corporate applications for new housing;

·        Work with Hertfordshire Growth Board to identify funding opportunities for accelerated housing delivery sites.

The Action Plan also includes an update to the Council’s Five-Year Housing Land Supply position. The update has been provided as of 1st April 2022 for the period 2022/23 to 2026/27 against a requirement of 888 dwellings per annum, as required by the standard methodology for 2022/23. A 20% buffer was also applied, which is required by the Housing Delivery Test when delivery falls below 85% of the requirement. The Council’s updated Housing Land Supply is 2.63 years. This is marginally higher than when it was last published in the 2020/21 Annual Monitoring Report, at which point the Council had 2.46 years supply (as at 30/09/2021).

The following points were raised and discussed:

·       Officers have assessed what the housing target is by using the governments standard methodology. The council keep a record of how many homes are built in the borough and report this number to the government. The council is currently only meeting 66% of this target. There is little that can be done to increase the delivery of homes within Welwyn Hatfield until there is a new Local Plan. A lot of the actions within the report, and from previous action plans, are essentially good planning.

• Members asked if we know the number of applications we had in the year, including how many of these were refused. Officers said they tend to look at completions and commitments, so the sites they expect to come forward. Officers advised the number of sites with permission is set out in table 3 of the action plan.

·       Officers said the five-year housing land supply will be updated again in the annual monitoring report. This will be published later in the year or early 2023.

·       Officers advised that subsequent year figures are based on information held and their knowledge of similar sites. Some of the trajectory information is from speaking to the developers.

·       Members noted that the report was written in August 2022, meaning paragraph 4.4 is now out of date, as the Inspector has now replied. Officers were asked to consider updating the report to include this. It was noted this will go on to Cabinet.

·       Officers said they monitor what applications go to DMC, so there is no double counting if planning applications come back to increase numbers.

·       Members said there is no reference in the report to housing needs within the borough, including social housing. Officers advised the annual monitoring report goes into a lot more detail and this will come to CPPP. The latest report is available on the council website.

·       Members referred to Table 4 - five-year delivery forecast. Officers said this includes a presumption of sustainable development, and when planning applications are considered, the fact we don’t have a five-year land supply is taken into account.

·       Members asked how 66% compares to other boroughs in Hertfordshire. Officers did not have this information to hand.

·       Officers confirmed that targets were reduced to account for delays to delivery caused by the Covid pandemic.

RESOLVED:

(13 voting FOR - UNANIMOUS)

(1)    “That the Panel recommends the Housing Delivery Test Action Plan and Interim Five-Year Housing Land Supply update to Cabinet for publication on the Council’s website.”