Agenda item

[Report of the Assistant Director for Planning. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration and Planning.]The report seeks Cabinet's approval for the publication of the Authority Monitoring Report 2015-16. Publication of the AMR is a statutory requirement. The AMR assesses the effectiveness of Haringey's planning policies and reports on milestones in the Local Development Scheme.

The Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration and Planning introduced the Annual Monitoring report for 2015/16 which assessed the effectiveness of the Council’s planning policies and was used to inform future revisions to policies or their implementation.

The Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration and Planning reported that the number of affordable housing units completed for 2015/16 had been low and this was in common with other London boroughs. However, over the four year administration, 2014-18, the Council was expected to reach a target of 39% of affordable housing units completed. This would be just 1% below the required 40% target which placed the Council in the top quartile for delivery of affordable housing.

The Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration and Planning referred to the national targets set for Councils to process: major planning applications, minor planning applications, household level applications, which had been significantly exceeded by the Planning Service.

The Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration and Planning also advised that he was discussing with the Assistant Director for Planning, the provision of more ‘live’ up to date information on planning performance to Cabinet as this information related to a much earlier period of 2015/16.

In response to Councillor Engert’s questions, the following information was noted.

·         The performance for provision of affordable homes, over individual years varied, but there were major site developments in the pipeline with 3767 housing units that have planning permission not yet completed and 970 of these homes, on sites, currently under construction. Also there were sites that included affordable housing and were dependent on Cabinet’s consideration of the HDV in July. Therefore by the end of the 2018, the Council was expected to reach 1% below the required 40 % target of new homes.

·         The Assistant Director for Planning agreed to check if the employment figures include Peacock industrial estate and to provide a separate response to Councillor Engert.

·         Updated conservation area character appraisals for conservation areas in the borough, were in the process of being completed. Cabinet would consider the first set of conservation area appraisals, for the North Tottenham area, at their May meeting. Further work was also continuing to bring forward character appraisals for conservation areas in the west of the borough.

·         There had been a lot of work on individual listed buildings with the conservation officer meeting with owners and focused on bringing forward actions on required improvements. An example of the work at 7 Bruce Grove was provided.

·         The slight drop in recycling rates was not attributed to the change to fortnightly refuse collections, agreed in 2012, as recycling figures had increased by 10% during this period. The Cabinet Member for Environment advised that this decrease was connected with contamination which had been identified as an issue by the service and was being addressed. The borough also had one of the highest rates for recycling in north London.

RESOLVED

1.    To note the findings of the Authority’s Monitoring Report (AMR) for the monitoring period 2015/16.

2.    To approve the Authority’s Monitoring Report (AMR) 2015/16 for publication on the Council’s website.

Reasons for decision

The publication of the Authority Monitoring Report is a requirement of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (as amended) (“the Act”). Approval of the AMR 2015/16 for publication will ensure that the Council meets its statutory obligations for planning performance monitoring.

Alternative options considered

The Act 2011 requires local planning authorities to produce monitoring reports. The Council considers that Haringey’s existing procedure of annual monitoring is an effective way for presenting the effectiveness of planning policies, within existing resources. As such, no other options were considered.