(a)

the Market Recovery Scheme ran from 2008 to 2013 and was Plymouth City Council’s response to the 0% growth in the UK economy; the aim was to help support projects consistent with the Council’s vision for growth;

(b)

in 2008 there was a loss of confidence in the market and investors;

(c)

in total there were 115 planning permissions granted under both the Market Recovery Action Plan and Market Recovery Scheme between 2008 and 2013;

(d)

the schemes approved had an estimated development value of over £200 million. These permissions approved 1,845 dwellings and 4 commercial projects of 4,188m2 of commercial space with some additional mixed use developments;

(e)

the current position with the 115 planning permissions granted, as at the first of November 2014 was that 52% had been completed delivering 619 homes and 470sqm of commercial floor space; 21% were currently under construction and 20% had still not started construction;

(f)

the number of unimplemented consents had fallen from 51 sites to 22 sites; only 8 of the 22 sites were larger sites. Of the 8 sites, 1 had been completed, 3 were under construction and 4 were stalled.

(g)

there was currently no planning proposal on the East Boatyard Phase 2 site since the planning permission had lapsed;

(h)

on 115 planning permissions the total of S106 contributions for a fully compliant development should have amounted to £12.5m; the schemes only generated £4.1m of S106 money; throughout the MRS plan pre application fees were waived however the issue of viability still affected a development;

(i)

there was reference to the viability of a development in the National Planning Policy Framework; the viability of a scheme was a matter for the individual developer/business to ascertain a reasonable return on investment;

(j)

officers would email Members with a progress update upon the following stalled sites: Tamar House, Land off Towerfield Drive and East Boatyard Phase 2;

(k)

theCornerstoneZed project (Land off Towerfield Drive) had recently registered a bid with the Homes and Communities Agency for a loan; planning permission had been secured and Kier were providing money for the infrastructure of the site; planning permission was granted approximately 12 months ago.

1

officers would email Members with a progress update upon the following stalled sites: Tamar House, Land Off Towerfield Drive and East Boatyard Phase 2;

2

officers would email Members as soon as the HCA funding for the Land Off Towerfield Drive had been announced.

(a)

the Get Plymouth Building Scheme was launched in 2012 and followed on from the Market Recovery Scheme initiative; the report attached to the agenda contained the intention of the scheme and progress made;

(b)

the scheme was considered a success as 2148 homes had been completed, the target of the initiative was 2000 homes.

(c)

AAP in the report referred to ‘Area Action Plan’;

(d)

the following progress had been made on the three lapsed sites referred to in the report: planning permission had been granted for 348 student bed spaces at the Crescent Cars site, submissions had been received for 142 homes for the Millbay Marina site and officers were working through proposals with developers on the Colin Campbell Court site;

(e)

some Ward Councillors had been actively involved liaising with residents and officers regarding the release of Council owned sites and brokering a solution; work relating to the Mannamead Centre was considered exemplar;

(f)

both Southway Primary School and Southway Comprehensive School had been released under the Get Plymouth Building initiative section 77 approval had been secured on the former Southway Primary School site and pre-application discussions were nearing completion and a planning application was expected in 2015;

(g)

the Kings Tamerton site referred to in the report was in the process of being released; a partner had been selected however the land was not yet disposed;

(h)

in the future officers would provide the Working Plymouth scrutiny panel with one report detailing information linked to the Market Recovery Scheme, Get Plymouth Building and Plan for Homes instead of 3 separate reports as previously requested.

(a)

S106 funds were generally triggered by larger developments as a means of mitigating the impact of the development on local communities;

(b)

a brief explanation and terminology of ‘affordable housing’ would be emailed to Members of the Working Plymouth Scrutiny panel;

(c)

the Assistant Director for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure was not aware of any ‘build to leave’ developments in Plymouth where a developer was intentionally leaving a property empty however he would investigate this matter raised by a member of the panel;

(d)

work was ongoing to bring unoccupied flats above shops back into use however highlighted that the accommodation could be compromised as a result of their position and quality;

(e)

a property was required to be empty for 6 months before it was eligible to be added to the empty homes register; the register currently had approximately 680 homes added and was reviewed on a regular basis. It was considered that 0.7% of properties in Plymouth were added to the register.