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Decision Maker: Executive Councillor for Planning, Building Control, and Infrastructure
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: No
Is subject to call in?: No
To agree to publish the Greater Cambridge Authority Monitoring Report 2022-23.
Matter for Decision
The report referred to the Authority Monitoring Report (AMR)
for Greater Cambridge 2022-2023.
Decision of the Executive Councillor for Planning,
Building Control and Infrastructure
I.
Approved the Cambridge City Council and South
Cambridgeshire District Council - Authority Monitoring Report for Greater
Cambridge 2022-2023 (included as Appendix A) for publication on the Councils’
websites.
II.
Agreed to delegate any further minor editing
changes to the Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council
- Authority Monitoring Report for Greater Cambridge 2022-2023 to the Joint
Director of Planning and Economic Development, in consultation with the
Executive Councillor for Planning, Building Control and Infrastructure.
Reason for the Decision
As set out in the Officer’s report.
Any Alternative Options Considered and Rejected
Not applicable.
Scrutiny Considerations
The Committee received a report from the Senior Policy
Planner.
In response to Members’ questions the Senior Policy Planner
and Planning Policy Manager, Joint Director for Planning and Economic
Development said the following:
i.
The joint consideration of five-year housing
supply and delivery across Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire had been agreed
by both Planning Inspectors when assessing the Local Plans.
ii.
Government reporting of the Housing Delivery
Test currently reported Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire separately. Officers
had requested to DLUHC were assessed jointly but this has not yet been changed.
Further efforts would be made to highlight the issue to DLUHC.
iii.
Both Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire meet the
threshold on the latest Housing Delivery Test results such that no action was
required. Consequences of not meeting the test were set out in the National
Planning Policy Framework. Where a Council falls below 95% of the housing
requirement it must publish an action plan showing how it will increase housing
delivery.
iv.
Acknowledged it was difficult to monitor the
change of use for retail units that did not require planning permission.
Officers were monitoring permissions using both the old use class order and the
new use class order so there was a consistent data set from 2011.
v.
Where retail units did not require planning
permission for a change of use, a planning permission may still be required if
building work was being undertaken.
vi.
Several of the district centres within Cambridge
were being monitored by Officers visiting the sites and recording the use of
each property.
vii.
Officers had been engaging with CBC (Cambridge
Biomedical Campus) Ltd as part of the Local Plan to seek to agree a coherent
set of development principles for the site within an SPD.
viii.
The Government’s Planning Policy for Traveller
Sites set out the need to identify need and secure provision for sites for
gypsies, travellers and travelling show people. A new Gypsy and Traveller
Accommodation Needs Assessment was currently being completed to identify the
scale and nature of need which would inform the emerging Local Plan.
ix.
The AMR included planning data on sites
permitted for travellers sites and data from the Traveller Caravan Count.
x.
The current affordable housing policy thresholds
do not appear to be causing a viability issue regarding the delivery of
affordable housing; all residential permissions in Cambridge meeting the
threshold have delivered or exceeded the required level of affordable housing.
xi.
Student accommodation was monitored in line with
Local Plan policies.
xii.
Noted the comment that colleges were buying
domestic properties in the city and converting them to student accommodation on
a small scale each time that did not require any regulatory approval.
xiii.
Work had been undertaken on the current Local
Plan to understand the student accommodation needs in terms of provision. A new survey was being undertaken by Officers
and the issue of colleges buying domestic properties would be reported to those
Officers to investigate the matter.
xiv.
The subject of wellbeing was one of the four
main threads of the Local Plan. The pandemic had highlighted the importance of
the open spaces within the community. It was important to note the conclusions
of the health communities on a range of issues including childhood activity
levels and obesity. A careful and considered view on how the Council could
promote activity, reduce loneliness, improve community and a sense of belonging
through open spaces would be required. It’s not about a particular quantum of space,
but how spaces support achieving healthy outcomes, and we want to explore this
further through the joint local plan.
The Executive Councillor stated that she welcomed the range
of questions that had been put forward, particularly the comments on class E
and student accommodation. The report had been presented to address the Local
Plan requirements, but the data could be used far more widely than Local Plan
monitoring.
The Committee voted unanimously to endorse the
Officer recommendations.
The Executive Councillor for Planning, Building Control and
Transport approved the recommendations.
Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Executive
Councillor (and any Dispensations Granted).
None
Publication date: 20/06/2024
Date of decision: 16/01/2024