Question
IMD 2018/28 Duty to Cooperate: SHMA Methodology, Executive - Individual Member Decisions - Monday, 9th July, 2018 3.00 pm
As this IMD has serious implications for Wokingham and its residents I am very surprised to see it “hidden” in an IMD.
Can you therefore give me an update on it as it is scheduled to be determined in 10 days time?
Minutes:
Re: IMD 2018/28 Duty to Cooperate: SHMA Methodology, Executive - Individual Member Decisions - Monday, 9th July, 2018 3.00 pm
As this IMD has serious implications for Wokingham and its residents I am very surprised to see it “hidden” in an IMD.
Can you therefore give me an update on it as it is scheduled to be determined in 10 days’ time?
Answer
Legislation requires Councils to work together to ensure strategic issues, which cut across local authority boundaries, are properly addressed. I am sure that you know this from your work in this area. With regards to housing, Councils are required in government policy and guidance to identify Housing Market Areas (HMA). These are functional areas which have a relationship in terms of house prices, migration and commuting patterns.
At present this Council, and the other Berkshire local authorities, rely on the Berkshire (including South Bucks) Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) as the most up-to-date assessment of housing issues. This identifies two HMAs relevant to the Berkshire local authorities – a Western Berkshire HMA focused on Reading (which includes Wokingham Borough, West Berkshire, and Bracknell Forest in addition to Reading), and an Eastern Berkshire HMA focused on Slough (which includes RBWM and South Bucks in addition to Slough). The identified HMAs were subject to public consultation in 2015 as part of the study’s preparation.
To assist local plan processes across Berkshire, each of the Berkshire local authorities has been asked to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) confirming their continued agreement with the HMA geography. The MoU is not legally binding, but provides a transparent way of recording a working agreement. It can be reviewed at any time.
The MoU does not consider housing numbers. On this we expect the government to introduce a standardised methodology for calculating housing need across England shortly. This will supersede any previous calculation.
The signing of the MoU does not have serious implications for Wokingham Borough and it is certainly not hidden. The MoU simply reflects the facts of how places in Berkshire relate to each other as recommended in a study which has been in the public domain since 2015 and was widely consulted on.
I am due to consider a report on the MoU at a public meeting on 12 July 2018. The report and details of the meeting will be available in the normal way on our website.
Supplementary Question
In relation to my point about information being hidden in IMDs. For example, the Leader of the Council signed an IMD on 4 June which was in your name. The IMD report took a line on supporting SDL building using volume builders as opposed to small and medium sized local builders. I would add that the response to Government was, generally speaking, excellent, but with regard to IMDs why was this crucial Government consultation not part of a residents’ consultation or, for that matter, brought to Council to allow Members to debate it in full and not have it buried in an IMD?
Supplementary Answer
I was aware of the particular consultation you mentioned (Revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework), read the report and talked to Officers about it. We are waiting to receive a response.
That particular IMD would have originally been signed by Councillor David Lee who was leading on that activity, but, as you are aware, he lost his seat, so the Leader signed the IMD. It was important that we got across our thoughts for the Government to consider and they are telling us that they will respond before the summer recess. It is important for us to say whether we agree or not with what they are suggesting.
Of course, Members and the public are able to attend these IMD meetings if they wish and are able to make a contribution.