Date: 12 November 2002 Item 7 Report by: The Hampshire Director of Environment, Portsmouth City Planning Officer and Southampton Executive Director of Development Written by: Antony Payne, tel 01962 846766 With the concurrence of the Chairman under Section 100(B) (4) (b) of the Local Government Act 1972, this matter is included on the agenda as a late item, to facilitate the preparation of the Policy H4 Monitoring Paper 2003, which will be presented to the next meeting of this Panel. The completion of this report was slightly delayed by the incorporation of information only just received from the local planning authorities. Purpose and Summary: To inform the Panel of conclusions arising from a study into the reasons for a fall in housing completions within the Structure Plan area in recent years. A copy of the Study is attached. The Study concludes that there are a number of explanations as to why completions have fallen. These are attributable to the planning system, matters relating to the development process and the internal workings of the development industry. The Study puts forward a number of actions for strategic and local planning authorities to consider to help raise the number of dwellings built. It also proposes changes that the development industry and Central Government could implement to help set a framework to enable sufficient dwellings to be built in future to meet planned targets. This Panel is invited to endorse the actions which it is proposed that the strategic planning authorities should take, but to seek comments from other agencies on the actions which the study recommends that they should undertake. RECOMMENDATIONS: 1. That the three strategic planning authorities be recommended to implement the actions in paragraph 4.2 of this report. 2. That the views of the Hampshire local planning authorities, housebuilding and training representatives, the Government Office for the South East and the South East England Regional Assembly be sought on the Study Report, and the recommendations set out in paragraphs 4.3 to 4.6, and that their views be reported to the next meeting of this Panel. 1. Introduction 1.1 An investigation has been carried out into the reasons why house completion rates in Hampshire have fallen, and the extent to which the planning system can be held responsible. The findings may assist planning authorities, and others, to address the causes and help raise the number of dwellings built. 2. Detail 2.1 The Study considers the following factors that could explain a fall in completion rates: (i) the lack of an up-to-date Development Plan; (ii) low Development Control performance; (iii) consequences arising from the introduction of Planning Policy Guidance Note 3 (PPG3); (iv) delays arising through the appeals system and intervention from the Government; (v) delays caused by planning and other agreements; (vi) land prices and land availability; (vii) labour availability; (viii) matters internal to the development industry. and (ix) adverse weather.
3. Conclusions 3.1 The conclusions are: (i) There is a correlation between the overall level of new housing supply and completion rates. The fall in supply has been reflected in the numbers of dwellings built. (ii) Too few planning consents have been granted in recent years to deliver Regional Planning Guidance (RPG) targets. (iii) Local planning authorities with high levels of land allocated for residential development, or with planning permission for housing, have performed better than those without. (iv) The time taken to identify and bring forward the dwellings contribution from Major Development Areas has had an adverse impact on the overall level of supply (and consequently of completions). (v) Problems over site assembly and land ownership are important factors in delaying sites that could otherwise be developed. (vi) Under-resourced local planning authorities and shortages of skilled labour in the house building industry are slowing down the planning system and affecting house building rates. (vii) It is possible that the introduction of PPG3 has impacted in a variety of ways and contributed to the current shortfall in completions. (viii) Recent take-overs and mergers within the housebuilding industry have probably introduced short-term delays to some company development programmes. (ix) Inclement weather in recent years may have affected house building rates.
4. Proposed Action 4.1 There are a number of measures in hand to address some of the issues raised in the Study. In addition, it puts forward the following actions for strategic and local planning authorities to help improve house completion rates. The proposed actions by the strategic planning authorities will help guide the preparation of the Policy H4 Monitoring Paper 2003 which will be presented to the next meeting of this Panel. The Study also proposes actions for Central Government and the development and training sectors. The actions proposed are: 4.2 Strategic Planning Authorities to: (i) enhance residential monitoring by, for example, recording starts as well as completions and expanding coverage at sub-area level; (ii) seek to maintain a Structure Plan target supply of between 34,500 and 35,900 dwellings on large sites; (iii) seek to maintain a 36 month supply of dwellings with planning consent (based on RPG targets); (iv) introduce a contingency into forecasts of large site housing completions to account for delays and non-completions by discounting by a small percentage; and (v) encourage an even-phased delivery of house building 2003-2011 by monitoring house building forecasts and advancing non Major Development Area sites where and when necessary.
4.3 Local Planning Authorities to: (i) set local targets for housing supply; (ii) place a high priority on adopting local plans in conformity with the current Structure Plan; (iii) ensure that the adopted local plan meets the Structure Plan baseline and reserve housing requirement; (iv) complete the planning stages of the baseline Major Development Areas as soon as possible; (v) build contingency into calculations when using the 'plan, monitor and manage' approach to releasing housing sites to account for non or delayed starts; (vi) consider 'fast tracking' planning applications for large residential developments; (vii) support initiatives to provide more training for planners on negotiating planning gain; (viii) consider supporting 'job swap' initiatives between developers and planners to create a better understanding of each other's perspective and constraints; (ix) consider putting more resources into drafting legal agreements and set a target time to conclude them. Monitor the time taken and draw attention to those developers who are tardy to complete; (x) encourage developers to finish off sites by considering serving 'completion notices' on those who fail to complete sites within a reasonable timescale; (xi) consider using Compulsory Purchase powers to assemble sites allocated in adopted local plans for residential development, to overcome land ownership and other constraints when monitoring indicates a future shortfall in land available for development; and (xii) ensure that there are sufficient staff resources to deliver planning outputs within the timescales and targets set down.
4.4 Construction industry and training bodies to put in place measures and initiatives to address labour and skills shortages in the housebuilding industry. 4.5 Housebuilders to: (i) provide information on forthcoming development programmes on an annual basis to planning authorities; (ii) consider supporting 'job swap' initiatives between developers and planners to create a better understanding of each other's perspective and constraints; (iii) build homes rather than stockpile land; and (iv) work with planning authorities to overcome constraints holding back the development of residential sites.
4.6 Central Government to promote: (i) early implementation of recent proposals set out in 'Sustainable Communities - Delivery through Planning' to reduce the period of planning permission to three years, implement changes to appeals, call-ins and recovered appeals procedures and processes, and streamline the planning obligations system; (ii) early implementation of proposals to provide training and best practice for planners to develop 'planning gain' skills; (iii) early implementation of proposals set out in 'Compulsory Purchase Powers, Procedures and Compensation: the Way Forward'; (iv) reviewing the impact PPG3 has had on the planning process and housebuilding rates; (v) removing the Greenfield Directive on sites that are allocated in local plans adopted post- PPG3; and (vi) requiring Government departments to justify, on an annual basis, why sites in their ownership that are allocated in local plans, or have permission for residential development, have not been sold for this purpose.
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