To receive a presentation from Nicole Smith, Head of Strategic Housing, regarding housing need in the Royal Wootton Bassett & Cricklade Community Area and the Council’s review of its Housing Allocations System.
Minutes:
Nicole Smith, Head of Strategic Housing, Wiltshire Council and Ann Cornelius of Greensquare Housing gave a presentation regarding housing need in the Royal Wootton Bassett & Cricklade Community Area and the Council’s review of its housing allocations system.
The Royal Wootton Bassett & Cricklade Community Area had a population of 29,180; 61.5% of which was made up of working-age people. The median house price in the Community Area was £190,000. The majority of housing in the area was owner occupied, at 71.1%, with 11.8% being social housing.
There were currently a total of 17,088 households on the housing register for Wiltshire, and 911 had indicated a preference of the Royal Wootton Bassett & Cricklade Community Area as their first choice. The main requirement was the need for one-bedroom accommodation.
Greensquare Housing reported that it had spent £75m in 296 homes in Wootton Bassett, and a further 291 homes were due to be completed by 2015. Key projects included bathroom refurbishments, adaptations for disabled, working with Wiltshire Council to identify land for new homes to meet local needs and improvements to Hooks Hill.
It was also reported that Royal Wootton Bassett would be a focus of a community development project; managing anti-social behaviour through enforcement and support.
The Localism Act 2011 introduced amendments to Part 6 of the Housing Act.
It provided new freedoms to set the rules determining which categories of applicants qualified for social housing. Factors that could be taken into consideration included:
· Local connection
· Exclusions or reduced preference
· Under-occupation / Foster carers
· Households in work or seeking work / training
· Identified housing need.
The Chairman thanked Nicole for the presentation, and the following comments arose in the discussion that ensued:
· Greensquare was praised for the community work being done in the local community. It was reported that this was a core part of business for housing associations.
· Households on the housing register could specify up to three preferred location choices. The 911 households referred to was the total number of households on the register that had specified somewhere in the Royal Wootton Bassett & Cricklade area as their first choice.
· Older people of non-working age were not affected by the introduction of under-occupancy rules.
· Households were encouraged to swop homes where possible to ensure they were in the most suitable accommodation for their needs, although it was acknowledged that there was a lack of family-sized homes available.
· Thanks were paid to Greensquare for the support given to help Cricklade Bloomers become Champion of Champions.
· It was suggested that the housing associations could work in partnership with the Parent Support Advisors that worked in the local schools.
A short voting exercise was conducted to allow local people the chance to input their views into the Council’s review of its housing allocations system. There was also an opportunity for people to submit their views online via Survey Monkey via the following link:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/B89KBXK
The whole review was likely to take approximately 8 to 10 months. Further information or details of how to get involved were available from Nicole.smith@wiltshire.gov.uk .