Agenda item

To scrutinise the representations received during the public engagement period and the Council’s response to them.

(i)    To accept the report and recommend that the Cabinet confirm the Article 4 Direction.

(ii)  To request that the Cabinet Member for the Environment conveys the observations submitted during the discussion to the Cabinet. ⁠ ⁠

The report was presented by the Cabinet Member for the Environment, the Assistant Head of Environment Department and the Planning Policy Unit Team Leader.

Members were reminded that the Council needed to undertake a four-step process in its effort to introduce the Article 4 Direction within the Gwynedd Local Planning Authority Area. It was noted that the first step was to issue a Notice of the Justification Paper on the Introduction of the Article 4 Direction. It was reported that the second step of the process was to hold a public engagement period. It was explained that the consultation had been held in August 2023 for a six-week period and included questionnaires, corresponding with 52,000 houses and a bespoke questionnaire on the Council's website. The service was acknowledged for securing a consultation period that was double the statutory requirement. ⁠The Department was praised for attracting so many responses to the consultation, and encouraged to share the good practice of their experience with other Council departments as they undertook public consultations in the future. Attention was drawn to the fact that very few young people had responded to the consultation, and it was acknowledged that engaging young people to respond to consultations was a challenge that the Council faced.

It was reported that the Council had now reached the third stage in the process of introducing the direction as it considered the responses to the consultation period. It was confirmed that the service had received 3902 responses. It was explained that the Council had allocated its responses to representations submitted to the consultation into themes and sub-themes within the report. It was elaborated that no additional information had been found that justified not confirming the Article Direction based on an assessment of the responses to the representations that had been submitted following the public engagement period, consideration of the evidence contained in the Article 4 justification paper and further research undertaken in response to some of the representations submitted to the consultation.

Consideration was given to the Council's ability to implement the direction if it was introduced. It was considered whether one centralised method of implementation and enforcement would be effective in Gwynedd. It was noted that the Council did not currently have much control over matters relating to changing the use class of dwellings and therefore the importance of robust intervention was emphasised to protect the housing stock while also protecting communities and the housing needs seen in various communities across the County. Due to this, it was confirmed that the service had completed detailed research on suitable methods of establishing financial intervention, planning, registrations and licensing processes and it was confirmed that these required various procedures rather than one centralised system in order to deal with situations adequately. It was emphasised that the direction focused on the use of the property and any change of use, not its ownership and therefore individuals would not have to receive planning permission when buying houses.

It was recognised that the Council had not provided an economic impact assessment specifically on the loss of income from the secondary market to the hotel sector, people spending money in the shops and restrictions that provide people with business and employment opportunities. Despite this, it was confirmed that the Council had completed a thorough impact assessment on Equality Characteristics, the Welsh language and Socio-Economic Disadvantage. ⁠It was expanded that tourism policies and the Supplementary Planning Guidance provided clarity on several points for consideration such as providing a definition of what 'excess' means and shared considerations about the safeguarding of the Gwynedd community housing stock. In response to a query regarding the perception among local mortgage providers that the introduction of the direction would complicate or prevent mortgage applications, officers confirmed that they had been in contact with mortgage providers a number of times over the past few months and they had been unable to provide evidence of how the direction would negatively affect the ability to approve mortgages. It was emphasised that this was not anticipated as an impediment to the approval of the direction and further work would be carried out on this matter before submitting the report to Cabinet.

In response to an enquiry as to whether the economic assessments were adequate and detailed enough given that there was no specific economic impact assessment, it was confirmed that the service received ongoing support from the Council's Legal Service to consider and resolve any risks that arose. As a consequence, the Council was regarded as managing emerging risks as effectively as possible. If the Committee wished, the solicitors could be asked for further confirmation of the risk in relation to an economic impact assessment. It was also noted that the current Planning Policy took holiday accommodation into account and protected the County's housing stock. Assurance was given that information about the impact of the Article 4 Direction would be included within the Supplementary Planning Guidance if approved, with the vision of adapting the policies in future to provide clarity on the implementation of Article 4 in detail. Assurance was given that thorough data would have been gathered before changing Council policies as well as a monitoring framework with specific indicators to assess the impact of the direction. It was reported that it was hoped that the direction would come into force on 1 September 2024 which would allow the Council time to gather appropriate data and statistics.  

It was assured that the service was investigating the potential side-effects of introducing an article 4 direction within Gwynedd planning authority in order to be aware of additional considerations if the Cabinet approved the direction. It was hoped that this would ensure that the service was aware of any challenges as they arose in order to deal with them effectively.

Consideration was given to the financial challenges that faced the Council in the future including resources and officers to monitor and enforce the direction. It was elaborated on whether an arrangement of fees for breaching planning conditions could be revisited to ensure the service retained its hold on those funds. It was assured that officers did consider such matters and it was noted that they were pressing on the Welsh Government to reconsider the matter. It was acknowledged that the service needed additional support, referring to recruitment plans developed for officers to be in the roles by 1 September subject to Cabinet approval of the direction.

The importance of ensuring that a monitoring framework containing monitoring measures was in place was noted if the direction was introduced.

It was suggested that Councillors be provided with an information sheet containing information regarding the short-term and long-term changes resulting from the implementation of the direction. The importance of communicating to the public what implementing the direction would involve, was noted.

Neighbouring Local Authorities and Eryri National Park Authority were thanked for their close co-operation throughout the process thus far. It was confirmed that there was a desire for this relationship to continue into the future and ensure that good practice was shared to meet community needs effectively.

It was explained that the report would be submitted to the Cabinet with the observations of this Committee for the Cabinet to make a final decision on whether to introduce the Article 4 direction or not. It was explained that the Council must act to publicise the decision to confirm the Article 4 Direction in accordance with the statutory requirements.   It was elaborated that it was hoped to hold information sessions for elected members of the Council to share detailed information about the direction.

The members expressed their thanks for the report.

RESOLVED:

(i)         To accept the report and recommend to the Cabinet to confirm the Article 4 Direction.

(ii)           To request that the Cabinet Member for the Environment conveys the observations submitted during the discussion to the Cabinet. ⁠ ⁠