The Acting Head of Planning Services has submitted a report asking the City Executive Board to approve the Annual Monitoring Report for publication.

Recommendations:That the City Executive Board resolves to:

1.Approve the Annual Monitoring Report 2017/18 for publication; and

2.Authorise the Acting Head of Planning Services to make any necessary additional minor corrections not materially affecting the document prior to publication.

The Acting Head of Planning Services had submitted a report asking the City Executive Board to approve the Annual Monitoring Report for publication.

The Board Member for Planning and Transport introduced the report.

Cllr Gant, speaking as a Councillor on an item for decision on the agenda, questioned the data in the Housing Trajectory section of the AMR suggesting that the cited “average annual completion target of 400 dwellings per year” when set against the accompanying table giving annual completion figures for the last 12 years represented a shortfall. He also suggested that the City’s housing shortfall should be addressed by revisiting the protection afforded to employment sites.

In relation to housebuilding The Board Member for Planning and Transport said the critical matter was the cumulative total, rather  than the annual figures which contributed to it, and that was on target.  In relation the protection afforded to employment sites he said that a proper balance had to be struck between the need for jobs and the need for housing. He believed that the current balance was the right one. To remove the protection in the Local Plan for a category of employment space would have to apply to all of that category and not just some.

The City Executive Board resolved to:

1.Approve the Annual Monitoring Report 2017/18 for publication; and

2.Authorise the Acting Head of Planning Services to make any necessary additional minor corrections not materially affecting the document prior to publication.