(a) To consider the following notice of motion from Councillor Walker
“This council will appoint suitable people to be able to enforce on the spot penalties for littering, including dog fouling. These people will be required to be trained to fulfil this role. They will be people who work in other roles in the North Devon Council or Parish and Town councils or other identified suitable organisations. This will support the incredible work currently done by our environment wardens.”
(b) To consider the following notice of motion from Councillor Patrinos
“The NDC planning department has recently been the subject of unjustified criticism and unsubstantiated allegations. Council wishes to express its support for the planning department as well as all the Council’s other officers in the way they carry out their duty in trying circumstances.”
(c) To consider the following notice of motion from Councillor Tucker
“I note that our M.P. and the Leader of the Council have praised in the press our housing team for doing a fantastic job under very demanding circumstances in helping local people get housed or remain in housing during the pandemic.
However, the current national planning policies are broken and the planning system is being dismantled step by step by a Government that instead relies on the economics of the market place and its distrust of public sector intervention.
This has resulted in the present inequitable
and unbalanced housing market which relies on volume housebuilders' excessive and undeserved profit
margins to drive housing supply which only benefit open market,
second homes and airBnB and which leads
to an increasingly unfair and unbalanced market. Affordable and
social housing, however described, do not produce the inflated
profit margins that underpin this broken system.
Furthermore, this private developers' market further benefits from the politically driven 5 Year Housing Supply contrivance that further skews the market to increase volume housebuilder assets with permission granted, more often than not on appeal, for housing on unplanned sites that are not plan-led, are unacceptable to local communities and do little to meet housing need.
This situation is causing great distress and action needs to be taken to rebalance the current state of affairs where many people are struggling to find suitable accommodation. The present situation is not because of a planning system which, contrary to the prevailing government view, works hard to allocate sufficient land for building but is due to landowners and developers' expectations of high profits whilst treating permissions as assets to be traded on the market rather than being built out and delivering housing, including affordable housing.
Even more ridiculous, developers are rewarded for their
unwillingness to implement their permissions as the Planning
Inspectorate then penalise Council's (not the landowners or the
developers) for not meeting their 'housing target' as the number of
homes that have actually been built fall below the housing
trajectory published in Councils' Local Plan. Witness the
Torrington Appeal decision (Burwood Homes) which so soon after
adoption of the North Devon and Torridge Local Plan determined that
North Devon and Torridge Councils no longer had a 5 Year Housing
Land Supply as insufficient permissions had actually been
implemented. This is no surprise as it is in the interests of many
developers not to build out too quickly and thereby restrict supply
and enhance profits.
In this situation, developers, landowners, and interested parties
are only building what financially benefits themselves.
It is concerning that we hear of political donations
from these organisations as there is a prejudicial interest
involved.
This Council resolves to consider at the special October meeting on housing: -
1) Measures which can be put in place to ensure that new planning approvals include sufficient affordable and social housing to rebalance the market. These measures to include expediting a Supplementary Planning Document for North Devon and Torridge.
2) The idea that council tax should be levied on the plots that have been granted planning permission, whether built of not, to encourage implementation of permissions along with other measures that include shorter time limits for the submission of 'reserved matters' and agreed timetables for housing delivery to form a central part of any application and subsequent permission.
3) Lobbying government for grants for social housing which would greatly assist in our area.
4) Measures suggested by the Torridge and North Devon Crisis group in their manifesto for Local and Central Government.
5) After the housing meeting has taken place the Leader of the Council to write to the Government, Leaders of the Opposition Parties and the Local Government Association to inform them of what actions we would like to see take place.
Manifesto for
Local Government
1. Introduce a licensing scheme for
furnished holiday lets and allow regulation of the number of
properties in any one area by the local authority.
2. Require change of use for any
property being converted from a permanent residence to a holiday
let.
3. Write to all holiday homeowners
to inform them that if they use domestic rubbish collection, they
will immediately be liable for Council Tax and that the local
authority will inform HMRC that they
are no longer a Furnished Holiday Let for tax
purposes.
4. Increase Council Tax to 200% for
second homes.
5. Implement a substantial
percentage requirement for affordable rental housing for all new
developments.
6. All new builds to be covenanted
to make all future sales to be as primary residence in
perpetuity.
7. Actively promote fund and
encourage the setting up of Community Land Trusts to build local
homes for local residents on long term tenancies at affordable
social rent levels.
