Agenda and minutes

To appoint a Vice-Chair of the Working Party for the period until the next Annual Council Meeting.

Councillor Lenny Grice was appointed as Vice-Chair of the Working Party for the period until the next Annual Council Meeting.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 1 August 2012.

The Minutes (copies of which have been circulated) of the meeting held on 1 August 2012 were approved as a correct record.

Councillors and Officers to declare any interests which they may have in any of the items on the agenda for the meeting.

No declarations of interest were made.

A representative of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration will report at the meeting.

A representative of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration reported on the current situation with the allocations Development Plan Document (DPD). 

It would be preferable to start the allocation now, but there would be a number of different elements to consider over the next twelve months, which could have implications for the timescale.  However, this work was beginning to be picked up.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

A representative of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration will report at the meeting.

A representative of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration reported that the Local Authority needed to demonstrate to the Planning Inspector that the Duty to Co-Operate requirement had been met, and that formal structures were in place to evidence this.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration.

The Working Party is recommended to note the report.

Officer Contact: Richard Wood on 0161 474 4386 or email: richard.wood@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) which advised that beyond April 2015 Local Authorities would be unable to pool (five or more) Section 106 obligations for a single project or scheme.  There was therefore an urgency for many Local Authorities to have a Community Infrastructure Levy in place.  It should also be progressed in a timely manner on the basis that the viability work would become out of date and therefore there was likely to be an additional cost because that work would need to be redone.  The risk was that without up-to-date viability work, an Inspector may find the Community Infrastructure Levy proposal unsound. 

RESOLVED –   (1)  That the report be noted.

(2)  That an all councillor briefing on the Community Infrastructure Levy be held as soon as possible and that consideration be given to holding briefings for the Area Committees following the all councillor briefing.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration

The Working Party is recommended to note the report.

Officer Contact: Richard Wood on 0161 474 4386 or email: richard.wood@stockport.gov.uk

A representative from the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) which stated that the Greater Manchester Strategy was produced in 2013 by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and set out the planning and housing priorities for Greater Manchester.  At the Greater Manchester level it was proposed to develop a Residential Growth Strategy in order to boost supply in the short/medium term and also to produce a framework for delivery over the next twenty years.  This was to be the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework.  At the present time both the figures involved and potential impact were unknown but this information would be shared with Members as soon as it was available.

As currently envisaged by the GMCA, consultation on the Greater Manchester requirement would continue into the autumn, with the development of district requirements through to May 2015 and consultation thereafter.  This was the key issue which would determine the Local Plan agenda.  There were a number of positives to the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework but also the potential for it to be very challenging.

The following comments were made/issues raised:-

·         Concerns were raised that Stockport was not meeting its current housing targets and this proposal would mean that Stockport will be under even more pressure.

·         It was noted that all Local Authorities were in the same position and were facing the same challenges.  It was therefore important that all Local Authorities work together constructively to mitigate any backlash.

·         Members considered that all Local Authorities were under pressure from developers to provide sites for redevelopment, and this raised difficult issues for all Local Authorities.  There was an enormous shortfall which was replicated across Greater Manchester.

·         Concerns were raised that there was a shortfall in social housing.

·         Members felt that Stockport needed more of all types of housing.  A lot of people who currently rented property, would like to buy.  In addition, there were a lot of people leaving University who would like to remain in Stockport and there needed to be affordable housing for them, in order to encourage residents to remain within the Borough.

RESOLVED - That the report be noted.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration

The Working Party is recommended to note the report.

Officer Contact: Angie Jukes on 0161 474 4385 or email: angie.jukes@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) which advised that the work undertaken by the Council’s Technical Policy and Planning team, included the development of a Sustainability Appraisal Framework – Stockport’s Sustainability Wheel.  This tool had been endorsed by various Stakeholders through consultation.  It was currently under review for its suitability for future use on emerging strategies, policies and plans.

In addition work had been undertaken to develop a site appraisal process which had incorporated various criteria to assess potential sites for the emerging Site Allocations Development Plan Document.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration

The Working Party is recommended to note the report.

