Issue - meetings

To consider the First Homes Planning Advisory Note report.

RESOLVED to endorse the guidance as a material consideration to inform decision making.

Councillor Evans shared local guidance relating to the government’s requirement to include First Homes as an element of affordable housing.

In response to a question, Councillor Evans confirmed that the provision was not retroactive to applications submitted previously to 28 March 2022.

He recommended approval of the report. This was seconded by Councillor Sutton.

RESOLVED: To endorse the guidance as a material consideration to inform decision making.

To note the First Homes Planning Advisory Note.

The Local Plan and New Communities Manager presented the report.  He said that new government legislation which came into effect on the 28^th March 2022 stated that 25% of affordable homes had to be first homes.  He said they needed to be discounted by a minimum of 30% of market value, sold for no more than £250k and would only be available to eligible people.  He said there would be restrictions to ensure that the discount was passed on to future purchasers.    The implementation of the policy would be monitored.  He recommended that the report was endorsed for approval at Cabinet.

The following was noted: -

·         This related to any scheme that had an affordable homes element, an application with 40% affordable homes would have 25% of that figure required as first homes.

·         There was concern that the £250k limit would be difficult to reach because of the value of houses within the district.  The Local Plan and New Communities Manager said that within the document, at 1.5, it stated that local authorities would be given discretion to require a higher minimum discount of either 40% or 50% if they could demonstrate the need.    

·         The Local Plan and New Communities Manager said that this was government legislation and had to be adopted, but there was some scope to have local eligibility criteria and some nuance could be added.

·         Councillor Caton said that this reduced flexibility and created a problem as it would reduce the amount of shared ownership homes of 3 bedrooms and above. 

The Local Plan and New Communities Manager clarified that it would be 25% of affordable homes secured.  He suggested that it was monitored once there was a year’s worth of data.

Councillor Evans said that these recommendations were based on the current position and suggested that additional work might be needed in the future with views taken from other local authorities and advice from the LGA.

The Leadership Group recommended that the report went ahead to Cabinet and was reviewed in six months.