Agenda item

[The report of the Assistant Director for Planning. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration and Planning.] Cabinet will be asked to note the findings of the Authority’s Monitoring Report (AMR) for the monitoring period 2016/17.

The Leader of the Council introduced the Authority Monitoring Report (AMR) which was used to assess the effectiveness of Haringey’s planning policies and to inform any future revisions to policies or their implementation. The Leader referred to the delivery of affordable housing within the period under consideration which was 71% on major schemes and meant that the Council were operating at top quartile performance.

The Leader highlighted that over the last ten years there were 2477 affordable homes delivered in Haringey, 37% were social rent compared to 18% affordable rent and 45% intermediate products.

In response to questions from Cllr Engert the following information was noted.

·         The Council had the planning authority responsibility to ensure homes were consented but there were no tools to ensure that consents resulted in starts and completion of homes. This situation reflected the need for more power to be passed from Government to local authorities to enable them to tax developers who do not build out on schemes and to deter land banking. Also as housing development in London remained  a good investment, this also exacerbated the issues faced with the timeliness of developments. There could also be local issues with site preparation. The Assistant Director for Planning provided an example of the Clarendon road site development where remedial action to decontaminate the land had taken time but there were 1100 units expected to be built on this site. Therefore, the delays in developments could not be attributed solely to the local authority.

·         Potheroe House and Pretoria road developments would include affordable extra care homes which there was a need for, together with affordable units. Tenants moving to these properties would also likely be freeing up a social rented property in the borough.

·         There were no student homes listed in the table at 6.22.

·         The 40% target for affordable housing could only be applied to major developments and the Council was not able to seek this percentage on other schemes.

·         CIL was only payable when the development was implemented and with increased development and good CIL collection rates by the Council, this was likely to be a secure source of income.

RESOLVED

1.    To note the comments of the Regulatory Committee (para 6.50)

2.    To note the findings of the Authority’s Monitoring Report (AMR) for the monitoring period 2016/17.

3.    To note the Authority’s Monitoring Report (AMR) 2016/17 will be made available for public inspection, on the Council’s website, in line with the statutory requirements.

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 2016/17 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