Agenda item

Report of the Assistant Director (Planning) on the Annual Monitoring Report 2021/22 and covers the period from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022.

Report of the Assistant Director (Planning) on the Annual Monitoring Report 2021/22 and covers the period from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022.

The Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) monitors development that has taken place in the borough during the year and assesses whether this development meets targets across a number of indicators in relation to the Council’s planning policies. The AMR covers a range of topics including housing, employment, the environment and infrastructure. The AMR also sets out expectations for future development in the borough.

In terms of retail, the AMR reports on the results from the latest retail vacancies study in Welwyn Garden City Town Centre. Vacant retail frontage length increased to 12.7% in 2022 from 9.9% in 2021, in the years prior to 2020 vacancy had fluctuated around 3 to 4%. In Hatfield Town Centre vacancy decreased to 13.3% from 21.7%. In the 2021 survey the decline in vacancy was largely due to one large unit being filled, which is the new Poundstretcher store. It is worth noting that part of the vacancy in Hatfield is due to the redeveloped 1 to 9 Town Centre. 

In regards to housing completions, there were 258 net housing completions between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, which included 37 new affordable homes.

In regards to future supply, the AMR includes an update of the Council's Five Year, Housing Land supply position. As the new Local Plan is still under examination, the council turn to the default housing target position, which is derived from the standard methodology, which was 888 dwellings per annum. The Council's housing supply against this target remains below the five-year requirement at 3.2 years.  However, it has improved slightly from the last published figure of 2.6 years.

In regards to the economy, the borough saw a net gain in employment floor space of 10,500square metres as a result of the completion of four industrial units at Coal Green Lane on the eastern edge of Welwyn Garden City. However, overall there has been a net loss in employment floorspace since the start of the plan period in 2016/17 of approximately 16,000 square metres.

The following points were raised and discussed:

·       Members thought the report was interesting and provided lots of information.

·       It was noted that the estimated diabetes diagnosis rate for Welwyn Hatfield was lower whereas the best rate was 98.6%.

·       It was noted the percentage of physically active adults is a bit lower than the best percentage. The borough is a university town which contains young adults, so expect the physically active adults would be higher than the national average.  Officers stated that in terms of the indicator, the council were identifying it as part of the context for the borough as a whole.

·       Members questioned the term affordable dwellings versus social rent versus council housing.  In one of the paragraphs it states the number of affordable dwellings granted, and then says one of these was a high percentage, but that was because it was a housing association who have those properties for rent. Members asked if these were affordable housing rented properties or were they affordable housing to buy.  Officers stated that they have a set of indicators and quite a lot of this is the same format that gets presented but take the point in terms of level of detail. Officers will look into what they can present and what level of detail it can be presented for the next version of the AMR.

·       Members queried the shop frontage and its decline.  Members would like in the future a single figure for the two town centres. For example, table 6, it looks like the borough has got massively higher rates which may be disguised by the number of units. It was noted the BID team do a fantastic job of making the town visible and do their best to encourage people to come into the town but members thought there needs to be a more strategic intervention. Officers stated they will go away and look at what they can do.

·       Members noted that the population of the borough was increasing. Members stated that the council have to plan for this and have to think about infrastructure, facilities, affordability etc for the borough.

·       Members noted the table at 7.21 showed new homes were within 30 minutes of public transport or walking distance, 98% within GP, 93% hospital, 97% in employment area and 93% in retail centre. Members stated that the council have to act to make sure the facilities are provided for the borough.

·       Members asked if officers have a figure for what the lower quartile price was as it give some notion of how affordable homes were. Officers stated they do have the prices but did not have them at hand.

·       Members said that it was rather unfortunate that there were only 292 gross completions during the year. In the previous paper the council saw the number of brownfield sites and the number of sites which have planning permission increase.  If sites are built out, the borough would start to see this increase significantly. The council needs to encourage developers to start building.

·       Members stated the increase between the census population between 2011 to 2021 saw 5 to 9 year olds increase over 1000, 10 to 14 year olds increase by 1000 which seems to indicate that the borough needs more facilities for primary and secondary education as the borough has not had development of new schools in years. The Chair stated that there are some new schools in the emerging local plan.  Officers stated they work very closely with Hertfordshire County Council and their Growth and Infrastructure Unit who engage with Children's Services. As part of a local plan there is a strategy in terms of delivering sufficient school places and that does include the provision of new primary and secondary schools across the borough. Officers stated they liaise with County councillors on regular basis and they have provided comments as part of the main modifications consultations which closed on the 15 February 2023.

·       Members asked if there are any services or data they should keep a close eye on such as housing or social issues.  Officers said the report includes both contextual and Local Plan Policy Indicators, the Local Plan is the development plan for the borough and will help guide and influence development in the future.

·       Members said the report gives an idea of how some national trends may affect the local borough and is a good resource for understanding those sorts of issues and local context.

RESOLVED:

(unanimous)

That the Cabinet Planning and Parking Panel recommended to Cabinet that the AMR be approved for publication, and that the Assistant Director (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. If unanimously agreed by the Panel, for the decision to be taken by the executive member using their delegated powers under paragraph 18.1(b) of the Cabinet procedure rules.