Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received form Councillor Willmott.

Members are asked to declare any interests they may have in the business to be discussed.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Director of Planning, Development and Transportation submits a presentation on the Draft Leicester Local Plan (2020 – 2036) Public Consultation.

The plans and supporting documents can be accessed online at

consultations.leicester.gov.uk.

Councillor Westley as Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced the Draft Local Plan.

The Head of Planning gave a presentation, a copy of which had been circulated with the agenda papers. During the presentation, he drew particular attention to the following points:

• The Government had consulted on changes to the planning system in a White Paper.  This consultation had been concluded and Leicester City Council had provided some comments on it.  There was currently uncertainty about the extent of these changes and the time they would take, as such the Council were looking to continue with the local plan in order to provide more certainty and capture the work progressed to date.

• The plan had originally been scheduled to go to consultation in March 2020, however this had been delayed by Covid-19.  The government had encouraged the Council to continue progressing plans.  As such the nature of how the plan was being proposed to engage had been changed.

• The plan had been approved by Full Council in February 2020, however additional information had been added on the Housing Study and this could be commented on as part of the consultation.

• The Local Plan would form the rulebook of the Planning Committee.

• As the City had grown through the boundary of the City Council, Leicester City Council was working with partners in the neighbouring District and Borough Councils and Leicestershire County Council as it was recognised that they may need to help with the housing needs of the City.

• The Government had set the Council targets on housing need of 29,104 dwellings over 15 years with 1,712 houses per year over this period.  The consultation sought to meet that demand, however only 21,000 potential dwellings had been identified and as such it was being investigated as to whether the plan was going as far as it could in the city and whether the neighbouring councils could potentially accommodate on the city’s behalf.

• Views were being sought on five large strategic sites and it was being proposed that housing development be brought forward on 85 other sites.

• A significant aspect of the Plan would be development in the Central Development Area

• The Local Housing Needs Study 2020 had not informed the Plan, but had reinforced the targets set by the Government.  The Government targets were subject to change and any changes would have to be considered in the next iteration of the plan.

• The study had advised on a level of Affordable Housing Need of 12,206 homes (718 per year).  The current targets did not need to be changed to meet this as the Government figure included an ‘affordability uplift’ to deal with the affordable housing need.  However, this information was able to inform the Council in adopting new Section 106 targets and how to respond to the Government’s new agenda in terms of discounted starter-homes.

• There would be a significant role for private sector renting in the city.

• The study recognised the need for specialist homes for older people  ...  view the full minutes text for item 94.

The meeting closed at 5:08pm.