Agenda item

From the Cabinet, 12 January 2016

Further to Minute 102 of the Cabinet, the City Council considered a report of the Executive Director of Place, which sought approval of a Memorandum of Understanding in relation to the planned distribution of housing within the Coventry and Warwickshire Housing Market Area (HMA).

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) sought to ensure the housing needs of the Coventry and Warwickshire HMA were planned for in full during the current round of Local Plans.  It responded to the fact that Coventry was unable to accommodate its full housing needs as well as the recommendations made by the Planning Inspector currently considering the Warwick District Council Local Plan.  In doing so the MoU would supersede a previous agreement made at the Coventry and Warwickshire Shadow Economic Prosperity Board (sEPB) in November 2014 and presented to Council in March 2015.

The MoU, attached as Appendix 1 to the report submitted, was presented to the sEPB on 29^th September 2015 and was accompanied by a covering report (also part of Appendix 1), which recommended the MoU be endorsed by each of the six authorities – Coventry City, Rugby Borough, Warwick District, North Warwickshire Borough, Stratford on Avon District and Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough.

The MoU had been jointly developed over the summer of 2015 by all six authorities with further support from Warwickshire County Council.  Its development had been supported by an officer and member reference group of the sEPB and had been informed by updated evidence on population projections, economic growth forecasts and household formation rates.  It also contained points of agreement that related to the levels of housing needs and how that housing should be distributed across the Housing Market Area.  This distribution supported both demographic and workforce growth as well as considering mitigation and commuting flows between the six authorities.

The report submitted set out the housing needs and a housing requirement to be taken forward into plan making, and the impact on each of the local authority areas.  In summary, for Coventry, the objectively assessed housing need indicated that 42,400 homes would be required.  This figure was reduced by 3,800 through aligning population and economic growth and 14,000 through redistribution to other local authority areas.  This resulted in a housing requirement for the City of 24,600.

The MoU was supported by all Members of the sEPB except representatives of Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council (NBBC), who remained concerned about their own capacity and their ability to plan for an additional 4,020 homes identified as a result of their functional relationship to the City.  The lack of support from NBBC at this time was considered further in the proposed response to their Borough Plan, which was also being considered at this meeting. 

The approval of the MoU would provide a solid and transparent platform from which to plan for new homes across Coventry and Warwickshire in the coming years. Endorsement of the MoU would also help enable the Council to fulfil its obligations in relation to the Duty to Co-operate and to meet the housing requirements of the housing market area, as required by national planning policy.

RESOLVED that the City Council endorse the Memorandum of Understanding relating to the planned distribution of housing within the Coventry & Warwickshire Housing Market Area (HMA) as attached at Appendix 1 of the report submitted.

In respect of the above, a recorded vote was required in accordance with Paragraph 18.3 of the City Council's Constitution. The Councillors voting for, against or abstaining in respect of the recommendations were as follows:

For: 33

Against: 10

Abstentions: 0