Agenda item

David Syme (Strategic Planning Manager) introduced the report. The following key points were noted:

6.1       The council is currently undergoing a review of the Lewisham local plan.

6.2       The local plan sets out a strategy for development in the borough over the next 15 years, with a particular focus on housing needs and the infrastructure and community facilities necessary to meet these.

6.3       The current local plan has delivered significant investment in homes, infrastructure and jobs, but most of the sites identified have now been built or have planning approval.

6.4       There have been significant changes in regional planning policy, with the draft London Plan, and in national policy, with the new National Planning Policy Framework. 

6.5       The key challenge in relation to housing will be meeting the significant increases in housing targets set to be required by regional and national policy.

6.6       The draft London plan increases the borough’s housing target by almost 50% - from 1,385 to 2,117 homes per annum. This equates to more than 20,000 new homes over the next ten years that have to be delivered. Lewisham’s historical delivery rate is around 1,500 units a year.

6.7       The new NPPF introduces a new housing delivery test, which introduces tough sanctions on those councils that are not meeting their housing targets. By 2020, if the council falls below 75% of the housing target, it will be classified as a council with the presumption in favour of sustainable development. This means that the council’s ability to refuse planning applications on local issues, and defending appeals from developers, becomes much weaker. The council would be assessed on national planning policy and there is a presumption in favour of sustainable development that meets the national policy. This is a significant risk for the council going forward.

6.8       The draft figures for April 2017 to March 2018 from the annual monitoring review, which provides data on, among other things, completions, approvals, Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) revenue, and s106 agreements, shows a significant reduction in the number of homes completed.

6.9       The local Lewisham Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) identifies the housing need within the borough, for example, students, older people, people with disabilities, families, and sets out the mix of housing that needs to be provided. This document will provide much more detail on affordable housing.

6.10    The draft SHMA is expected to be published by mid November 2018.

6.11    The council is bidding for new funding through the Mayor of London’s Homebuilding Capacity Fund, which provides funding to support councils to develop the capacity to deliver new approaches to increasing housing supply. Councils can bid for up to £750,000 for two years.

The Chair proposed to suspend standing orders to continue the meeting. The committee agreed to suspend standing orders.

6.12    The committee noted that new NPPF introduces a requirement to carry out viability tests of local affordable housing targets at the local plan stage and queried what impact this would have on the council’s affordable housing target.

6.13    Given Lewisham’s historical housing delivery rate, the committee expressed some concern about new regional and national housing targets and the consequences for local planning decisions of not meeting these.

Resolved: the committee noted the report and agreed to receive a report on the Lewisham Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) once published.

David Syme (Strategic Planning Manager) introduced the report. The following key points were noted:

6.1       The council is currently undergoing a review of the Lewisham local plan.

6.2       The local plan sets out a strategy for development in the borough over the next 15 years, with a particular focus on housing needs and the infrastructure and community facilities necessary to meet these.

6.3       The current local plan has delivered significant investment in homes, infrastructure and jobs, but most of the sites identified have now been built or have planning approval.

6.4       There have been significant changes in regional planning policy, with the draft London Plan, and in national policy, with the new National Planning Policy Framework. 

6.5       The key challenge in relation to housing will be meeting the significant increases in housing targets set to be required by regional and national policy.

6.6       The draft London plan increases the borough’s housing target by almost 50% - from 1,385 to 2,117 homes per annum. This equates to more than 20,000 new homes over the next ten years that have to be delivered. Lewisham’s historical delivery rate is around 1,500 units a year.

6.7       The new NPPF introduces a new housing delivery test, which introduces tough sanctions on those councils that are not meeting their housing targets. By 2020, if the council falls below 75% of the housing target, it will be classified as a council with the presumption in favour of sustainable development. This means that the council’s ability to refuse planning applications on local issues, and defending appeals from developers, becomes much weaker. The council would be assessed on national planning policy and there is a presumption in favour of sustainable development that meets the national policy. This is a significant risk for the council going forward.

6.8       The draft figures for April 2017 to March 2018 from the annual monitoring review, which provides data on, among other things, completions, approvals, Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) revenue, and s106 agreements, shows a significant reduction in the number of homes completed.

6.9       The local Lewisham Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) identifies the housing need within the borough, for example, students, older people, people with disabilities, families, and sets out the mix of housing that needs to be provided. This document will provide much more detail on affordable housing.

6.10    The draft SHMA is expected to be published by mid November 2018.

6.11    The council is bidding for new funding through the Mayor of London’s Homebuilding Capacity Fund, which provides funding to support councils to develop the capacity to deliver new approaches to increasing housing supply. Councils can bid for up to £750,000 for two years.

The Chair proposed to suspend standing orders to continue the meeting. The committee agreed to suspend standing orders.

6.12    The committee noted that new NPPF introduces a requirement to carry out viability tests of local affordable housing targets at the local plan stage and queried what impact this would have on the council’s affordable housing target.

6.13    Given Lewisham’s historical housing delivery rate, the committee expressed some concern about new regional and national housing targets and the consequences for local planning decisions of not meeting these.