Agenda item

A review of the Cotswold District Local Plan housing requirement

Purpose

To agree that Full Council should approve the Review of the Cotswold District Local Plan 2011-2031 Housing Requirement, which finds that the local housing need of the district has not changed significantly and that the minimum housing requirement provided by the Cotswold District Local Plan does not require updating.

Recommendation

That subject to the agreement of Cabinet on 12th September 2023,

that Council resolves to;

1) Agree to recommend to Full Council to approve the review of the Cotswold District Local Plan 2011-2031 housing requirement.

Minutes:

The purpose of the report was to agree that Full Council should approve the Review of the Cotswold District Local Plan 2011-2031 Housing Requirement, which finds that the local housing need of the district has not changed significantly and that the minimum housing requirement provided by the Cotswold District Local Plan does not require updating.

Councillor Layton, Cabinet Member for Planning and Regulatory Services, introduced the report.

It was noted that a review of the strategic housing requirement was required every five years, and that a 2020 review highlighted that a partial update of the Local Plan was required to address issues such as changes to national policy and meeting the changing housing need in the District.

It was highlighted that the adopted local housing requirement sets a minimum of 8400 homes and an additional requirement of 580 nursing and residential bed spaces.

The review of the housing requirement carried out in Summer 2023 tested the adopted requirement to see if the number of homes needed to be higher or lower to meet housing needs whilst also protecting the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The review was confirmed to have found that 10,000 homes were already expected to be delivered over the Local Plan period (2011-2031).

It was noted by Council that the local housing need in the district had not changed significantly, and that the Council had a robust housing land supply of 6.9 years.

It was highlighted that the situation was being kept under review if any changes in the future to national policies, local housing need and any legal challenge through the planning process by applicants.

The Chair and other Members also wished to thank the Forward Planning officers for their work and for the Member Briefing provided.

It was noted that this was an important report to ensure that future developments are right for communities and are locally managed.

There was a query about special landscape areas and their protection of the AONB. The Chair then invited the Forward Planning Manager to respond to this. It was noted that special landscape areas were defined in policy EN6 of the Local Plan and that these were areas that were important to protect for their landscape character and tranquillity.

Councillor Joe Harris then seconded the report.

The thanks to the officers were reiterated by Councillor Harris for their work and to Councillor Layton for her leadership in this area.

It was noted that the situation ten years ago without a Local Plan and a five year housing land supply had changed communities, and this was why the report was so important to approve.

Voting Record

32 For, 0 Against, 0 Abstention, 2 Absent/Did not vote

For	Against	Abstention	Absent/Did not vote
Andrew Maclean			Jon Wareing
Angus Jenkinson			Ray Brassington
Chris Twells
Claire Bloomer
Clare Muir
Clare Turner
Daryl Corps
David Cunningham
David Fowles
Dilys Neill
Gary Selwyn
Gina Blomefield
Helen Mansilla
Ian Watson
Jeremy Theyer
Joe Harris
Julia Judd
Juliet Layton
Len Wilkins
Lisa Spivey
Mark Harris
Michael Vann
Mike Evemy
Mike McKeown
Nikki Ind
Nigel Robbins
Patrick Coleman
Paul Hodgkinson
Roly Hughes
Tom Stowe
Tony Dale
Tony Slater

Supporting documents:

Agenda item

A review of the Cotswold District Local Plan housing requirement

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