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RESOLVED That the Committee consider and recommend to Cabinet that the Pembrokeshire County Council’s Housing Strategy be placed before Council for agreement. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was carried. The votes were recorded as follows:
RESOLVED That the public be excluded from the meeting for item five on the agenda pursuant to Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 as it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 16 of Part 4 of Schedule 12A to the Act; and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. The meeting then resumed in open session and the webcast restarted. In response to Councillor Jordan, Councillor Cormack stated that he would give his thoughts on council tax increases in December’s Full Council meeting and with Cabinet beforehand. However, it was important to note the additional financial pressures that the Council was facing. He confirmed that this item was pushed back from October’s Full Council meeting because the OSC requested to re-review it and so they would have received the financial quarter report before making a decision. Councillor Carter stated that he would only by in favour of increasing the second home council tax premium if they could see where the money was being sent e.g. on building social housing. Councillor Cormack confirmed that this was the plan if there was an increase. Councillor Williams requested a note on the consequences of implementing article four like Gwynedd Council has. Moved by Councillor Joshua Beynon; Seconded by Councillor Mark Carter. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Committee reviews the results of the consultation the supporting data contained within this report and reports its observations to Cabinet.
Councillor Steve Yelland who was substituted by Councillor Mark Carter Councillor Aled Thomas who was substituted by Councillor Rhys Jordan
The following declarations of interest were made in respect of Agenda Item No. 3 – Housing Strategy (draft). Councillor Vivien Stoddart declared a personal interest as she was a private landlord. Councillor Mark Carter declared a personal interest as he was a private landlord. Councillor Vivien Stoddart declared a personal and prejudicial interest in respect of Agenda Item No. 4 – Review of Council Tax Premiums as she was a shareholder in a holiday accommodation but she was granted a dispensation to speak on second homes and topics related to tourism.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED That the Committee consider and recommend to Cabinet that the Pembrokeshire County Council’s Housing Strategy be placed before Council for agreement. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was carried. The votes were recorded as follows:
The Committee considered a report by the Director of Social Care & Housing on the outcome of the consultation on Pembrokeshire’s County Council Draft Housing Strategy. The Chair welcomed Councillor Michelle Bateman, the relevant Cabinet Member for Housing Operations & Regulatory Services, Councillor Jon Harvey the relevant Cabinet Member for Planning & Housing Delivery and the Head of Housing and Public Protection Services to the meeting, who outlined the key points of the report and welcomed questions from Members. The Committee debated the contents of the report and the key points were highlighted as follows: In response to Councillor Rhys Jordan, Councillor Harvey stated that he was confident that the Council would meet the 300 new homes being built by 2027 target. Planning policies meant that it could take between 12 to 18 months for a housing scheme to be approved. The Head of Housing and Public Protection Services agreed to get the stock backlog numbers. There were long term capital voids which caused a backlog so additional staff had been recruited to the capital team to resolve this. A Cabinet report was produced which suggested bringing in additional contractors to assist with the maintenance programme from a landlord’s perspective and address the capital voids. Councillor Bateman added that they had identified some houses to have an optimised retrofit to make them more energy efficient In response to Councillor Alan Dennison, Councillor Harvey confirmed that they were investigating the viability of the scheme on Charles Street in Milford Haven and were looking at increasing the development there. The Council successfully obtained a grant aid for the properties it purchased to date, and they will buy more, but these constantly need updating to be brought up to energy efficiency levels. New builds will be built to these standards. The Head of Housing and Public Protection Services confirmed that the housing pods at Milford Haven School were always planned to be temporary. Planning permission had been sought so they could remain on site while the houses were being built. Councillor Bateman noted that the Housing Strategy covered short and medium term housing as well as homeless prevention. They also wanted to incr4ease the private rental sector as this was essential to resolving the housing crisis as this could not be fixed by social housing alone. Private rentals was also needed to alleviate the social housing demand. Private landlords were notified of legislation that could help them and given grants to improve their when needed. The Allocations Policy was being reviewed so residents can look at alternatives to social housing if they do not need it; there will be a member seminar on this. Following a supplementary from Councillor Dennison, the Head of Housing and Public Protection Services confirmed that when the Council bought a property, it took the same amount of time as a private house sale. Welsh Government recognised that the Council could not build houses to reach demand quick enough. Therefore, grants were given by them to help with housing construction. In response to Councillor Mark Carter, Councillor Harvey noted that because the Council’s Housing Team was so small they did outsource consultancy work. In the 1980s money that the Council obtained from the ‘Buy Homes Back’ scheme was unable to be reinvested into building Council houses which lead to housing departments being reduced. In response to the Chair, the Head of Housing and Public Protection Services noted that if there was an increase in available funding for housing then they would need to discuss how this could be used. The Housing Strategy did reflect the desire to use any increase in the Second Home Council Tax Premium for social housing construction and improve homes the Council had bought. There were 1200 LTEP (long term empty properties) in Pembrokeshire so funds would be used to get these houses occupied as part of an affordable rent contract. Shared ownership of houses between the Council and residents was being investigated so residents could be partially homeowners. Councillor Bateman clarified that there was no officer resource available to monitor and utilise the income made from when the tax premiums were introduced. This was why no homes had been built from this funding yet. The increase in mortgage rates and house prices led to a demand for social housing. The Chair noted the importance of considering how to vote when the Second Home Council Tax Premium debate goes to Council. In response to Councillor Maureen Bowen, Councillor Harvey clarified that ‘affordable’ in the report referred to the houses being affordable to build for the Council and to rent. The Head of Housing and Public Protection Services added that research commissioned identified that costal renting was unaffordable to most of Pembrokeshire’s residents. The Council as a landlord undertook affordability assessments to ensure tenants could afford to rent. The thresholds set by Welsh Government set a £60-70,000 income for houses being affordable. Councillor Huw Murphy stated that the housing report did not support the Welsh speaking communities in North Pembrokeshire. He suggested that any Welsh speakers should be prioritised for houses in Welsh speaking areas. Councillor Pat Davies concurred with this. The Head of Housing and Public Protection Services stated that need for housing was correlated to site developments. The Local Housing Market Assessment was being revised and will be presented to members when available. It took need for housing and Welsh language proficiency into consideration but development in North Pembrokeshire was not reflected in the Council’s development programme. Housing developments in the North were being investigated by private developers. There was a Welsh language requirement they were aware of and this was included in the Council’s local development plan. The Local Housing Market Assessment will prominently feature Welsh language housing allocation. Councillor Bateman added that welsh Government had brought in the Welsh Language Communities Housing Plan which considered national interventions to protect Welsh-speaking communities. There will be a member seminar update on this. It was important to get the right housing balance between the North and South of the county. All new builds will have the local letting policy applied. Councillor Mike James noted that he had a lot of LTEPs in his division and his residents were querying why they were allowed to be empty for so long. Councillor Bateman clarified that the acquisition programme was used to buy LTEP houses in areas where new houses could not be built. Councillor Jordan Ryan suggested that the Council could start an in-house building team to help build the new planned houses. The Head of Housing and Public Protection Services noted that the Council did have a successful recruitment drive when they started an apprentice scheme as a career pathway. They had hired a lot of external experts for their team. It was important to balance contractors and ensure that local ones were hired for economic generation. A lot of resources would be needed for the Council to create its own construction team. Councillor Carter noted that the six month occupancy cap introduced by Welsh Government meant that the owner of that house needed to let it out to holiday makers instead of locals needing somewhere to stay for winter. Councillor Bateman stated that after the legislation was implemented there was an increase in residents presenting themselves as homeless. Anyone who had empty houses during the winter who was willing to rent it out to a family should consider liaising with the Leasing Team as any losses they will have with not renting their accommodation out over the summer would be met by them. [Councillor Mike James left the meeting at this juncture at 15:20] Councillor Davies said that 50 homes were planned to be built in Fishguard all three or four bedroomed. Councillor Bateman stated that Covid-19 led to the review of the Allocations Policy being postponed but it would have needed re-reviewing post-Covid because of the increase in domestic holidays. In response to Councillor Dennison, Councillor Harvey informed the committee that it was common in S106 agreements for it be agreed to sell a house at 70% of its market value to make it affordable. In response to Councillor Bethan Price, Councillor Bateman confirmed that families with two or more spare bedrooms were offered incentives as part of a scheme to downsize or they could swap houses with someone who needed to upsize. They would try and keep them in the same area they lived in before if required. Councillor Jordan suggested that the Council could vouch to mortgage lenders in favour of someone they historically knew who would be a good tenant or possibly help them buy their first house and reduce social housing occupancy. Councillor Harvey said that they planned to bring in more shared ownership between the Council and people trying to buy their first house. There was also the option of the buyer slowly buying back more shares of the house until the buy it outright. Private developers were being encouraged to do more to make it easier for first time buyers to buy their houses. Will allow this, Thatcher policy for right to buy bypassed local authority intervention The Head of Housing and Public Protection Services noted that the amount needed for a mortgage depending on the location within the county. Most financial assistance to get people onto the property ladder was in costal areas. Councillor Bateman informed the committee that the Housing Strategy was there to offer more choice to residents but they needed to set an affordability criteria register so people were no set up to fail. Councillor Carter stated that S106 should not be charged to residents who self-build their own homes. Moved by Councillor Joshua Beynon; Seconded by Councillor Pat Davies. For the Motion – Councillors Joshua Beynon, Huw Murphy, Bethan Price, Mark Carter, Maureen Bowen, Pat Davies, Alan Dennison, Jordan Ryan, Vivien Stoddart, Rhys Jordan, Michele Wiggins and Michael Williams [12] There were no votes against or abstaining from the motion. RESOLVED That the Committee consider and recommend to Cabinet that the Pembrokeshire County Council’s Housing Strategy be placed before Council for agreement. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was carried. The votes were recorded as follows:
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED That the public be excluded from the meeting for item five on the agenda pursuant to Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 as it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 16 of Part 4 of Schedule 12A to the Act; and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. The meeting then resumed in open session and the webcast restarted. In response to Councillor Jordan, Councillor Cormack stated that he would give his thoughts on council tax increases in December’s Full Council meeting and with Cabinet beforehand. However, it was important to note the additional financial pressures that the Council was facing. He confirmed that this item was pushed back from October’s Full Council meeting because the OSC requested to re-review it and so they would have received the financial quarter report before making a decision. Councillor Carter stated that he would only by in favour of increasing the second home council tax premium if they could see where the money was being sent e.g. on building social housing. Councillor Cormack confirmed that this was the plan if there was an increase. Councillor Williams requested a note on the consequences of implementing article four like Gwynedd Council has. Moved by Councillor Joshua Beynon; Seconded by Councillor Mark Carter. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Committee reviews the results of the consultation the supporting data contained within this report and reports its observations to Cabinet.
