(a)

the Local Development Framework Authority’s Monitoring Report was produced annually;

(b)

the Community Infrastructure Levy was formally adopted in April 2013 and came into effect on I June 2013 and Plymouth was one of the first group of authorities to adopt it;

(c)

the Derriford and Seaton Area Action Plan was submitted to the Government in December in December 2012; in August 2013 the Council received the Inspector’s report detailing that the AAP had been found ‘unsound’;

(d)

the review of the Core Strategy and planning for the Plymouth Plan took place between October 2012 and June 2013 with over 30 sofa events  held around the city;

(e)

the number of planning applications for major developments has increased to 111which compares favorably to other big cities;

(f)

planning application appeals were at a similar level to 2011/2012 with 28 appeals and appeals performance having improved with 75% wholly or partly agreed by the Inspectorate;

(g)

in 2012/13 the Council negotiated £3m for planning obligation contributions from developments recently completed or under construction and had so far received £2.3m of which £217,000 had been spent on schemes in neighbourhoods or on citywide projects;

(h)

28 of the 40 Core Strategy targets had been met or were on-track;

(i)

housing delivery was approximately two years behind where they expected to be in terms of figures; there was a gradual increase in numbers of homes being built since the recession;

(j)

the economic crisis and lack of availability of grant funding has seen the number of affordable dwellings built decrease from the record numbers in 2012/11 although overall 36% of all new homes delivered since the start of the plan had been affordable, above the Core Strategy target;

(k)

in the years up to 2009, 83% of new homes were flats (mainly one and two beds) producing an average density for new developments of 131 dwellings per hectare;

(l)

since 2010 the type of dwellings completed show a more balanced mix (a higher proportion of semi-detached and terraced houses, and a higher number of four or more beds) as a result of a number of large redevelopment sites - at Southway, Derriford and Barne Barton;

(m)

the percentage of Lifetime Homes target had been met for the previous two years;

(n)

the Council had seen a rise in employment land developed in 2012/13 to 3.58 hectares with the average annual amount now 4.41 hectares which was above the Core Strategy target of 4 hectares per annum;

(o)

the Council had a target of 13,000sqm for office floorspace delivery however

in 2012 to 2013, 6,325sqm of office space had been completed;

(p)

7.27 hectares of employment land development was under construction or had been delivered and 17.76 hectares had been given permission;

(q)

since September 2012 there had been an increase in vacancies at Drake Circus; it was expected that this was partially down to the refurbishment of a number of units within the shopping centre and that vacancy rates should return to normal levels soon;

(r)

overall vacancies since October 2013 were at 14.75%;  this was slightly above the national average.

(s)

the figures provided in the presentation related to the period 1st April 2012 to 31st March 2013;

(t)

the percentage of flats developed in the city also included figures for houses that had been converted into flats; the Assistant Director for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure would check if these figures could be broken down further in order to give Members a breakdown of house conversions;

(u)

the figures relating to Section106 monies negotiated, received and spent was a snapshot in time from April 2012;

(v)

the Assistant Director for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure would provide a copy of the presentation and confirm if the information regarding the vacant units in the Drake Circus Shopping Centre was from 2012 or 2013; he would also check the feasibility of providing Members with the data from 2013 as well as national comparative figures for 2013 and local figures for 2013.