The Head of Planning Services has submitted a report to approve the Annual Monitoring Report for publication.

Recommendations: That Cabinet resolves to:

1.    Approve the Annual Monitoring Report 2018/19 for publication; and

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

The Head of Planning Services had submitted a report to approve  the Annual Monitoring Report for publication.

Councillor Alex Hollingsworth, Cabinet Member for Planning & Sustainable Transport, introduced the report, which fulfilled a statutory requirement and reported against a number of previously determined indicators. He drew particular attention to the  trajectory of house building in the City. Next year, for the first time since 2009, the City would be ahead of where it should be. In the context of the new emerging Local Plan in which a further 28,000 dwellings were being proposed, it was important to ensure that house building remained a priority.

Cabinet resolved to:

Approve the Annual Monitoring Report 2018/19 for publication; and

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

At its meeting on 19 December, Cabinet will consider a report on the Annual Monitoring Report 2018/19. This item provides an opportunity for the Committee to comment on the report and make such recommendations to the Cabinet as it wishes. The report will be presented by Councillor Alex Hollingsworth, Cabinet Member for Transport and Sustainable Transport; Amanda Ford, Team Leader (Planning Policy); and Keerpa Patel, Senior Planner.

Councillor Alex Hollingsworth, Cabinet Member for Planning & Sustainable Transport, introduced the report which measured performance against a number of indicators which had been established some time ago. This was not intended as mechanism to consider individual planning decisions.

In discussion the following points were made and responded to among others.

·         Commitments/conditions relating to energy generation given as part of the planning process should of course be discharged appropriately. Requirements relating to this were being tightened up in the new Local Plan. It was noted that in the case of larger schemes, formal monitoring mechanisms would normally in place. Any evidence of cases where the commitments/conditions were not being discharged should be brought to the attention of officers.

·         Student accommodation for the two universities remained an important issue for the City. The current principle was that if either university was over its agreed threshold for number of students living outside university provided accommodation, any application to increase teaching space would be rejected. The new Local Plan would, subject to approval by the Planning Inspector, introduce a revised and more pragmatic definition of student for this purpose with a consequent adjustment of thresholds for both universities.  A balance needed to be struck between not wanting to feter the growth of these institutions which were central to the City’s economy while at the same time not wanting to reduce the availability of housing for local residents.

·         No such  controls were permissible in relation to the growth of Language Schools, indeed an attempt to introduce such controls had been prohibited by the Planning Inspector.

·         The Student Castle development is mentioned in parallel with references to Oxford West End Development Limited (OXWED) but it was noted that it was  not, itself, an OXWED scheme.

·         A development partner for OXWED was still being sought but would not be in place by the end of 2019 as stated in the officer report.

·         Projections of housing completions were calculated as carefully as  possible with reference to previous patterns of completion but it was hard to give absolute guarantees given uncertain lag times. The evidence base for the housing trajectory was with the Planning Inspector and the new Local Plan will have updated targets.

·         The report records historical data for affordable housing completions. Forecast data for affordable housing might be useful and it was agreed that officers  should consider if these could be produced.

·         While the decline in AI retail units on the Cowley Road reflected a national picture, the reduction was probably  not  quite on  the same scale as elsewhere.

The Committee agreed to note the report.