Agenda item

The Chairman (and Leader), Cllr T Adams, introduced this item. He began by mentioning the impact of the ‘nutrient neutrality’ guidance on the provision of affordable housing. He said that he had considerable sympathy with those struggling to get decent housing for their families and like many members, much more of his ward work was centred around housing and social issues now. The cost of living crisis would only exacerbate such problems and Cllr Adams said that he welcomed the recent appointment of an Energy Officer.

The Leader then spoke about the increase in new investment in the east of the District which would hopefully continue to grow and the continued achievements of the Heritage Action Zone project in North Walsham. He highlighted the success of the tree planting programme over the winter season and it was on track to achieve its overall target in the next year. In conclusion, he spoke about the rising membership numbers at the Reef Leisure centre in Sheringham. The project had been a great success and was valued by both residents and visitors.

Cllr J Toye, Portfolio Holder for Planning, said that the pressures on affordable housing provision were concerning and it was not yet clear how the nutrient neutrality guidance would impact on long term viability. He added that the Council was working hard to deliver affordable homes. The Leader said that North Norfolk had a greater mix of pressures on housing provision – including second homes.  He said that it would be helpful if the Council could deliver housing itself.

Cllr C Cushing referred to the nutrient neutrality issue and asked when the Council would receive an update on the matter. The Leader replied that it was hoped to hear something in the next two weeks. Cllr Toye added that the guidance being issued by Natural England was not helpful. They were not offering solutions and that was exacerbating the problem. He said that himself and Cllr Brown attended cross-authority working groups which were working hard to address the issues. The Leader added that other sectors were also being impacted including the construction industry, care homes and possibly seasonal camp sites. The Chief Executive replied that seasonal camp sites were not affected as they were limited to 28 days and were not permanent. He said that a consultant had been appointed to advise the Duty to Co-operate Forum and it was hoped that the position would be clearer by September.

Cllr A Brown said that he had no issues with Natural England trying to improve the quality of water courses. The difficulty was regarding the lack of guidance being provided to local authorities on how to address the problems that it was presenting.

Cllr J Rest referred to page 117 of the report and said that the toilets in the Queen’s Road car park, Fakenham would not be ready in June 2022 now as there was a delay due to power cable supply issues.

It was proposed by Cllr T Adams, seconded by Cllr R Kershaw and

RESOLVED

To note the report and endorse the actions being taken by the Corporate Leadership Team as detailed in Appendix A.

Reason for the decision:

To ensure that the objectives of the Council are achieved.