Agenda item

Councillor Gary Sumner will move and Councillor Oliver Donachie will second:

“This Council:

 1)    Welcomes:

a.    the recent restated commitment by the Prime Minister and the Government to supporting house building, and

b.    the work the Council is already undertaking to support providing new homes.

2)    Notes:

a.    That Swindon has an adopted Local Plan that supports ambitious targets for new homes,

b.    That a number of parish councils have adopted neighbourhood plans to complement the Local Plan,

c.    The economic benefits from building houses as well as supporting employers by providing good homes for their staff,

d.    The delays that lie outside the Council’s control in having construction start once planning permission is given.  In particular, the fact that essential service companies such as the water companies and broadband infrastructure providers do not always coordinate their investments to support housing growth. 

3)    Invites the Leader of the Council to write to the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to:

a.    Restore the New Homes Bonus to help Councils to pay for the investment and services new homes require,

b.    Devise tax incentives to make it more profitable to build sooner once planning permission is granted, and

c.    Introduce a duty to cooperate with planning authorities for utility companies, including modern utilities such as broadband, to ensure that new homes are not delayed because of the lack of infrastructure.”

Councillor Gary Sumner moved and Councillor Oliver Donachie seconded:

“This Council:

 1)    Welcomes:

a)  the recent restated commitment by the Prime Minister and the Government to supporting house building, and

b).  the work the Council is already undertaking to support providing new homes.

2)    Notes:

a) That Swindon has an adopted Local Plan that supports ambitious targets for new homes,

b) That a number of parish councils have adopted neighbourhood plans to complement the Local Plan,

c) The economic benefits from building houses as well as supporting employers by providing good homes for their staff,

d)  The delays that lie outside the Council’s control in having construction start once planning permission is given.  In particular, the fact that essential service companies such as the water companies and broadband infrastructure providers do not always coordinate their investments to support housing growth. 

3)  Invites the Leader of the Council to write to the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to:

a)  Restore the New Homes Bonus to help Councils to pay for the investment and services new homes require,

b)  Devise tax incentives to make it more profitable to build sooner once planning permission is granted, and

c) Introduce a duty to cooperate with planning authorities for utility companies, including modern utilities such as broadband, to ensure that new homes are not delayed because of the lack of infrastructure.”

          Councillor Jim Robbins moved and Councillor Emma Bushell seconded:

“This Council:

1)   Notes:

a)     The Prime Minister’s recent statement on housebuilding  and believes it was inadequate as it failed to acknowledge problems with developers land-banking and to address the fundamental causes of the current broken UK housing market including the decrease in home ownership, lack of affordable housing stock and a dramatic increase in rough-sleeping.

b)     That the last time the country built 250,000 homes a year, 40% of these homes were built by local authorities. The current percentage of all new build homes that are affordable is 9.2%.

c)      The LGA's statement in response to the Prime Minister’s speech pointed out that there are 423,000 homes waiting to be built by developers and  that "no-one can live in a planning permission".

d)     That millions of pounds of donations to the Conservative Party have come from house builders and the construction industry. Any Conservative proposal to offer tax breaks to these companies should be considered in this context.

2)   Supports:

a) The LGA’s position to lift the borrowing cap of local authorities with a Housing Revenue Account in order to boost vital investment in Council House Building.

b) The Labour Party’s “use it or lose it” policy toward developers who are land banking on undeveloped land that has developable potential.

c) All measures that will ensure local authorities can fully enforce their Local Plan affordable housing targets. Currently the local target is 30% and the current rate is only 9.2%.

d) Restoring the New Homes Bonus to help Councils to pay for the investment and services new homes require.”

The Amendment was put to the vote and declared lost.

The Substantive Motion was put to the vote and declared carried.