Issue - meetings

Director of Community Services

The Director of Community Services attended the meeting to discuss the Housing White Paper – “Fixing our broken housing market” from a housing perspective.

There were two main aspects of the White Paper, planning and housing, but it was mainly driven by changes to the planning system. It was recognised that  there was a significant deficit between the supply and demand of affordable housing. It was felt that the White Paper did not provide many solutions to aid the Council in discharging its statutory housing duties (homelessness and the Housing register), but it did emphasise the need for more houses to be built in order to help close the gap.

The Director of Community Services provided Members with a brief overview and some statistics detailed in the Paper.

Affordability was a key issue; this was particularly a problem in the South East, with local housing in the district costing between 10 to 14 times more than the average salary. Due to a very limited private rented sector, local rents were pitched very high.

According to the Paper there was plenty of available land in the country, only 11% of the country had been built upon. There were proposals to introduce  transparency around land ownership i.e. to provide reasons associated with plots of land and why they had not been built on, this would aid sites to be quickly identified along with reasons as what was stopping sites coming forward for development. The idea being discussions could happen with land owners to bring forward or unblock issues e.g. Lack of infrastructure, land contamination etc. 

The White Paper also raised elements such as:

•           Introducing longer tenancy agreements by, extending these to three years in order to provide protection to families.

•           Changing the definition of affordable housing: To include a range of low-cost housing opportunities for those aspiring to own a home, including starter homes. And to introduce a household income eligibility cap of £80,000 (£90,000 for London) on starter homes.

•           Charges on second homes though Community Housing Fund Payments.

•           Encouraging LAs to introduce new housing ventures e.g. Local housing companies which could deliver forms of affordable housing, although the Government had confirmed that if products feel like, and look like social housing then Right to buy policies would apply.

•           New powers for Councils to deal with the worst landlords.. 

•           Continuing a crackdown on empty homes which re-enforced measures already set out in the Councils ‘Empty Homes Strategy’.

•           Exploring further how to remove the barriers to help older people to move at the right time.

•           Do more to prevent homelessness by supporting households at risk before they reach crisis point and will increase the obligations upon Council to help all homeless households – by pushing through the Homelessness Reduction Bill.

The Council’s Housing Needs Survey was considered vital evidence base for the officersto assess the needs of the housing in the District.

The Group noted that the White Paper would not have much of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18

Members of the Housing & Public Protection PDAG have been invited to join the PDAG for this item to hear a briefing on the main parts of the White Paper and to have a short discussion on the implications for the Council.

The Director of Planning, Economic Development and Property briefed the group on the Housing White Paper – ‘Fixing our broken housing market’. Members heard that the White Paper

·         Was published for consultation until 2 May 2017

·         Urged that local plans be ambitious, and reviewed once every five years

·         Said local plans could be reviewed in parts

·         Funding would follow cross local authority area schemes, and that joint working was supported

·         Asked that councils have dialogue with neighbouring authorities

·         Proposed a standardised approach to housing need

·         Proposed more funding for neighbourhood planning

·         Sought the introduction and protection of a fixed housing land supply in the local plan

·         Proposed an increase in planning fees of 20% from July 2017, with a potential further increase to be consulted on, along with a fee for appeals

·         Sought to reduce delays in the planning system, minimising planning conditions

·         Would seek to simplify S106 and CIL

·         Would encourage affordable housing, such as modular construction and custom house building

Developers would have to publish ‘build out’ rates and the council could issue completion notices on stalled sites. Year on year benchmarking of delivery was expected.

At the invitation of the Chairman, the Housing Manager added that the White Paper provided:

·         An expectation that the impact of empty homes and second homes would be addressed

·         Information about the use of Lifetime ISAs

·         An emphasis on the future role of housing companies

Members indicated their support for more joint working; noting that the impact of increased planning fees would help, and agreed that no longer requiring a minimum amount of starter homes would not have as dramatic an impact on affordable housing. Officers assured members that there was not an immediate risk of a shortfall in housing land supply.

The Chairman noted the views of the group and explained that further discussion would be scheduled at the next meeting of the group.