Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence from Councillors.

Apologies were received from Cllr J Clements and S McCormack

To receive information on any changes in the membership of the Committee.

Note – When a member of a Committee is unable to attend a meeting of a Committee or Sub-Committee, the relevant Political Group Leader (or their nominated representative) may, by notice to the Monitoring Officer (or their nominated representative) prior to the meeting, appoint a substitute member from within the same Political Group. The contact details on the front of this agenda should be used for notifications.

Cllr A Chapmanlaw substituted for Cllr J Clements and Cllr L Dedman substituted for Cllr S McCormack

Councillors are requested to declare any interests on items included in this agenda. Please refer to the workflow on the preceding page for guidance.

Declarations received will be reported at the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest made on this occasion.

To confirm and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 31 May 2023.

The minutes of the meeting held on 31 May were approved as a correct record subject to the inclusion of the public statement received.

To receive any public questions, statements or petitions submitted in accordance with the Constitution. Further information on the requirements for submitting these is available to view at the following link:-

https://democracy.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeID=151&Info=1&bcr=1

The deadline for the submission of public questions is 4 clear working days before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a statement is midday the working day before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a petition is 10 working days before the meeting.

There were no public issues on this occasion.

In response to the request from the committee, for a report on family homelessness demand, focusing on those placed in to Bed and Breakfast/Hotel accommodation, this report outlines the current position.

The approach and pathways to prevention, accommodation and support are detailed and data is provided in order to demonstrate the scale of the current challenge.

The paper sets out the programmes currently underway to respond to the demand and examines future demand to establish additional requirements. Options currently under consideration to meet these requirements are noted.

The significant challenge of homelessness demand is the top priority for the Housing service and the BCP Homelessness Partnership. The partnership is holding an away day during the period between the writing of this report and the committee meeting itself. The Homelessness Partnership will be developing a targeted action plan and an update can be provided verbally at the O&S Committee meeting on 19 July. 

The Portfolio Holder for Homes and Regulation introduced a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these minutes in the Minute Book. The Director of Housing and Communities also provided key information to the Committee on the key issues within the report. The Head of Strategic Housing & Partnerships also responded to issues raised by the Committee.

The Committee was advised that the report was intended to raise awareness of the challenges relating to family homelessness and the direction of travel that the council and its partners are taking to tackle this. A detailed action plan was due to follow and would be approved and overseen by the Homelessness Reduction Board. Further developments could be reported to future Committee meetings. The report outlined the current position on family homelessness demand, focusing on those placed in to Bed and Breakfast/Hotel accommodation. The Committee was advised of the programmes currently underway to respond to the demand and examine future demand to establish additional requirements. The significant challenge of homelessness demand was the top priority for the Housing service and the BCP Homelessness Partnership.

The Committee discussed a number of points including:

·     Initiatives to address the impact of reforms in the private rented sector. There was a Private Rented Sector Homelessness action group looking at increasing access to the private rented sector and supporting landlords. This was led by a private sector local landlord and includes landlords and letting agents.

·     People moving from temporary accommodation. How people moved on from temporary accommodation: The number of social housing lets offered to homeless families had been increased. This had an impact on the number of lets available for others in housing need and would mean people remaining on the waiting list for longer.

·     People in temporary accommodation who the Council had lost contact with. These were more likely to be couples and singles and would often be people moving from the area or making different housing choices.

·     Projected homelessness and how this looked going forward. Projections were based on the past 12 months experiences but it was difficult to project.

·     The Landlord Forum would be looking at potential changes in the private rental sector but it was thought that rental reforms may give rise to further landlords leaving the market.

·     Concern about the increased demand on the service and the effect on staff. The service was no longer dependent on agency staff and an apprenticeship programme had been developed. Staff were receiving additional training. Staff were dealing with more complex issues and are providing support around trauma and care and ensuring they have the time to be supported. The Chief Operations Officer noted their thanks to the staff within housing services.

·     That the single people listed as homeless a number were likely to be pensioners who would struggle to find housing. A number of the single people would have additional needs, and some may be provided in supported housing settings. Remains challenging  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

Government’s planning reforms are set out in Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill that is currently proceeding through the House of Lords, with publication expected in late 2023. The Council responded positively to the government consultation on the proposals in early 2023.

Whilst the Bill continues to be amended it is unclear what the implications will be for the Local Plan. Promised quick changes to the NPPF have yet to materialise and this uncertainty over national policy on housing targets and Green Belt may delay progress with the Local Plan.

