Issue - decisions

Decision

The Cabinet approves the Housing Delivery Test Action Plan attached as Appendix 1 to the report of the Cabinet Member for Planning and delegates authority to the Cabinet Member for Planning to make minor changes to the document prior to its publication

Reasons for decision

1.         The report of the Cabinet Member for Planning on the Housing Delivery Test Action Plan and the draft action plan attached as Appendix 1 to the report

2.         The Government commitment to improve the delivery of more new homes

3.         The introduction of the Housing Delivery Test by Government as a monitoring tool to demonstrate whether local areas were building enough homes to meeting their housing need

4.         The Housing Delivery Test results which identified South Kesteven was achieving 81% of its housing requirement, which meant that the Council had to plan for a 20% buffer and set out an action plan to increase delivery across the district

5.         Since the Housing Delivery Test results were published, 676 dwellings were completed within South Kesteven, which was above the requirement

6.         Consultation with key landowners, developers and stakeholders in the production of the Housing Delivery Test Action Plan

7.         Clarifications required within section 6 of the document to ensure actions were aligned to the correct council

Other options considered and rejected

The Cabinet could choose not to approve the Housing Delivery Test Action Plan. This was not recommended as it was contrary to Government requirements.

A further alternative would be to amend the Housing Delivery Test Action Plan. This was intended to be a working plan, so there was scope for the Cabinet to make revisions in light of a further comments on the plan.