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Motion 1 – Provision of housing,
particularly affordable and sustainable housing, in Somerset
through inclusiveness and partnership.
 
Councillor Habib Farbahi proposed the
recommendations which were seconded by Councillor Henry
Hobhouse.
 
Having been duly proposed and seconded, the
Council Resolved the following:
Somerset Council recognised that there was a
housing crisis both nationally and in Somerset, which stemmed from
the failure of past governments over many decades to ensure
replacement of social housing, which had been sold to its previous
tenants, with sufficiently more social housing to allow those
requiring it to obtain tenancies at low rents. The government had
recognised this fact and had come up with 10year plan with 5 steps,
with £39bn under its Social and Affordable homes programme
(SAHP). In Somerset along with partners, we had delivered 2661homes
(644 in Sedgemoor, 587 in Mendip, 708 in South Somerset and 722 in
SW&T) with 900 affordable between 2022-23 financial year and
2000 homes between 2020 and 2023.
 
 
Somerset Council therefore requested that the
Leader of the Council and the Chair of Council write to the
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to support
delivery of its 1.5 million new homes by 2030 pledge, by providing
Somerset Council with sufficient sustained and flexible funding to
enable the building in Somerset of at least 1000 new affordable
homes per year. Member support was vital to demonstrate and
recognise the scale of the challenge and the shared commitment
across Somerset to tackling the housing crisis:
 
The Government therefore needed to:

Provide sustainable funding to
deliver 1000 affordable homes annually, address the funding gap for
local infrastructure bottlenecks, such as new railway stations at
Wellington and Somerton, a bypass on the A358 at Henlade outside
Taunton town, and many others.
Set realistic planning application
fees at a level which enabled local authorities to employ
sufficient qualified staff to speed up planning decisions, uphold
environmental standards and protect local character.
Give local elected councillors who
know their areas best the power and ability to make
amendments/suggestions to planning applications so as to improve
proposed developments to meet local needs.
Prioritise brownfield development
including funding to assist with remediation where this was a
costly block to progress,

·      
To help support and revitalise our high streets, we encouraged the
conversion of unused rooms above shops into much needed apartments.
These conversions could only take place where a valid planning
application had been submitted, the correct fee had been paid and
all legal requirements were met. The proposed homes must be safe,
accessible, and fully compliant with building regulations to ensure
a high standard of living for future residents.

Invest in social and affordable
housing, including rent-to-buy, shared ownership, social and
affordable rent and community-led schemes, by:

·      
Facilitating funding opportunities for developers and encouraging
private/public partnership with housing companies and housing
associations, investors and regulators with central government
backings.
·      
Providing councils and housing associations with more available
funding including affordable borrowing options.

Support mixed-income, tenure-diverse
communities by:

·      
Incentivising private developers to unlock land banks,
·      
Enabling fast-track planning permission for inclusive,
tenure-diverse well-designed schemes,
·      
Embedding Self-Build in housing policy centrally and in local
plans.

Ensure that essential infrastructure
for larger developments was planned, funded, and delivered in
advance of or contemporaneously with new housing, including:

·      
Healthcare capacity,
·      
School places needed more capital funding,
·      
Sustainable utilities and energy systems,
·      
Integrated public transport and active travel routes.

Ensure provision of the necessary
financial tools (grants or low-interest loans) and statutory powers
to:

·      
Deliver and fund green infrastructure (e.g. Biodiversity Net Gain
(BNG), phosphate mitigation, and Sustainable Urban Drainage Schemes
[SUDS]),
·      
Provide necessary utilities, roads, and public services where
possible on council owned or partnered land, and deal with asbestos
and other chemically hazardous materials,
·      
Support the delivery of much needed Social and Affordable homes,
capitalising on the new government’s initiative with low
interest loans and grants provided by government,
·      
Assign a specialist Affordable and Social Housing officer to be a
single point of contact with government’s Social and
Affordable homes Programme (SAHP) and Homes England at the planning
stages,
·      
Enable councils to charge developers for both BNG and Nutrient
Neutrality, working with Natural England, water companies and the
private sector to set up parcels of land registered under the
existing government-approved scheme and protected by covenants.
 
Therefore, we need:

Development of genuinely affordable,
zero-emission or low carbon, energy efficient homes resilient to
climate impacts and cost-effective to heat,
Funding to reach a delivery rate of
150,000 new social rent homes per year in UK of which at least 1000
will be in Somerset,
New developments which delivered the
required 10% BNG, with at least 30 years of monitoring, across
mixed habitats,
Alignment of such new housing with
the timely delivery of essential infrastructure, including GPs
premises and staff schools, public transport, and premises for
local independent businesses,
To ensure that planning decisions in
Somerset were made in light of what was best for Somerset’s
people as a whole, thus ensuring that planning decisions about
potential new developments aligned with Somerset's prosperity and
sustainability, not those of a local area.
Develop a fast-track planning
process for affordable and social Housing, whilst ensuring early
resolution of biodiversity net gains (BNG), nutrient neutrality
(phosphate/nitrogen) and funding issues.

 
Motion 2 – Planning Service
 
Councillor Theo Butt Philip proposed the
recommendation which was seconded by Councillor Federica
Smith-Roberts, that the Motion be referred to the next meeting of
the Scrutiny Committee for Climate and Place.
 
Having been duly proposed and seconded, the
Council Resolved to refer the Motion to the next meeting of the
Scrutiny Committee for Climate and Place and that a report be
brought back to Full Council at its meeting in December 2025.