Issue - meetings
Bromsgrove and Redditch Duty to Co-operate
Meeting: 06/07/2022 - Cabinet (Item 13)
13 Bromsgrove and Redditch Duty to Co-operate 
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Minutes:
The Strategic Planning and Conservation Manager presented a report on the subject of the Bromsgrove and Redditch Duty to Co-operate.
Cabinet was informed that both Councils had submitted their latest Local Plans in 2017. A significant part of the work on the Local Plans had been the Duty to Co-operate with Redditch Borough Council, including on cross-boundary housing allocations. At that time, Redditch Borough had been allocated 3,000 houses that would have been built in Bromsgrove District. However, since then, the anticipated housing needs in the Borough had decreased. In order to anticipate housing needs in the District and Borough moving forward both Councils had commissioned Housing and Economic Development Needs Assessments (HEDNAs), which had concluded that, whilst demand for housing in the Borough was not likely to increase at the level previously anticipated, the level of demand in Bromsgrove District was likely to remain the same as had been predicted in 2017.
Redditch Borough Council had already reviewed their duty to co-operate and had concluded that the 3,000 houses allocated from Bromsgrove District should be returned to Bromsgrove District Council for allocation. The housing numbers required in the District would need to be enshrined in the Local Plan and a policy position would clarify future requirements. The Council would need to determine where to allocate the 3,000 houses for development, which could include provision of some of the houses to meet the development needs in the Greater Birmingham and Black Country Housing Market Areas (GBBCHMA).
Officers were suggesting that, moving forward, Bromsgrove District Council needed to continue to work closely with Redditch Borough Council as part of the Duty to Co-operate. The two Councils could work together in responding to approaches from the GBBCHMA regarding housing development needs. In addition, close co-operation between the two Councils would help to ensure that the authorities’ Local Plans were closely aligned, although Members were advised that there were no plans to produce a joint Local Plan.
Following the presentation of the report, Members discussed the requirements from the GBBCHMA and the timescales in which clarification was likely to be provided about these needs. Officers clarified that the Black Country authorities were progressing with work on their Local Plan, which was likely to be published shortly. Every planning authority was supposed to issue a new Local Plan every five years but the Black Country areas had taken longer than this when working on their latest Local Plan. Birmingham City Council had submitted their previous Local Plan at a similar time to Bromsgrove District Council, although were at a different stage to Bromsgrove in development of the authority’s new Local Plan.
RECOMMENDED that the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Bromsgrove District Council and Redditch Borough Council be agreed.