Draft Planning Obligations, Affordable Housing Supplementary Planning Document and Draft Informal Planning Guidance Note on Affordable Workspace

The draft Planning Obligations and Affordable Housing Supplementary Planning Document (POAH SPD) provides further detail and guidance on how to implement a range of City Plan policies. It includes guidance on issues such as affordable housing, employment and skills contributions and carbon offsetting. The Draft Informal Planning Guidance Note on Affordable Workspace (IPGNAW) provides guidance for developers based on best practice.

We first consulted on a draft POAH SPD and IPGNAW in March 2022. These new drafts replace them. The new drafts have been prepared taking into account consultation feedback received in March 2022. Respondents also asked us to publish the evidence underpinning the SPD guidance. That’s why we are also now publishing our key supporting evidence and consulting on it.

Although we are not legally required to re-consult on the final draft SPD, we want to give you an opportunity to let us know if you support the changes we have made to the draft SPD, the draft informal Planning Guidance Note on Affordable Workspace and the supporting evidence. If you submitted a response on the previous draft, you do not need to submit this again where the document hasn’t changed.

Previous consultation

Feedback received during the statutory round of consultation, held in March 2022, has informed the revised draft POAH SPD and IPGNAW, July 2023 versions. The Consultation Statement, July 2023, explains how we have taken feedback into account when updating the SPD.

Summary of the proposal

Key changes to the previous draft include:

• strengthened guidance on how the affordable housing policy should be applied to maximise the delivery of truly affordable housing
• revised guidance on employment and skills contributions and affordable workspace to make sure that our requirements are not too onerous
• strengthened the approach to car-parking reduction to mitigate impacts of development
• an increase to the cost of carbon off-setting to ensure this properly reflects mitigation measures where carbon savings cannot be made on site
• revised monitoring and late payment fees to help the council better monitor development compliance and take enforcement action when needed

We are also consulting on a wide range of evidence documents, including:

• Affordable Workspace Evidence Note, July 2023
• Delivering Net Zero, 2023
• POAH SPD Equalities Impact Assessment, July 2023
• City Plan and POAH SPD Viability Study, July 2023

View all documents on our consultation page.

Have your say and contact us

The POAH SPD has a specific development planning role to play in delivering our objectives. This draft SPD touches on a number of matters we may seek to secure via Section 106 legal agreements. The requirements may be needed for a development to be granted planning permission. This SPD will influence negotiations with developers on issues important to our communities such as affordable housing, the creation of local jobs or the environment. How planning policies are implemented, considering revised planning guidance, will shape development in your area.

For further information and to share your comments on this consultation please email our Planning Policy Team at [email protected]

The consultation will close on Friday 29 September 2023.

Timeline and construction methodology

Alongside any final drafts or the adopted versions of the SPD and Guidance Note, we will publish a Consultation Statement explaining how feedback received during this round of consultation informed the final draft.