Date: 2 March 2005 Item 5

Report by: The Hampshire Director of Environment, Portsmouth Strategic Director for Environment and Transport and Southampton Executive Director of Development and Sustainability

HOUSING SUPPLY ACTION PLAN FIRST YEAR REVIEW

Written by: Antony Payne, tel: (01962) 6766 email: [email protected]

Purpose and Summary:

In June 2004 the Minister for Housing and Planning broadly endorsed the Hampshire Housing Action Plan and requested that a progress report be submitted to him after six months. The progress report has been prepared and was sent to the Minister in February 2005. Any feedback will be reported to the Panel. This report summarises the conclusions arising from the progress report.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. That all planning authorities be urged to:

(i) continue to increase the overall level of planning consents across the county;

(ii) adhere to local plan and local development documents timetables; and

(iii) encourage developers to submit applications on allocated housing sites where these have been supported by an Inspector and are needed to meet housing supply requirements.

2. That Test Valley Borough Council, Winchester City Council and Rushmoor Borough Council maintain progress on the major developments proposed at Andover, Waterlooville and Aldershot.

3. That a further progress report on the Action Plan, to include data for the period ending March 2005, be prepared and sent to the Minister in July 2005.

1. Introduction/Background

1.1 In March 2004 the Planning Minister advised that he was satisfied that, based on the Policy H4 Monitoring Report 2004, there was no need to release any of the strategic housing reserve as there appeared to be sufficient housing land available to deliver the regional planning target for Hampshire. He was, however, concerned that in the medium to long term the theoretical supply may not be translated into homes on the ground. He accordingly wished to see an Action Plan prepared which clearly set out the measures the Hampshire authorities proposed to take to create greater certainty over future housing delivery.

1.2 An Action Plan was duly prepared by the strategic planning authorities and endorsed by the local planning authorities before being submitted to the Minister in June 2004. The Minister accepted the Plan and requested that a six month progress report be produced to help inform his consideration of the Policy H4 Monitoring Report 2005.

1.3 The progress report was drafted in December 2004 and revised following consultation with the other Hampshire authorities before being passed to the Minister in February 2005. In brief, the report shows that good progress has been made, but not all targets have been met. Continued effort is required to ensure that the progress achieved to date is maintained (there will be extended targets to meet for the forthcoming year in a roll forward of their Action Plan) and especially to meet those targets not met in relation to local plans progress and bringing forward planning applications for major development areas.

1.4 The Minister's views are awaited on both the Progress Report and the Policy H4 Monitoring Report 2005 and will be reported to the meeting, if known.

2. Aims and Visions of Corporate and Community Strategies

2.1 This report supports the aims and visions of the three strategic planning authorities' corporate and community strategies by helping to ensure that sufficient new homes are made available whilst securing the regeneration of existing urban areas and avoiding unnecessary development on greenfield land.

3. Hampshire Housing Action Plan Progress Report January 2005

3.1 The Action Plan was split into Outcome Actions (OA) and Process Actions (PA). The former are actions which have a direct bearing on the future supply of housing land and ultimately impact on the number of dwellings that could be built. The latter are actions which test the degree of confidence that can be attached to particular sources of future supply. A copy of the Action Plan Progress Report is attached as an appendix.

3.2 In summary, of the 18 Outcome Actions (OA) listed in the Plan:

6 have been completed in full;

9 are more than 50% complete;

2 are less than 50% complete; and

1 has not yet been triggered and is not therefore capable of being measured.

The key Output Actions are those listed as OA 1 to 10.

3.3 Overall Hampshire has seen a net increase in full and outline planning consents in the period April to September 2004, which has met the target set out in OA1 and exceeded that set out in OA2. The increase in consents builds on a very good year for completions in the county. For the year ending March 2004, 6,762 dwellings (net) were built - the highest since 1991. The increase in consents issued since April 2004 shows that Hampshire is well-placed to build on this level of completions over the next few years.

3.4 OA3, requiring the Policy H4 supply forecast to take account of the number of planning permissions in each district, has also been met.

3.5 There has, however, been some slippage on the production of local plans and local development documents (OA4). The majority are still on schedule, or within a month of schedule, but six have slipped by more than one month. However, two of these are Local Development Documents which will not in any event provide site allocations within the next few years. One authority has brought forward its adoption date even though it has delayed the start of its Inquiry. All authorities still expect to adopt their plans by July 2006.

3.6 Although major housing sites in Basingstoke have been approved and an outline application for Andover Major Development Area (MDA) has been submitted, progress on two other large developments at West of Waterlooville and Aldershot have slipped (OA5 and OA6).

3.7 Only three authorities have yet to action OA7 - passing a resolution that the authority will grant outline planning consent for housing sites in the Second Deposit Local Plan that have been supported by the Inquiry Inspector and are needed to meet housing supply. Steady progress has been made on implementing OA8 to notify landowners affected by the resolution.

3.8 The four authorities that have specific action plans agreed with the Government Office have reported that the majority of actions in those plans are in progress or complete (OA9).

3.9 Finally, the majority of planning authorities have so far failed to improve performance to meet Government targets for processing major applications (OA10).

3.10 In summary, progress on the Output Actions has been good overall but with some targets missed.

3.11 Progress on implementing the 11 Process Actions (PA) has been very positive, with:

7 completed in full;

3 more than 50% complete; and

1 not yet been triggered and is not therefore capable of being measured.

4. Conclusion

4.1 The Housing Action Plan was prepared to provide greater certainty that Hampshire will meet its regional planning targets. In the year ending March 2004 over 6,700 dwellings were built in the county - the highest figure since 1991. The county is well placed to meet the Regional Planning Guidance target to 2006. The Policy H4 Monitoring Paper 2005 demonstrates that Hampshire can, even allowing for a significant degree of contingency, deliver its RPG requirement for the next seven years. However, the prospects of delivering dwellings after 2006 is heavily dependent upon the measures set out in the Action Plan.

4.2 Overall good progress has been made towards implementing the Action Plan but there is no room for complacency. The focus for action needs to be kept on four key areas:

(i) increasing the overall level of planning consents across the county, as per actions OA1 and OA2;

(ii) progressing the major developments proposed at Andover, Waterlooville and Aldershot (OA5 and OA6). In the case of the latter two proposals, the absence of a planning application is beginning to undermine the prospects of a substantial delivery of new dwellings at these locations by 2011;

(iii) adherence to local plan and local development framework timetables (OA4) Further slippage, especially in relation to local plans, will impact on the amount of development that can come forward on allocated sites prior to 2011; and

(iv) developers should be actively encouraged to submit applications on allocated housing sites where these have been supported by an Inspector and are needed to meet housing supply requirements (OA7 and OA8).

A further progress report on the Action Plan will be prepared in July 2005.

179/AP