To receive a verbal update on Get Plymouth Building.

Councillor Lowry, Cabinet Member for Finance, and Paul Barnard, Assistant Director for Planning Services, were in attendance to update the panel on the ‘Get Plymouth Building’ scheme.  Members heard that with regard to each of the eight initiatives –

Stalled Sites

·         there were 96 stalled sites in the city, with planning permission for 5,179 homes;

·         work with developers and agents to fast track reserved matters applications and speedily discharge pre-commencement conditions had so far resulted in developments commencing on a number of sites including 132 units at Notte Street, 130 units at Unity Park, Efford, 85 units at St. Augustine’s, Mutley, and 58 homes at the Vision site in Devonport;

·         discussions had also taken place with landowners and developers with a view to removing barriers to development including reviewing the density of schemes, mix of uses, timing of S106 payments and the constraints associated with utilities;

Lapsed Sites

·         there were 33 lapsed sites across the city with planning permission for 489 dwellings;

·         the council was committed to getting tough on unsightly building sites;

·         the council was open to allowing temporary uses on such sites, if appropriate, whilst new development proposals were being worked up;

·         the three largest lapsed sites in the city were at Colin Campbell Court, Millbay Marina and the former Crescent Cars;

Area Action Plan Sites

·         Plymouth had six adopted Area Action Plans (AAPs) with a seventh (Derriford and Seaton) having just been submitted for examination;

·         all of the proposals identified in the AAPs were being reviewed;

·         detailed pre-application discussions had commenced on a number of sites;

Call for New Sites

·         a disappointing response had been received to the call to bring forward new sites made on 19 November 2012;

·         by working with proactive developers like Plymouth Community Homes, Barratts, Mount Wise (Devon) Limited, Devon and Cornwall Housing, and Redrow over 350 homes had been completed in the city last year with a further 705 dwellings on sites under construction;

·         a further 414 homes were currently at pre-application stage and it was anticipated that these would have planning permission by the end of 2013;

·         the council had approved the largest commercially viable Code 6 zero-carbon housing scheme in Europe at Bickleigh;

Self-Build Sites

·         in the UK only 10 per cent of homes were self-build;

·         the council had been working with the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) to access over £30 million of funding and five city council owned sites which could provide 22 self-build units had been identified;

·         the council was supporting the Homes for Heroes project as part of its clear commitment to the Military Covenant;

Small Sites

·         this initiative aimed to help smaller developers bring forward housing on sites with planning permission for less than 15 units;

·         in total there were 498 dwellings approved on these sites;

·         the council had been proactively working with agents to unblock any identified blockages on 34 sites with permission for between 3-15 units which, in total, could deliver 315 homes;

·         since this initiative was launched 88 homes had been completed, 175 units were currently under construction and discussions were underway on sites that could deliver a further 105 homes;

City Council Sites

·         recently identified ten sites surplus to requirements for which 38 proposals had been received;

·         it was anticipated that development of those ten sites would deliver 616 homes, of which 264 would be affordable.  At 43 per cent, this was well above the council’s core strategy policy and what the market was currently delivering;

·         120 of those homes would be expected to be above current building regulations; achieving Code level 4;

·         by identifying these sites, the council had secured £3.9m of HCA grant for the city and, when built, it was anticipated that the completed homes would generate £5.9m of New Homes Bonus;

·         pre-application discussions had already commenced on some of the sites and it was expected that all of the sites would be the subject of planning applications by the end of 2013;

·         it was estimated that over 200 jobs would be created by the development of these sites;

New Funding Mechanisms

·         research had commenced into alternative funding mechanisms and models of delivery in order to explore a transformation of housing supply and tackle fundamental issues regarding the quantity and quality of new homes;

·         the council was working with investors to develop new models of affordable housing delivery.

In conclusion, the ‘Get Plymouth Building’ initiatives would bring forward over 2000 homes and over 800 jobs in local construction and supply chains within the next two to three years.

In response to questions raised, Members heard further that -

The Chair welcomed the update and thanked Councillor Lowry and Paul Barnard for their attendance.