Apologies were received from Councillors MarkDannatt and Paul Rickett. 

It was noted that, in accordance with Regulation 13 of the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990, notice had been given that Councillor David Hall had been appointed to the Committee in place of Councillor Graham Cullen for this Meeting only.

At this point in the Meeting, Members were invited to declare any relevant interests.  None were received.

To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on 9 November 2023.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 9 November 2023 were agreed as a correct record.

Actions from the last meeting.

The actions were noted as complete or in hand.

Action No. 24 from the Meeting held on 9 November 2023.

The Planning Policy and Research Service Manager referred to the query raised for affordable housing completed on the coast and reported that 158 units had been built in total across the district.  There had been 105 completions in total, 60 of those (approximately 50%) was for affordable housing.

Action No. 17 from the Meeting held on 14 September 2023.

A Member queried what the position was with the settlement proposals for small, medium and large villages and whether the process for receiving feedback from parish councils was complete.

The Planning Policy and Research Service Manager advised Members that the team had received an overwhelming response and was getting to the point where this process would be closed so the feedback could be collated and source information updated so this could be brought to Committee.  It was stressed that this was not a formal consultation, rather a courteous request for updates, however this information would be recorded officially in the report presented to Committee, anticipated to be in February 2024.

To receive a verbal update from Stuart Horton, Strategic Housing Manager.

The Chairman welcomed Stuart Horton, Strategic Housing Manager for the South & East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership(Accessible Homes, Housing Enabling and Housing Strategy) who was in attendance to provide Members with a brief overview on Affordable Housing.  The information provided was correct as of 30 November 2023.

• There were 1850 households on the East Lindsey Housing Register, the number down from previous years;

• Housing delivery completions – Work was progressing to try and refine these figures as there was a period of time where there was very little resource to keep the records up to date.  Resource was back in place and work was underway to pin down all of the figures and completions information.  Initial data indicated that over the last 3 to 4 years, completions were just over 100 a year on average.  For 2023/24 the total forecast was also just over 100, however this number may increase if there were further completions;

• It was anticipated that 2024/25 would see 160 completions due to a couple of all affordable housing schemes that had commenced, one of which was in Louth delivering 147 affordable units;

• Authorities had put funding in to deliver more one-bedroom properties for which there was a high demand, and it was hoped that a press release would be released regarding this in the near future;

• A number of community-led housing schemes were being progressed.  The team was looking at one in Tattershall, working with the Co Op and East Midlands Community Led Housing on that scheme.  There was also a scheme in Alford at a very early stage which was currently waiting for the Registered Provider (RP) to come back with further designs.  This would include innovative new affordable housing, modern methods of construction, air/ground source heat pumps, also providing a veteran’s scheme if it could be brought all together.

• There were issues in terms of affordable housing provided by Section 106 agreements at the present time with RPs, with them having a lack of interest in acquiring them which was proving quite challenging.  The Council was progressing a number of routes and was working with RPs to address this, which was mostly a capacity and financial issue.  The RPs were also under pressure to deliver all grant-led schemes and because of the volume of those, these were more cost effective for them rather than acquiring 3 or 4 units at a time when they could progress a scheme of 70 plus units in one go. 

• The Council had received some commuted sum funding from various schemes where it had not been able to deliver the affordable housing on site and was looking at putting in place a scheme to try and encourage RPs to develop all affordable housing sites where the Council needed them and also building the type of properties that were needed.   One-bedroom properties were in high demand, and it was difficult and challenging for RPs to progress schemes with many one-bedroom properties on.  In relation to the Louth scheme being developed,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

To receive a report from the Planning Policy and Research Service Manager.

Simon Milson, Planning Policy and Research Service Manager presented Members with the Authority Monitoring Report 2022-2023, pages 11 to 20 of the Agenda refer.

A copy of the current draft AMR was attached to the report at Appendix A, pages 21 to 90 of the Agenda refer.

Members were advised that the Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 required Local Authorities to publish an Authority Monitoring Report (AMR) on an annual basis. The Local Planning Regulations 2012 set out various items of information that should be included in an AMR.

The AMR covered the period March 2022-February 2023.  It contained an update of the position of the Council in relation to various national indicators, including employment, wages and house prices. It also included a suite of monitoring indicators designed to show how the Local Plan policies were performing.

Members noted that the AMR was in final draft form and subject to only design and formatting changes.

Members were referred to Sections 1, 2 and 3 in the report, including the background to the report and the summary of key points within the AMR.

Members were invited to put their comments and questions forward.

• A Member referred to Table 15 ‘Industrial Estate and Business Park vacancy rates (surveyed Q2 - 2023)’, page 27 of the Agenda refers and queried the significant difference in the total and vacant figures for Louth between 2019 and 2020 and also those for North Somercotes.  It was highlighted that something looked amiss in terms of the vacancy rate towards the end of the table and asked for clarification on these figures.

It was further commented that Louth was getting below 10% in the total percentage of vacancy rates, however considered that it was important to reduce this number further as Louth was one of the best industrial estates in the Council’s ownership.

The Planning Policy and Research Service Manager advised Members that he would provide some clarification on the figures for the next meeting.

With regards to the percentages of vacancy, it was highlighted that with regards to the much smaller industrial estates it did not take much for this to increase, if for example two out of four units were knocked down.  It was acknowledged that both Skegness and Louth Industrial Estates performed well, and also Spilsby where generally the turnover was low.  In terms of vacancies, the figures showed that these were running out on the larger estates, certainly in Louth and in particular the vast majority of the previous allocation under the old Local Plan had almost been completed.

However, it was highlighted that the Council still had the current allocations under the existing Local Plan so whilst 10% did not sound a lot in terms of the number of plots, looking at 300, in total there were 30 plots or properties that were vacant.

Members were informed that there were areas to the north of Louth Industrial Estate allocated in the Local Plan that the Council has serviced so was ready to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

The programmed date for the next Meeting of this Committee will be 1 February 2024.

The date of the next Meeting was confirmed as Thursday 1 February 2023, commencing at 5.00pm.