Agenda and minutes

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 21 August, 2024 were agreed and signed as a true record.

The Committee noted that their Recommendations in relation to the reports on “Additional HMO Licensing Scheme 2025-2030” and “ Proposed Renewal of the City-Wide Public Space Protection Order – Dog Control 2024-2027” had been accepted by Cabinet.

Report of the Director of City Services and Commercial

The Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee considered a report of the Director of City Services and Commercial which outlined the consultation currently being undertaken by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework. A copy of the Council’s proposed response had been circulated prior to the meeting.

The report indicated that Government is consulting on a series of proposed changes to national planning policy. This includes specific changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and broader reforms relating to planning fees, local plan intervention and the thresholds used for determining applications under the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) regime.

The consultation runs from 30 July – 24 September 2024 and the Government has indicated that a new version of the NPPF will be published before the end of 2024. The report  provided an overview of the proposed changes highlighting where possible, any implications for Coventry.

Paragraph 6 of Part 2 A of the Constitution sets out how the Council will respond to Government Consultation papers. Due to the short timescale and complexity, it has not been possible to submit a report to either Council or Cabinet. With the agreement of the Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities and the Chair of the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee, given the importance and high profile of this consultation and in order to ensure transparency and afford cross party consideration of the response,  it had been agreed that Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee and the Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities will formally consider the proposed response prior to recommending the response to the Leader of the Council, in accordance with the Constitution. The Shadow Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities, Councillor Bailey, attended the meeting and had been invited to attend the Cabinet Member meeting on 20 September 2024. 

The report, together with a comprehensive presentation at the meeting, indicated that the consultation proposals have the following significant implications for the City:

  I.  Councils at the Regulation 18 stage of their Local Plan (such as   Coventry) will have to prepare their plans against the revised   NPPF unless a Regulation 19 consultation can commence within   one month of the revised NPPF being published. In that scenario,     the emerging Local Plan would be prepared in accordance with   the current NPPF (December 2023).

  II.  The requirement for social rented housing from new   developments would be increased, and First Homes would be   removed as an affordable housing tenure. The consultation also   seeks views on the most appropriate way to promote high     percentage social rent / affordable housing developments.   Delivering more affordable housing, particularly social rented   housing, is a Council priority and these proposed changes are     welcomed.

  III.  The consultation proposals include various changes to   national Green Belt policies, including introducing the   concept of ‘Grey Belt’ land within the Green Belt.

  IV.  The Government proposes changes to the national   method of determining housing need for individual local   authorities. The number of homes the Government     calculates to be needed in the city through the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

Report of the Director of Law and Governance

The Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee noted their Work Programme for 2024/25.

The Committee also noted the following changes to scheduled meetings:-

(All to be held at 2.00pm):-

23 October, 2024 will now be held on 31 October, 2024

29 January, 2025 will now be held on 30 January, 2025

5 March, 2025 will now be held on 6 March, 2025

9 April, 2025 will now be held on 10 April, 2025

Any other items of public business which the Chair decides to take as a matter of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

There were no items of urgent public business.