Agenda item

To receive a presentation from the Cabinet Member and Director for Housing and to debate housing need in this community area, and the potential affordable housing options available to meet that need .

The Board received a presentation from the Cabinet Member Cllr Richard Clewer and Director for Housing Simon Hendey and debated the housing need in this community area, and the potential affordable housing options available to meet that need.

Nationally we have a housing crisis. In Wiltshire. we have 97 families in temporary housing, with a range of different housing problems across the county.

We are looking at other innovative ways to provide housing. There is a shortage of care workers, if we could house them in areas of need that would be one way.

Housing need in southern area

In the southern area housing need between 2016 – 2036 was calculated at 2238 households. The highest proportion of that was 54% requiring three bed properties.

Affordable housing need was calculated from using data from the Wiltshire Council Housing Register. Figures this week indicated that 56 households were registered in the Southern area with a housing need.

Affordable housing included rented properties at 80% of market rent or local housing allowance. These could be provided by the Council or registered providers.

Households offered affordable housing need to be on the Council’s housing register, and must have a housing need as defined in legislation and have a local connection.

Shared Ownership Housing

These are available to first time buyers with annual income below £80,000 (£ 18,000 minimum recommended). Buyers are able to purchase a share, usually at least 25% of equity with a mortgage. They are then charged rent on unsold equity at 2.75%. The buyer can then later buy more shares and own the property outright.

These properties are provided by registered providers and can be accessed by the Help to buy South. No local connection required unless a planning requirement has been applied on the development.

Community Land Trust (CLT)

These schemes are Community land trust set up to own and manage housing. Land or property cannot be sold off for private gain. There can be a variety of tenures.

Registered providers can undertake development on behalf of CLT. There is advice and financial support available from the Council. Access to these properties is via a CLT letting policy which prioritises local connection.

The Council has been successful in bidding for funding for these schemes.

Some villages want to see development and others do not. One way is through a Neighbourhood Plan.

Downton Neighbourhood Plan (NHP) - Jane Brentor

A NHP presumes development, some people think you have a NHP to stop development, that is not the case. The Core Strategy number of houses for Downton was 190. We based our plan on a housing needs survey that had taken place a few years before.

The housing that was available was high cost housing, which limited young people being able to stay in the community.

The aim is to work at gaining the houses in the community that people need. We had a 40% turnout for the referendum which was the highest for Wiltshire at the time.

There are some real advantages of a NHP, as its owned by the community. We worked with developers to assess the sites that were available. The plan can have a real influence on what is needed and what is actually developed.

It really was a great deal of work, but you do gain a lot of knowledge about your area. If you are interested in going through with a NHP, help is available from Wiltshire Council to support you through the process.

Questions and Comments:

·       Do you look at just housing or a holistic approach? Answer: We had 8 areas, including transport, local business, local environment, leisure, impact on housing need and development. Final development was very much influenced by the NHP. It gives a structure to have a plan to work towards. It also gives 25% of the CIL of any development.

·       You refer to the value of having the expertise of specialised people. Answer: Yes, the NHP was adopted and owned by the PC but it was not run by the PC, we found that there were people in the community who were interested came forward to give their skills.

Facilitated roundtable discussion

People were then asked to work in groups to discuss three questions, these were: 

1. What type of affordable housing do you think will meet the needs of your local community?
2. Where do you think the affordable housing could be developed?
3. Who do you think should develop the affordable housing?

Feedback from roundtables

• The terms of affordable housing were difficult to assess.
• Whiteparish was sensitive about development, favoured mainly in-filing or exception sites.
• Housing Associations or WC should provide housing, not CLTs.
• Need to look at accommodation for young adults with more flexibility in terms of who can access the housing.
• Minority groups like care workers, based in Salisbury but need to access clients all over the southern Wiltshire community area. It makes sense to have accommodation available in the areas needed.
• More provision in villages for the elderly, to downsize.
• Support for investigation of Community Land Trust for provision for families in villages.
• More understanding of the demographics in villages.
• Sale at a premium of agricultural sites for exception sites.
• Winterslow had attempted a NHP twice, they had a housing need of 46, however there was only one plot of land that people could not agree on. Most residents were either over 60 or families with children that go to private school. It would be a housing association plot or site. There were only 800 – 850 houses in the parish already, it was difficult for the smaller parishes.
• Alderbury – smaller houses were needed either for elderly downsizing or younger families. When developers come in the village gets what the developer wants rather than what village needs.
• Alderbury – questioned as to whether there was a need for further housing in Alderbury and Whaddon, and was critical of the current building taking place near the school. Felt there was a need for more protection from aggressive developers to prevent large scale houses. PC to communicate policies to the residents.

The CEM noted that the objective of this discussion was for more voices to be heard, as round table discussion gave the chance for everyone to express themselves in this format. The Housing Strategy would be influenced by these comments.

Cllr Clewer added that if parishes now felt that they had a housing need that could be filled in a specific way, to get in touch with the Council to us to discuss and help.

Action: CEM to send out the slides to PCs.