At its meeting on 22 November 2017 the Executive Committee RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL that that the lettings and sales arrangements for affordable housing allocations on strategic sites be ADOPTED.

58.5           At its meeting on  22 November 2017 the Executive Committee had recommended that the lettings and sales arrangements for affordable housing allocations on strategic sites be adopted.

58.6           The report which was considered by the Executive Committee had been circulated with the Agenda for the current meeting at Pages No. 423-431.

58.7           The recommendation was proposed by the Chair of the Executive Committee and subsequently seconded.

58.8           Accordingly, it was

RESOLVED          That the lettings and sales arrangements for affordable housing allocations on strategic sites be ADOPTED.

That the proposed lettings and sales arrangements be recommended to Council for adoption.

That it be RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL that the lettings and sales arrangements for affordable housing allocations on strategic sites be ADOPTED.  

64.1           The report of the Head of Community Services, circulated at Pages No. 73-81, outlined an allocations plan which sought to meet the housing needs of Gloucester and Cheltenham whilst retaining allocations for Tewkesbury residents in highest housing need. Members were asked to consider the arrangements and recommend them to Council for adoption.

64.2           The Head of Community Services explained that the HomeseekerPlus Policy which had previously been agreed by the Council set out that affordable rented housing built within a District was to be let to households with a local connection to that District. This also ensured the method was secured for sales of affordable home ownership properties, such as shared ownership, through Section 106 Agreements. Under the Joint Core Strategy, the strategic allocations for Cheltenham Borough and Gloucester City Councils which fell within the administrative boundary of Tewkesbury Borough would meet the unmet housing needs, including the affordable housing needs, of Cheltenham Borough and Gloucester City. Consideration would also need to be given to the site at Mitton that fell within the boundary of Wychavon District Council. The report before Members outlined an allocations plan which would meet the needs of both Cheltenham Borough and Gloucester City Councils whilst also retaining allocations for the residents of Tewkesbury Borough who were in highest housing need. The initial proposal to address this issue had been that Cheltenham Borough and Gloucester City Councils would retain 100% of the dwellings in those areas to meet their own housing need. This was obviously unacceptable to Tewkesbury Borough given the fact that the housing would be within its boundaries. Following a number of discussions, the current option referred to within the report was that the Cheltenham Borough strategic allocations, within Tewkesbury Borough’s administrative boundary, would allow applications from residents from both Tewkesbury Borough and Cheltenham Borough. The same would apply to the Gloucester City strategic allocations. If the properties were not all taken up on that basis they would then be opened up to residents from either Cheltenham Borough or Gloucester City and, if they were still not taken up, they would then be open for any residents in Gloucestershire to apply.

64.3           During the discussion which ensued, a Member questioned whether people could sit on the housing list for a number of different authorities. In response, the Head of Community Services advised that as long as there was a local connection they would be accepted to the list they applied to. In response to a query in relation to disabled clients, the Committee was advised that disability specific properties were often advertised in a different way so residents with a disability could come ahead of those with a local connection if there was a particular set of needs that would be met by a specific property. 

64.4           Accordingly, it was