THE WORK OF THE LOCAL PLANS EXPERT GROUP (LPEG) PINS ANNUAL STAKEHOLDER CONFERENCE

8 March, 2016

DEREK STEBBING - LPEG MEMBER

TERMS OF REFERENCE

• Review the content of Local Plans and supporting evidence • Consider measures to speed up and simplify the setting of housing numbers • Examine whether there are advantages in alternative approaches for settling strategic and cross-boundary issues • Consider whether ‘tests of soundness’ should be reformed • Consider at a high level the way in which local plans address the link between development and infrastructure • Look at whether there are unnecessary or excessive procedural requirements • Consider best practice or other mechanisms which could help to ensure the timely preparation of plans • Suggest template Plan policies which could be included in plans to avoid duplication of effort

ADDRESSING THE PROBLEMS • Call for Evidence – over 160 submissions from all sectors,

including members of the public • Direct engagement with key stakeholders, e.g. PINS, HBF • Questionnaire to cross-section of local authorities • Identify good practice and exemplars • Focus on key workstreams – e.g. OAN, Process, Content,

Implementation, Accessibility - with specialist assistance from a small team of advisors

• Identifying potential solutions and Recommendations

LPEG believes that :

• only 25% of LPAs have a sound, post-NPPF Local Plan, of which only half contain site allocations

33% of ongoing Examinations have been suspended, sometimes for a year

post-NPPF plans provide an average of 15% less than OAN and little or no ‘overspill’

Plans are slowing down and taking longer to prepare and Examine

CURRENT POSITION

LPEG believes that the following major issues are impacting on the preparation of Local Plans :-

lack of clarity - particularly OAN, SHMA, etc.

lack of support - resources, central support, exemplars

Duty to Co-operate

too many changes - continually going back to square one

lack of compulsion - it is easier not to plan

THE MAJOR ISSUES

Housing Market Areas – no definitive list

SHMAs – no definitive guidance, disputed best practice and alleged lack of consistency

Kate Barker - SHMAs are too long, unclear, out of date, political, gamed and inconsistent

Savills - only 54% of LPAs have a SHMA produced post-March 2012

Disincentives to produce SHMAs

STRATEGIC HOUSING MARKET ASSESSMENTS (SHMAs)

ISSUES WITH PLAN-MAKING • Plans are getting longer • Plans are taking longer to progress through the Examination stage to

adoption • There is no single definitive guide for plan-makers • There is no mandatory, or even advisory, timetable for Plan preparation • Many plans repeat NPPF policy guidance • Evidence base work is often over-engineered, with SA/SEA work being a

particular issue – resourcing issues (££) for local authorities • Much of the work has become obscure and inaccessible to

communities – many web-sites are almost impenetrable to the public • Communities feel disengaged

LOCAL PLAN HOUSING TARGETS AS A PERCENTAGE OF HOUSEHOLD PROJECTIONS

AFFORDABILITY OF HOUSING, 2013

CALCULATING OAN - 1 • Identified in our Call for Evidence as the biggest factor in delaying plan

preparation • It is a NPPF requirement (para. 159) to prepare a SHMA to assess full

housing needs, working with neighbouring authorities where HMAs cross administrative boundaries

• But, no pre-set definition of HMAs or definitive guidance on the way in which to prepare a SHMA

• Lack of boundary co-ordination with LEPs, County Councils, Health Authorities, etc.

• Kate Barker – Hertfordshire : 10 authorities drawing their housing needs assessments from different SHMAs with different approaches to the adjustments in the Guidance, e.g. market signals

CALCULATING OAN – 2 We have looked in detail at how this process could be rationalised and simplified, to bring greater clarity :- • clarity on data sources, e.g. which set of household projections • clarity on whether or not employment forecasts should be considered, which are

notoriously unreliable • clarity on the approach to be taken with market signals adjustments • clarity on adjustments to address affordable housing needs

LOCAL PLAN CONTENT • We have sought to understand why plans have been getting longer, and

whether there is scope to reduce their content. • But, without compromising the purpose of a Local Plan to “provide a

framework within which local people ….can produce their own distinctive local and neighbourhood plans, which reflect the needs and priorities of their communities” .

• We have considered how Local Plans can be re-focused on the strategic priorities set for them in the NPPF, allowing Neighbourhood Plans or other Local Plan documents to deal with more detailed issues.

• Can smaller-scale site allocations be “devolved” to other Local Plan documents and Neighbourhood Plans ?

• A concise suite of Development Management policies

WORKING ACROSS BOUNDARIES • The Duty to Co-operate is not providing a mechanism for dealing with

strategic requirements across local authority areas • Unmet housing need is not being addressed, e.g. Brighton and Hove =

17,000 homes • Needs a new approach to joint strategic planning across HMAs or other

suitable geography, to address housing, economic and infrastructure requirements

LOCAL PLAN PROCESS • We have undertaken a thorough review of each stage of the

Local Plan making process • Current Local Plan Regulations do not allow a local authority to

amend a plan after Reg. 19 (Pre-Submission) consultation – leading to lengthier Examinations and additional work for PINS

• Reg. 18 (Issues & Options and Preferred Options) is not well formed – it requires only the notification of certain specified bodies that a plan is in preparation, and does not frontload community engagement at the initial stages of plan preparation

• There is no timetable for the different stages of plan preparation

IMPLEMENTATION AND DELIVERY Issues • The identification of land for housing is a key requirement of Local Plans • Local authorities need to demonstrate a five year supply of land for housing

(although the NPPF requirement in para. 47 does not apply specifically to Local Plans)

• Debate over the five year supply of housing land is taking up significant amounts of time at Examinations and Appeals – with adverse impacts on delivery

• The data is often out of date almost as soon as a Plan is adopted We have explored :- • how to establish a more effective and resilient approach to housing land supply in

Local Plans • the potential role for Authority Monitoring Reports in identifying the five year

supply of land

PRESENTATION, ACCESS AND STYLE Kate Barker on Hertfordshire Local Plans “An initial observation is that the local plan itself is not that prominent on most of the websites and nor is it always crystal clear what the latest state of play is”

We have explored :- • Better use of visual material and graphic presentation, particularly in areas

where change is envisaged – such as “propositional planning” approaches • Improved on-line presence • A “Three Click Test” • Improved formatting of documents • Interactive mapping

NEXT STEPS • Recommendations now being formulated • Final Report to be drafted • Timetable for publication not yet confirmed