Issue - meetings

A period of up to one hour is allocated to consider the motions on notice.  This may only be extended with the agreement of the Council.

The Chairman advised Members that two Motions on Notice had been submitted for consideration at this meeting.

Council considered the following Motion on Notice that was submitted by Councillor D. Nicholl:

“The Office of the Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) aimed to create sustainable communities. Given the proposal in our draft Development Strategy to build nine thousand extra homes by 2043 across BDC, Bromsgrove District, Council resolves to request that the Leader write to the Deputy Prime Minister to highlight how these figures contradict those which are compatible with a sustainable community and ask for the affordability multiplier under the National Planning Policy Framework be reviewed urgently.”

Prior to consideration of the Motion on Notice, Councillor D. Nicholl explained that he was proposing the original Motion included in the main agenda for this meeting in a slightly altered form of wording. The wording would now read as follows:

“The Office of the Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) aimed to create sustainable communities. Given the proposal in our draft Development Strategy to build nine thousand extra homes by 2043 across Bromsgrove District, Council resolves to ask the Group Leaders to write to the Deputy Prime Minister to highlight how these figures contradict those which are compatible with a sustainable community and ask for the affordability multiplier under the National Planning Policy Framework be reviewed urgently.”

In proposing the Motion, Councillor D. Nicholl explained that the proposal to build nine thousand extra homes within the District was not in line with a sustainable community and would be catastrophic to the residents of Bromsgrove and destroy much of the District.

It was stated that the affordability multiplier used in order to ascertain the number of homes needed to be built by 2043 in the District was flawed. Therefore, it was requested that a letter be sent to the Deputy Prime Minister to request clarification on the affordability multiplier and that a review of the multiplier be undertaken urgently.

The Motion was seconded by Councillor R. Hunter.

Prior to the debate on this Motion, an amendment was suggested by Councillor K. Taylor. The proposal was that the wording be amended as follows:

“The Office of the Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) aimed to create sustainable communities. Given the proposal in our draft Development Strategy to build nine thousand extra homes by 2043 across Bromsgrove District, Council resolves to ask all Members to write to the Deputy Prime Minister to highlight how these figures contradict those which are compatible with a sustainable community and ask for the affordability multiplier under the National Planning Policy Framework be reviewed urgently.”

The amendment was seconded by Councillor S. Webb.

Members commented that ensuring all Members sign a letter to Government might prove difficult to facilitate, particularly with the tight timeframes involved.

During a detailed and robust debate, the following areas were highlighted by Members:  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38