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, which outlined 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 a housing problem with different housing problems across the county. We currently had 96 families in temporary accommodation in Wiltshire.

We have council housing stock that was part of the District Council stock prior to unitary. We are adding to that stock, and looking at other innovative ways to provide new housing.

There is a shortage of housing for key care workers, if we could house them in areas of need we could make sure we are targeting the best social need.

There had been a refresh of the Core Strategy, we were not expecting new housing numbers before 2026.

Housing need in South West Area

• In the South West Wiltshire area housing need was calculated at 1871 households from 2016 – 2036, with the highest proportion of 47% of that figure requiring two bed properties.

Affordable housing need was calculated from using data from the WC housing register. Figures this week indicated that 92 families were registered in the South West area with a housing need.

Affordable Rented Housing

Rents set at 80% of market rent or local housing allowance. Access into that affordable housing is quite strict.

Shared Ownership Housing

Provided by registered housing providers as well as the Council. Minimum of a household income of £18k a year. They get a mortgage for a percentage of the cost of the property, with the remaining cost being paid as a rent, alongside the mortgage repayment.  Help to Buy South

Community Land Trust (CLT)

Land or property in these schemes cannot be sold off for private gain. Often schemes which are provided by local providers, community groups.

The Chairman then welcomed three speakers from the local area.

Ione Lacey – Nadder district wide CLT

I had been to a talk in Salisbury and the national speaker for the National Land Trust was there. We held a community meeting here and were lucky to get some excellent people from the area on board. They have been able to set up a legal framework and we are now a registered charity.

The advantages are that the land belongs to the community. That is really important, as in the past some of the properties have been sold off. We can also raise funds as we are a charity. The concept is created by local people for local people.

Ashley Truluck – Broadchalke

Broadchalke is a thriving rural village with 5 working farms. Several years ago we found that we were in trouble, as in danger of becoming a sleepy hollow, with too few local amenities. We took the chapel and rebuilt the inside, converting it into a post office and shop, and still used for services on a Sunday.

Having created the momentum that a crisis produced, we then went on to look at our housing needs, so we went on to build a Neighbourhood Plan (NP). There were a lot of people in our village still needing homes, with game keepers at 45 years old still living with their mums. Elderly people in large houses, not able to afford the fuel bills with no smaller homes for them to downsize to.

We are focused on community housing not affordable housing, the two are different. We are 5 years in to the NP, it has been a huge deal of work, but there is a lot of help available. We are working with WC to move this forward and have raised £800k capital and have spent £8k of Government money on consultancy.

Place Studios in Bristol were finalising the plan for us. All of the time and effort is worth it for the homes. We have created a housing need survey from responses from 600 people in our village, we have found we require 9 new houses. In the next generation we would need a further 18, we have procured the land, so that will sit dormant for the future.

This was all put in to a legal framework, using architects to produce drawings which we were taking to meetings to show what would be available. We have teamed up with Wessex Community Land Trust so that we can control the housing there and partnered with White Horse Housing.

We would have gone to Wiltshire Community Land Trust if they had been in place 5 years ago. We are building a village green. We have 12 policies and 11 of those are already implemented. The creation of the NP has really brought the community together. Happy to speak to anyone interested in taking this forward.

Mike Ash – White Horse Housing (Chair of this association)

Rural homes cost 11 times the average salary for the area. This was about retaining younger people and older people in our villages. We rely on younger people to be a part of our communities and if we are not able to provide housing for them then we are in trouble.

There are more than 30 Housing association in our area. Some associations are happy to do small scale developments others are not so supportive.

We were established in 1984 and now have 364 properties in 45 villages in Wiltshire and Somerset. These include a selection of homes for affordable rent and ownership.

We work closely with Parish Councils to build our own homes on rural exception sites. There were new delivery options.

People need to make sure that they were registered on Homes4Wiltshire, otherwise they would not get the homes when they come along.

WC need to ensure through its planning policies that small scale developments continue to take place to meet local need.

Cllr Clewer added that Housing associations did vary, people should pick one that could deliver what was required.

Round Table discussion –three questions were sonsidered:

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

Feedback:

• People in big houses living by themselves, should have more attractive downsize options.
• More carers accommodation available.
• Lack of three and four bed houses in mid-range.
• More housing developed, but not in Tisbury due to access, but maybe Dinton.
• Mixture of development options, maybe a collaboration, but not WC.
• Need for greater flexibility around housing particularly on the exception sites.
• If we are to develop they should be small scale in the villages.
• Community shaped housing not just community led. Allowing Parishes to have a greater voice, to be seen more as a partnership.
• Place making – not having standard replicated schemes, but instead blending in to each community.
• New housing across the whole of Wiltshire, with the provision coming from everybody, a mixture of all. The community needs to be involved with all.
• Types – at the moment large expensive houses were being build, whereas the need was for more 2 bed, terrace, and bungalows, with a 50/50 mix for young and old.
• The AONB was a barrier in some areas, so new build would have to match what was already there.
• To include the infrastructure needs, getting to doctors and dentists.
• Commercial market values for plots of land.

• Finding sites can be difficult.
• Getting on to the register can be quite hard.
• In villages or surrounding local areas we need some new housing.
• All to develop.
• Types – should be flexible to meet the needs during various stages of life. CLT may be best way to address that need.
• Homes for younger families, with shared ownership as an option.
• Brown fields and exception sites to be considered.
• The more local the better for development.