8. Build any social housing possible
now using fastest construction methods possible including modular
homes. Prioritise use of any council owned land to this
purpose.
9. Identify all empty properties and
how long they have been empty. Requisition all those homes empty
for longer than 12 months; offer requisitioned homes to homeless
and those on priority waiting lists; empty properties are to be
offered cheaper to tenants that can renovate homes
themselves.
10. Review all current housing
regulations to look for powers the council have to maximise
available homes for rent.
Manifesto for Central
Government
1. Allow local authorities to borrow
to build social housing without restriction and prioritise use of
all local authority and Govt owned land
for this purpose.
2. End “Right to buy”,
at least, until the housing crisis is solved and then ensure all
receipts from any sales are spent on building social
housing.
3. Remove the tax advantages
currently given to Furnished Holiday Lets and treat all income on
same basis as Assured Shorthold Tenancy
Lets. Remove the 100% small business rates relief for holiday
homes.
4. Properly regulate by law
Furnished Holiday Lets to the same
standards of safety and compliance as Assured Shorthold Tenancies.
5. Introduce a tax on properties
left empty for longer than 18 months of 5% of property value per
annum to make leaving properties empty economically
unviable.
6. Introduce a tax on 2nd homes
occupied for less than 90 days per annum of 3% of property value
per annum to force owners to either rent out or sell.
7. Introduce a tax on property
developer land banks, held without development, to encourage
building not speculating.
8. Make “affordable
housing” be calculated using local, not national salary
levels. Double the required percentage level for these developments
from 10% to 20% in housing shortage areas.
9. Reform tenancy laws to create a
long-term rental model similar to that in Germany to allow tenants
security of tenure and long-term landlords security of income.
10. Until the current housing crisis
is solved, introduce a temporary ban on all new house sales to
anyone who is not primarily resident or purchasing to let on
assured shorthold tenancy in areas
within x miles of coast or within National Park or AONB.”
Minutes:
(a) To consider the following notice of motion from Councillor Walker
Councillor Worden advised that Councillor Walker was not present and requested that the Chief Executive provide an update on the latest position regarding Public Space Protection Orders in relation to dog control measures.
The Chief Executive advised that at a previous Council meeting, Council had discussed and approved Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs) in relation to dog control measures. Included within the resolution of Council was to ensure that systems were put in place to enforce the PSPOs such as delegating enforcement powers to other groups such as Parish Councils and the National Trust to issue fixed penalty notices. Officers were currently in process of setting up training to enable such groups to start enforcing the PSPOs.
In response to a question, the Chief Executive advised that if he was unaware that 2 people had already received training but would check that they had been given the appropriate enforcement powers.
(b) To consider the following notice of motion from Councillor Patrinos
Councillor Patrinos presented his notice of motion to Council.
It was moved by Councillor Patrinos and seconded by Councillor Lofthouse that “The NDC planning department has recently been the subject of unjustified criticism and unsubstantiated allegations. Council wishes to express its support for the planning department as well as all the Council’s other officers in the way they carry out their duty in trying circumstances.”
The Chief Executive advised that it had been a particularly challenging time during the pandemic in relation to staffing. There had been media coverage recently regarding HGV vehicle driver shortages, however it was also difficult to recruit professional officers to the Council as previously the Council had relied on people relocating to the area, however as many were now working from home, this was no longer the case. Therefore, it was important that the Council as a whole continued to present the positives of the Council to make it easier to recruit staff in the future. There was currently a shortage of professional planning officers as many were moving into a consultancy role. It was anticipated that in the future that the Council may need to consider recruiting agency staff. During the pandemic, the planning team had dealt with a substantial increase in the number of planning applications received with less members of staff which had resulted in planning income received being over £100,000 over budget. The planning team was still one of the best performing teams in the region.
RESOLVED that as the NDC planning department had recently been the subject of unjustified criticism and unsubstantiated allegations that Council wished to express its support for the planning department as well as all the Council’s other officers in the way they carry out their duty in trying circumstances.
(c) To consider the following notice of motion from Councillor Tucker
In the absence of Councillor Tucker, Councillor Worden presented the notice of motion to Council.
It was moved by Councillor Worden and seconded by Councillor Davis “that the notice of motion be referred to the Policy Development Panel meeting in October 2021 for consideration.”
RESOLVED that the notice of motion be referred to the Policy Development Panel meeting in October 2021 for consideration.