Agenda item

The Assistant Director provided the Panel with a presentation on changes to the New Homes Bonus and the financial impact that it could have to the Council when Planning Decisions were overturned at Appeal stage.  A copy of the presentation is attached.

The Chairman thanked the Assistant Director for his presentation and invited questions and comments from the Panel, as summarised below.

In response to a question, it was clarified that at the moment the reduction to the new homes bonus was applicable to the number of decisions overturned on appeal.  It did not currently consider the amount of units within the decision, however this could change in the future.

It was confirmed that the revised arrangements were scheduled to come into force in 2018/2019 but a specific date had not yet been set.

In response to a question from Councillor Manning, it was explained that the New Homes Bonus was applicable to built units, which were matched to Council Tax records.

The Panel discussed the appeal process, the outcome of recent appeals and the pressure that would be put on Planning Committee Members to ensure that they considered applications carefully during the determination process.

The Chief Executive explained that Government had introduced the New Homes Bonus to offset some of the reduction in Revenue Support Grant and the aim of the New Homes Bonus was to incentivise house building.  He referred to the presentation which showed a future reduction in what the Council could earn back by building houses.  He explained that the Local Government Association and District Council Network were lobbying Government that there should not be a baseline and the amount and number of years should not be reduced.  He explained that when determining applications, careful consideration needed to be given as to if there were defendable grounds for refusing applications if they were to go to appeal, if the application was within an allocated site and if the application conformed to the Councils policies. 

In response to a question from Councillor Pope it was explained that a portion of the New Homes Bonus would be allocated to Adult Social Care and therefore go to Norfolk County Council.  It was unconfirmed at this time if the portion of funds for Adult Social Care would be affected by any reduction from overturned appeals.  The Assistant Director also explained that house build rates were slower than planning application approval rates and sometimes approved applications did not go ahead.  There were conditions attached to planning approvals on completion and development timescales before an approval would lapse.

Councillor Mrs Collingham stated that she failed to understand how the building of second homes would fulfil the Government’s incentive to accelerate the amount of housing available.

The Panel discussed the planning process and the role of the Planning Committee and Planning Officers.  The Chief Executive commented that often Planning Officers did give pre-application advice to developers, but it was ultimately up to developers on what they submitted.  He felt that most developers would be aware of the Local Plan, allocated sites and allocation numbers, and would have a good knowledge of what was likely to get approved.

In response to a comment from Councillor Crofts, the Portfolio Holder for Development, Councillor Blunt explained that work was ongoing to revise the Local Plan and work would be carried out to ensure correct site size and match them to the correct density of housing during the allocation process.

The Chief Executive reiterated that Government was being lobbied, but the Prime Minister had made it a Government priority to increase housing and therefore he felt that it would be pushed hard.  He explained that the Government had introduced incentives to accelerate housing growth such as Housing Infrastructure Funds and direct support to small developers.

RESOLVED: The update was noted.