It was reported that the provision of affordable housing remained a key part of the overall delivery of housing and the Council was committed to providing more affordable homes in Havering in line with its commitment in the current Corporate Strategy and other strategies.

Cabinet had previously approved the publication of a draft non-statutory planning guidance note to set out the circumstances in which the Council may accept commuted sum payments to the Council in lieu of affordable housing being provided ‘on-site’ within a development scheme or on an alternative site agreed by the Council.

Cabinet had also agreed to the draft planning guidance note being the subject of public consultation.

The report before Members reviewed the consultation responses. Several respondents supported the preparation of the note and the Council taking the approach to increasing affordable housing stock. The report concluded that the consultation responses did not require any change to the draft planning guidance note.

It was recommended that the planning guidance note be updated to reflect robust evidence on housing need including that for affordable housing. This evidence had been secured to support the preparation of the emerging Havering Local Plan which would be progressed in 2017.

Reasons for the decision:

To ensure that there is an adequate provision of affordable homes in Havering.

Other options considered:

The option of not preparing the guidance note had been discounted because it was important that Havering has adequate affordable homes.

The absence of explicit criteria setting out where commuted sum payments may be appropriate and a financial formula model for calculating such payments is unhelpful for both the Council and prospective developers. It may adversely affect the successful delivery of more affordable homes.

Alternative approaches to calculating a commuted sum provision were considered and rejected as they were not considered to be financially neutral and would incentivise the developer to provide a commuted sum in lieu of on-site provision, fail to achieve the maximum viable levels of affordable housing contribution or alternatively fail to sufficiently recognise the importance of assessing viability at a scheme by scheme level.

Cabinet:

1.         Noted the responses to the consultation on the draft planning guidance note which were summarised in Appendix 1 of the report

2.         Noted that no changes are recommended to the guidance note in the light of careful consideration of the consultation responses

3.         Agreed that the planning guidance note be updated in regard to the availability of robust and up to date evidence on housing need

4.         Adopted the amended planning guidance note as set out in Appendix 2 of the report.