Agenda item

The Policy and Communities Officer presented the report to update members on the latest policy Monitoring Report (2016/17-2022/23).  There was a change to the legal requirements in 2017 on the reporting and from 2021 there were a series of Topic Papers for plan review. 

The Officer explained that this latest report looks at data from 2017 onwards so that a full suite of Monitoring Reports is available that are similar and style in content to the comprehensive one previously produced.  This brings the monitoring up to date and aligns as far as it is practical to the original Annual Monitoring Report (AMR).  It was noted that the Minerals information shall be added at a later date and a separate Minerals report brought back to Committee.

The Officer took the Members through a short presentation and the following Headlines were noted:

1.    Applications that are approved contrary to policy or that raise significant policy issues are rare, and within low tolerance thresholds.

2.    All allowed appeals since 2017/18 have been cases where a site-specific judgement by the Inspector differed to that made by the Authority.  No allowed appeals present a fundamental change to existing core policies.

3.    There has been an increase in applications for camping pods and shepherd’s huts since j2016/17 with a trend towards bigger structures.

4.    More applications are including sustainability measures but many are not the “highest possible standard”.

5.    Thee are more renewable and low carbon schemes, particularly since 2021/22.

6.    The number of open market homes remains consistent. 

7.    Overall there has been a decline in community services and facilities.

8.    Overall trend for traffic is an increase over the plan period.

The Officer was commended for an interesting report.  The loss of 8 shops over the period does not include the loss of the 2 banks in the PDNPA (Bakewell and Hathersage).  Land use survey have been carried out which are presented in the Parish Statements that are available on the website and these capture changes which have not been picked up in the monitoring process.  It was noted that a “change of use” does not count as a loss.

It was confirmed that there is no policy requirement for designated sites for Gypsy and Traveller pitches.

A question was asked regarding Local Needs Affordable  Housing (LNAH)  and what the mechanisms are for getting LNAH. Where the monitoring has picked up issues e.g. LNAH then this is being looked at in the Local Planning Review and the PDNPA will be working with constituent authorities particularly Derbyshire Dales as most of the delivery does occur here.  There is a requirement for market homes and flexibility is needed for market homes where it drives conservation purpose.  It would be helpful if the data regarding the table on new housing could be subdivided into local needs housing (self-build and new owner occupied).

There is a shift in transport (15.79% increase) and the nature of the transport has changed in that more people are working from home and more are coming to the park for recreation and this needs to be managed. 

The previous government had advised that they were minded to introduce a new use class for short-term lets however this has not been forthcoming as yet.

RESOLVED:

To note the report.