Officer Contact: Richard Wood on 0161 email: richard.wood@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) which indicated that retail needs assessments should ideally be updated every five years and contribute to the Local Plan evidence base.  The findings of the 2009 Shopping and Leisure Study undertaken by Drivers Jonas had been updated by Hollisvincent in 2014, based on updated survey data.

The 2014 Study found Special Forms of Trading, which included online shopping, accounted for 16.1% of comparison goods expenditure and was the main source of ‘leakage’, followed by Manchester City Centre, Handforth Dean and the Trafford Centre.

The initial results were for the study area as a whole, and Hollisvincent had not yet drawn conclusions as to where the needs identified should be met.  (This depended, in part, on the physical capacity of the various centres and their potential in market terms).  However, it was likely that Stockport Town Centre should aspire to provide for at least half of the comparison goods floorspace identified.

Paragraph 003 of the NPPG indicated that any town centre strategy should be based on evidence of the current state of town centres and should be regularly reviewed.  Thus the 2014 study would also contain an assessment of the vitality and viability of Stockport’s centres (the Town Centre, District Centres and Local Centres).

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration

The Working Party is recommended to note the report.

Officer Contact: Richard Wood on 0161 474 4386 or email: richard.wood@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) which advised that Stage A (Assessing the Current Position) had taken up the most time in undertaking an Employment Land Review (ELR) and was now complete.  Stage B (Assessing Future Demand and Supply) was now underway using the Greater Manchester Forecasting Model to provide consistency of approach with other Greater Manchester authorities.  Stage C (Recommendations and Conclusions) had been considered in the light of stages A and B but had not yet been finalised.

Early indications were that the borough faced both quantitative and qualitative deficiency in employment land.  There were a number of potential opportunities but identification of specific sites required further analysis.

The Employment Land Review would be completed by late summer/early autumn and it was proposed that the key findings/options would be discussed further at officer level and with Councillors at workshop events that were to be organised.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration

The Working Party is recommended to note the report.

Officer Contact: Richard Wood on 0161 474 4386 or email: richard.wood@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) which stated that previously the Council had been working to an identified need of 53 pitches for Gypsies and Travellers and 17 plots for Travelling Showpeople through to 2026.  In recent months, at the Greater Manchester level, work had been commissioned to re-examine the need for such sites across the conurbation.  These figures would be broken down to Local Authority level. That work was due to report by the end of the summer, however at this stage there was no indication of what the final numbers were likely to be.

At this stage, in advance of the updated evidence work at the Greater Manchester level, it was difficult to give an indication of the scale of need and therefore the likely number of sites that would be required.  When that information was known then further work would be required in order to ensure that the Council had undertaken a full and proper assessment of available sites prior to any allocations being made.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration.

The Working Party is recommended to note the report.

Officer Contact: Richard Wood on 0161 474 4386 or email: richard.wood@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) which indicated that following a cross-party meeting it had been agreed that Stockport needed more affordable housing and that the Council should take a more interventionist approach to this.  It was agreed to identify an initial long list of potential sites, assess these and then hone them down to a shortlist, which would then form the basis of a report to Members outlining the potential for development, what would need to be done to deliver on those sites and the risks associated with this.

The Council had a Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) which is used to identify potential housing sites and to categorise them in terms of when and how many units it was estimated each site would deliver.  That work was published in 2010 and was therefore in need of refreshing.  It was intended that this be updated, commencing in the next few months, as part of both the evidential work required and as a means of identifying further sites via a ‘Call for Sites’ exercise.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration

The Working Party is recommended to note the report.

Officer Contact: Richard Wood on 0161 474 4386 or email: richard.wood@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) which advised that at this stage, given the number of uncertainties, it was difficult to provide a firm timetable for future development and consultation of Local Development Framework documents.  Work was ongoing and there were a number of potential outcomes.  However it was envisaged that much of the work required to update and produce the relevant documents could be undertaken over the next ten months.  This would allow for consultation to take place on the relevant documents after final publication of the work being undertaken by Greater Manchester.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.