Object

Representation ID: 56599

Received: 23/11/2021

Respondent: South Cambridgeshire District Council

GAM1 New Buildings

Policy Bullet 1 - This policy could be more specific about meeting the local housing need for smaller dwellings for youngsters and for downsizing.

Policy Bullet 2 - The Policy is seeking to set standards of insulation that are restricted by the 2015 Ministerial Statement that states that neighbourhood plans should not set local standards. Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) ratings A is regulated by building regulations not planning policy. By including this requirement, the policy would not be taking account of national planning policy and likely to be removed by an examiner.

Policy Bullet 3 - Whilst noting that Objective 1 of your Plan refers to homes being adaptable across the lifetime of the building and that this aim had been included in the 3rd bullet of Policy GAM1 there needs to evidence for this. It is not clear that a need been established that more homes than the 5% identified in Policy H/9: Housing Mix in the Local Plan needing to meet M4(2) and/or M4(3) of the optional requirements in the Building Regulations been identified for the area.

Policy Bullet 3 – The reasoning for the requirement for a new development to be fitted with an electric charging point is not set out in the supporting text. Also, there is no information set out as to how this would be applied for flatted developments

Policy Final paragraph The Government introduced national technical standards for housing in 2015. A Written Ministerial Statement explains that neighbourhood plans should not set out any additional local technical standards or requirements relating to the construction, internal layout or performance of new dwellings. In the light of this Statement, we do not consider it appropriate to set the standards for dwellings in this paragraph, although a neighbourhood plan can set requirements for non-residential buildings.