Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

a)  To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 11 June, 2021

b)  Matters arising

The minutes of the meeting held on 11 June 2021 were agreed as a true record. There were no matters arising.

Report of the Director of Street Scene and Regulatory Services

NOTE: In accordance with the Constitution, Councillor N Akhtar, Chair of the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee, has been invited to attend the meeting for this item of business to agree the need for urgency such that call-in arrangements will not apply. The reason for urgency is that a formal decision on this is needed prior to the Local Development Scheme report being considered by Cabinet on 13 July 2021.

The Cabinet Member considered a report of the Director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services which reviewed the findings of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Viability Reports and concluded that there was insufficient viability to take forward a CIL Scheme in Coventry; and therefore proposed that no further work be undertaken on bringing forward a Scheme at this time.

CIL is a charge that can be made on development in addition to Section 106 developer contributions. All development would be potentially liable, with some limited exemptions, and the levy is calculated on a m2 basis, meaning all applicable developments contribute. Once collected the Levy could be spent on infrastructure projects anywhere in the city, and a portion would be given to a Parish Council if the development fell within their boundary.

In order to establish a Levy, Councils must first be able to demonstrate that there was sufficient value in development to the extent that the addition of a levy on top of all other costs would not render typical schemes unviable. Should the evidence demonstrate this, then a Charging Schedule could be drafted and be publicly consulted upon, changes made and eventually culminating in an independent Examination in Public.

When considering the implementation of CIL, councils must also consider the consequences of the introduction of a new charge. Developments previously allocated or expected may not come forward as they were now less attractive to developers, and development patterns may change to avoid higher cost areas.

Once adopted, CIL would be a non-negotiable Levy that had to be paid upon commencement of a development, with prescribed phasing for larger payments. This inflexibility would mean that there was greater certainty of how much Levy each application would contribute. However, this also meant that should a scheme be experiencing viability issues then any appropriate renegotiation would focus on Section 106 provisions, such as education, highways or affordable housing contributions.

As part of the 2017 Local Development Scheme, extensive work was undertaken and Dixon Searl Partnership (DSP) were commissioned to produce a viability report. The 2017 Viability Report modelled viability in a range of scenarios, looking at costs and value in a variety of locations and with differing development typologies. The Report concluded that there was a viability difference between wards in the West and South compared to the North and East, and that development in the West and South had a greater scope for a Levy being applied. Based on the evidence gathered in 2017 a draft Charging Schedule was proposed.

The Report also concluded that the two Sustainable Urban Extensions (SUEs) brought forward by the Local Plan were unable to provide a Levy due to the on-site infrastructure burden required to bring forward the sites. They were therefore excluded from the draft Charging Schedule. It should be noted that this was quite common for SUEs to be excluded from Charging Schedules for this reason.

However, changes to the National Planning Policy Framework regarding the provision of affordable housing, as well as further  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Report of the Director of Street Scene and Regulatory Services

The Cabinet Member considered a report of the Director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services which proposed a response to the Issues and Options consultation currently being undertaken by Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council.

Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council (NBBC) adopted their current Local Plan in June 2019 and had recently triggered a Local Plan review. The first stage of the Review is an Issues and Options public consultation, which was launched on 11 June 2021 and would close 6 August 2021. The consultation document was attached as Appendix 1 to the report.

Coventry and Nuneaton & Bedworth are part of the same Housing Market Area (HMA) along with Stratford Rugby, Warwick and North Warwickshire, and as such both authorities had a Duty to Cooperate. Evidence of cooperative working was a key part of the Local Plan process and therefore it would be appropriate for Coventry City Council to respond to this consultation.

As part of the Duty to Cooperate, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was agreed between all authorities in the Housing Market Area to apportion the un-met Housing Need of Coventry, and this was taken into account in the drafting and examination of all Local Plans in the housing Market Area, including the current NBBC Local Plan. 

Paragraph 7.8 of the NBBC Issues and Options consultation, stated that NBBC would be “withdrawing from the current memorandum of understanding (and will seek to negotiate an appropriate arrangement with sub-regional partners”.

Given that the MoU was an integral part of meeting the sub-region’s Housing Need, it was important that the Council responded to this intention formally through the consultation process. A draft response was attached as Appendix II to the report. It was noted that there was a typo in the draft response and that the word “proscribes” would be amended to “prescribes” before the consultation response is finalised and submitted.

Members noted that, although disappointed with NBBC’s decision to withdraw from the MoU, Coventry City Council would remain committed to working closely, proactively and constructively with all neighbouring authorities.

Members discussed the impact that major developments taking place in NBBC had on the infrastructure within Coventry, especially those close to the neighbouring borders to the north of the City and particularly in terms of highways and air quality. Although such matters were not covered within the NBBC consultation, Members requested that this be included within the response to ensure that NBBC continue to work closely and collaboratively with Coventry to achieve the best outcome for both authorities and their residents. 

RESOLVED that, the Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities approves the submission of the proposed response as attached at Appendix II of the report subject to the addition of the request made by Members to ensure that Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council continue to work closely and engage with Coventry Council in relation to any major development proposals close to neighbouring borders to ensure that appropriate consideration has been given to the impact on services and infrastructure within Coventry boundaries.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

There are no outstanding issues

There were no outstanding issues.

There were no other items of public business.