To approve the Annual Monitoring Report 2007-2008 and its formal submission to the Secretary of State.

The Cabinet Member, Environment and Strategic Housing presented the report informing Cabinet that approval was required prior to formal submission to the Secretary of State.  The report, based on the UDP, has a thematic approach looking at the core subjects of housing, employment, retail etc.  Cabinet was referred to the Executive Summary of the report and the UDP objectives in particular H(3), which referred to the efficient use of land for residential developments.  The Cabinet Member stated that a conscious decision had been made not to go for high density housing, but rather to meet the needs of Herefordshire and its residents.  The Cabinet Member also referred to H(4) in the report and how the authority was working towards fulfilling the need for additional affordable housing. 

The Director of Regeneration reiterated that the report was a statutory annual requirement and stated that the Executive Summary showed the authority as being on line with 15 of the targets.  Cabinet noted the green standard that had been included in the report and which would be a challenge for the future. 

The Strategic Monitoring Committee Chairman referred to page 34 point 7.13 of the report and stated he was pleased to see a public open space strategy for Hereford and in particular for the residents in the city centre, as it was essential for residents’ wellbeing.  The Cabinet Member stated that he had had a recent meeting with the PCT Board on where there were direct links with the Council’s requirement for the provision of open spaces and the PCTs’ targets for wellbeing and how they were looking at where policies came together. 

The Chairman of the Strategic Monitoring Committee referred to a case where people had been paying £7-800 per month for rented accommodation and now could only afford to pay £300 and were finding they were in a position of having no place to live.  The Cabinet Member referred to the work that was being done with the housing associations and the mortgage support that was in place for some cases.  He added that government was being lobbied to further raise mortgage support from £50k back to the previous £75k. 

RESOLVED: That Cabinet approve the Annual Monitoring Report 2007/08 for submission to the Secretary of State.