The Committee considered a report by the Interim Director of Resources on the outcome of the consultation on Council Tax premiums. The Chair welcomed the Interim Director of Resources and Councillor Alec Cormack, the relevant Cabinet Member for Corporate Finance to the meeting, who outlined the key points of the report and welcomed questions from Members. The Committee debated the contents of the report and the key points were highlighted as follows: Councillor Murphy stated that he was in favour of raising the tax on LTEPs but normal council tax should not change, depending what it will be used for. Councillor Cormack noted that the Council Tax Working Group was in favour of reducing the LTEP vacancy threshold Councillor Carter noted that it was important for LTEP and Second Homes need to be at the same tax level otherwise people will claim it is whatever has the cheapest tax. In accordance with Welsh Government legislation, if a LTEP is occupied for six weeks then the tax premium countdown threshold gets reset. He stated that he was in favour, but with exemptions for genuine cases, of increasing the tax for LTEPs and reducing the vacancy threshold to two years from three. The Revenues and Benefits Manager informed the committee that the Council checked LTEPs that became suddenly occupied. A similar route was undertaken with second homes. She clarified that there was an exemption on tax if a property going through probate after its owner has passed away. The Chair noted that it was important to review the second home council tax premium as well as the LTEP one. It was important to ensure that any action the Council took could not be legally challenged by the public. He noted that consultation respondents who did own a second home were mostly in favour of increasing the second home council tax premium. He was also in favour of reducing the LTEP threshold. Councillor Michael Williams said that he was in favour of keeping the 182 day occupancy rate for holiday lets and increasing tax for LTEPs and second homes. He estimated that the amount of LTEPs and holiday homes in the conservation area of Tenby was between 70-90% depending on the street. In response to Councillor Dennison, the Interim Director of Resources stated that a change of use would have to be approved by the Planning Committee in order for a commercial property to become residential. He would need to find out whether it would be possible increase management taxes. In response to Councillor Carter, the Interim Director of Resources clarified that the Valuation Office decided what houses who do not meet the 182 occupancy threshold should be taxed. The Corporate Planning Manager informed the committee that percentages noted in Appendix A included occupied and empty holiday lets as well as second homes. This included homes exempt from the premium. Councillor Cormack noted that there were mixed feelings with the 182 holiday let occupancy threshold within the Council Tax Working Group. In the Council implemented its own discretionary scheme different to the 182 days then the Council would have to administrate and police it themselves and they could be challenged on it. If the 182 day threshold was kept then the Council could not be challenged. Councillor Carter suggested keeping the 182 occupancy threshold implemented for 12 months and review it after this period ends. Moved by Councillor Joshua Beynon; Seconded by Councillor Mark Carter. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was carried. The votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion – Councillors Joshua Beynon, Huw Murphy, Bethan Price, Mark Carter, Maureen Bowen, Pat Davies, Alan Dennison, Jordan Ryan, Vivien Stoddart, Michele Wiggins and Michael Williams [11] Against the Motion - Rhys Jordan [1] There were no abstentions. RESOLVED That the public be excluded from the meeting for item five on the agenda pursuant to Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 as it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 16 of Part 4 of Schedule 12A to the Act; and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. The meeting then resumed in open session and the webcast restarted. In response to Councillor Jordan, Councillor Cormack stated that he would give his thoughts on council tax increases in December’s Full Council meeting and with Cabinet beforehand. However, it was important to note the additional financial pressures that the Council was facing. He confirmed that this item was pushed back from October’s Full Council meeting because the OSC requested to re-review it and so they would have received the financial quarter report before making a decision. Councillor Carter stated that he would only by in favour of increasing the second home council tax premium if they could see where the money was being sent e.g. on building social housing. Councillor Cormack confirmed that this was the plan if there was an increase. Councillor Williams requested a note on the consequences of implementing article four like Gwynedd Council has. Moved by Councillor Joshua Beynon; Seconded by Councillor Mark Carter. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Committee reviews the results of the consultation the supporting data contained within this report and reports its observations to Cabinet.
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