At its meeting on 3 February 2021 the Executive Committee considered the Interim Housing Strategy and RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL that it be APPROVED.

(Please note an amended version of the Strategy addressing typographical and consistency errors is attached).

67.17        At its meeting on 3 February 2021 the Executive Committee considered the Interim Housing Strategy and recommended to Council that it be approved.  

67.18        The report which was considered by the Executive Committee had been circulated with the Agenda for the current meeting at Pages No. 33-35. The strategy had been amended following the Executive Committee meeting to address typographical and consistency errors and the amended version was attached to the report at Pages No. 36-115.

67.19        The Chair of the Executive Committee proposed the Committee’s recommendation and it was seconded.

67.20        A Member expressed her thanks to the Officers for updating the document and for their hard work on the strategy – particularly with the difficult issue of rural affordable housing. She was pleased that the housing team was making inroads to collecting the data required to provide rural affordable housing across the areas of the Borough where it was most needed. Another Member referred to Page No. 44 and queried why information from 2008/09 to 2014/15 was included in respect of the number of private sector rents – she questioned whether there was any more up to date information that could be referenced or whether the information should just be removed. In response, the Acting Housing Services Manager explained that the information was a useful addition to the strategy so he would look to bring the data up to date when it was available rather than removing the paragraph completely. The Borough Solicitor confirmed that this amendment could be delegated to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Lead Member, to make once the data was available.

67.21        During a brief discussion which ensued about affordable housing, the Acting Housing Services Manager confirmed that the allocation for the commitment of 40% affordable housing was made in the Joint Core Strategy and was not something that was driven by the Housing Strategy. The Joint Core Strategy was currently being reviewed and that review would inform the Housing Strategy in the future.

67.22        Upon being proposed and seconded, it was

                 RESOLVED           1. That the Interim Housing Strategybe APPROVED.

2. That authority be delegated to the Chief Executive, in                             consultation with the Lead Member, to amend the document     with the updated information for increases in private and          social housing rents (last Paragraph of 2.1 of the Strategy)       once it was available.

To recommend to Council that the Interim Housing Strategy be approved.

That it be RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL that the Interim Housing Strategy be APPROVED.

85.1          The report of the Acting Housing Services Manager, circulated at Pages No. 135-215, presented an Interim Housing Strategy for 2021/22 which Members were asked to recommend to Council for approval.

85.2          The Committee was advised that the current Housing Strategy 2017/21 was due for renewal in April 2021 and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in consultation with the Lead Member for Housing, the decision had been taken to defer the production of a full new four year strategy document until April 2022. Officers were mindful of the recent publication of the Local Housing Needs Assessment, the emerging Domestic Abuse Bill and changes to planning approaches that would inform the future strategy. A strategy refresh would ensure the Council had an interim strategy in place for one year for guidance and monitoring and would also enable the production of a more robust document the following year. The refreshed strategy brought the document up to date in terms of legislative changes and housekeeping and was not fundamentally different to the original strategy in terms of substance. That approach had been endorsed by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Some important changes had been identified which had been discussed with the Lead Member including: at Page No. 186, Paragraph 2.1, the Committee was advised that the differences of affordability would remain but the specific areas would be removed; and in the Environmental Health section of the action plan, the wording would be amended to make it more accessible to all.

85.3          During the discussion which ensued, a Member expressed the view that, whilst the document was excellent, she did not feel it went far enough on rural affordable housing.  There were a lot of barriers put in the way to achieving affordable housing and she felt those needed to be included in the strategy as well as tying in the importance of more affordable homes within rural locations and the importance of improving the vitality of rural settlements. She also referred to the key challenges at Page No. 164 and expressed the view that this should also list the fact that the Council had issues with its Housing Needs Survey and with finding suitable land for rural affordable housing. The Head of Community Services indicated that he understood the points being made and advised that there was a standalone document that went into more depth on affordable housing but, as part of the wider review of the strategy, this would be better reflected within the document. The Member also referred to the commuted sums which the Council currently held and questioned when they would be spent to start delivering affordable homes. The Head of Community Services confirmed that the Council was in discussions over the spending of money and there was a relatively large sum that had been requested and would go to Executive Committee for decision later in the year.

85.4          A Member liked the layout of the documents and felt it was clear to see the changes from one version to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 85