Agenda item

Attached is a copy of the report to be considered by the Cabinet on Tuesday 15 December. The views of the Commission will be reported to the Cabinet.

The Commission considered a report of the Chief Executive concerning the County Council’s formal advice on the Partial Review of the East Midlands Regional Plan as Section 4(4) Authority.  A copy of the report marked ‘C’ is filed with these minutes.

The Commission was advised that, arising from representations made by the Regional Assembly to Government, a delay or abandonment of the review of the housing aspects of the Regional Plan was now being considered. As any review would only affect housing projections after 2021, it was not felt necessary to carry out a review at this time and it would be essential that the Authority be given the necessary time to assess fully consultation responses and other comparative data and evidence to inform any review at a later stage.

In the discussion, members commented that the advice that new housing development should be ‘as low carbon as possible’ was vague. The view was expressed that, if the Government’s CO₂ targets were to be met and perhaps exceeded to ensure that the environment was safeguarded for future generations, more challenging targets should be set. Whilst recognising that this would increase costs and perhaps housing prices in the short term, it could avoid costly retro-fitting in the future. Higher environmental standards in new build houses would also reduce the recovery costs for householders.

It was moved by the Chairman, seconded and carried:-

“That the Cabinet be advised that the Commission:-

(i)                 supports the deferral of the review of the housing aspects of the Regional Plan;

(ii)               notes that sufficient evidence is not currently available to enable the Council to undertake a thorough transport assessment of the Partial Review options (as outlined in paragraph 8 of Appendix 5) and that this evidence could not be ascertained until there was greater clarity of housing figures for the County;

(iii)             has concerns about the lack of ambition in the Government’s proposal for housing development to be zero carbon from 2016 (as outlined in paragraph 4 of Appendix 6) and would urge the Cabinet to seek further advice in order to establish whether it was feasible to recommend that this date be brought forward and for focused and specific interim energy efficiency targets for developers to be set.”