One area that the emerging Local Plan can address is ensuring new development contributes to meeting the climate change target of net zero carbon by 2050. The government’s Future Homes Standard is due to be implemented in 2025 and will require homes to be built to reduce carbon emissions by 75-80%.

The emerging local plan is expected to be adopted by 2025 and its timing will align with this new approach. There is also the opportunity to aspire to higher targets, a key objective of the emerging local plan is to achieve carbon neutrality ahead of 2050.

This report focuses on the main aspects of emerging policy to ensure that new building address climate change. This report includes discussion on energy efficiency, carbon reduction, water efficiency, sustainable construction and green infrastructure/urban greening.

Whilst the Council can aspire to go beyond national standards, by introducing policies and standards of its own, there must be a balance. Build costs have soared since the pandemic and housebuilding has significantly slowed with great uncertainty in the economy moving forward. Loading development costs to seek policy outcomes may deter development with implications for the number of much needed homes built. A key question is what government grants will be available to support viability issues in the development industry?

The Interim Planning Policy Manager presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'B' to these minutes in the Minute Book. The Committee was advised that the Government’s planning reforms are set out in Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill that is currently proceeding through the House of Lords, with publication expected in late 2023. The Council responded positively to the government consultation on the proposals in early 2023.

Whilst the Bill continued to be amended the implications for the Local Plan were unclear. Promised quick changes to the NPPF had yet to materialise and this uncertainty over national policy on housing targets and Green Belt may cause delays to progress with the Local Plan.

One area that the emerging Local Plan could address was ensuring new development contributed to meeting the climate change target of net zero carbon by 2050. The government’s Future Homes Standard is due to be implemented in 2025 and will require homes to be built to reduce carbon emissions by 75-80%. The emerging local plan was expected to be adopted by 2025 and its timing would align with this new approach. There was also the opportunity to aspire to higher targets, a key objective of the emerging local plan was to achieve carbon neutrality ahead of 2050.

This report focused on the main aspects of emerging policy to ensure that new building address climate change. This report includes discussion on energy efficiency, carbon reduction, water efficiency, sustainable construction and green infrastructure/urban greening.

A number of issues were raised in the ensuing discussion, including:

·     Whether there were further small requirements which could be built into the local plan which could have a significant impact on future development and help to ensure carbon neutrality.

·     The problem of putting rainwater into a foul water sewer, requiring all developments to put additional drainage which could lead to a surface water drainage system which could alleviate pressure on the sewage system. There was a concern raised regarding ensuring viability for smaller developers.

·     The focus on sustainable communities, which could potentially lead to overwhelming the population in certain areas and ensuring that all areas were sustainable. Initially workshops focused on the most sustainable areas, but this was now being developed to see how all areas can become more sustainable.

·     Data mapping allowed the service to visualise the impact of the policy on different areas and it would be useful if other service areas were able to use it to provide data to project. It was noted that additional population helped to maintain shops, schools and community facilities.

·     Focus needed to be on town centres for developments as most of the facilities were already there. However other areas were identified for local opportunities.

·     Greener building methods should be encouraged. The 10 percent renewal energy proposals seemed on the low side particularly if being incorporated into new builds. Everything possible was being done to encourage housing which did not leak  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

The Place Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) Committee is asked to consider and identify work priorities for its next meeting pending a wider review of its Work Plan in a dedicated workshop.

The Chair introduced a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'C' to these minutes in the Minute Book. The Chair mentioned the changes which were likely to take place to the Overview and Scrutiny Structure and the progress being made on this. It was noted that due to this and engaging with support offered by the Local Government Association it had not yet been possible to arrange a work planning workshop. Due to this the Committee was asked to delegate work planning for the next meeting to the Chair and Vice-Chair in consultation with Officers.

The Chairman noted that there were two items on the Committee’s work plan on the FCERM and the Play strategy which would be good to bring to the next meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED that the Chair and Vice-Chair agree priorities for the next meeting of the Committee prior to a work planning workshop to set future priorities.

Future meetings for the Committee are scheduled for:

Wednesday 11 October 2023

Wednesday 6 December 2023

Wednesday 6 March 2024

The dates for future meetings were noted as follows:

Wednesday 11 October 2023

Wednesday 6 December 2023

Wednesday 28 February 2024