Agenda item

6.1

The Committee received a petition which had been presented at a  meeting of the Cabinet held on 19^th September, 2018 and referred to this Committee for its consideration. 

6.2

Michael Miller, who had presented the petition to Cabinet, was in attendance and asked that the Scrutiny Committee consider the petition as set out in the report.  He stated that there was a need to increase the proportion of affordable housing being built all over the country, but developers were concealing their profit margins which enabled them to ignore local authority regulations with regard to building affordable and social housing.  He asked that developers make their viability assessments public knowledge and force them to be more honest about their profit margins following development.

6.3

In response, Councillor Jack Scott, Cabinet Member for Transport and Development reiterated his comments made at the meeting of the Cabinet by acknowledging the large number of signatures supporting the petition and stating that whilst he did not believe developers were exploiting a legal loophole to get out of their obligations, the law did assist them.  He said that Sheffield was one of the best Councils in the country which pressed developers to fulfil their obligations in respect of viability and felt that those developers who do nothing wrong have nothing to hide.  Councillor Scott stated that it was intended to make a recommendation to Government for a policy change so that viability assessments and any variations to them are made public.  He added that this would only apply to new developments.

6.4

Members made various comments and asked a number of questions, to which responses were provided by the Cabinet Member as follows:-

·                     The Council does press developers to fulfil their obligations, but there needs to be greater scrutiny in the future and this was why the recommended policy change should be supported.

·         With regard to the timeframe for this change, the Cabinet Member stated that he has the relevant approval from Cabinet under delegated powers, to implement this policy from 1^st January, 2019.

·                     It was considered that viability assessments would be better carried out at the end of any development rather than at the beginning, as construction costs would then be known.

·                     The Council only received funding towards affordable housing when a development had been completed and profits were known, as creditors were paid before the Council received any monies.

·                     It was important to develop a baseline which would be fair to developers and the public. Supporting the policy needed to be a priority.

·                     It was felt that Brexit would pose a serious threat to builders and the workforce.

6.5

RESOLVED: That the Committee:-

(a)       thanks Michael Miller for attending the meeting and Councillor Jack Scott for his contribution to the meeting;

(b)       notes the contents of the petition and Cabinet minute and responses to the questions raised at the meeting; and

(c)        agrees that the Executive Director, Place and the Cabinet Member for Transport and Development lobbies the Government to adopt a policy of viability assessments at the end of the planning process.