Agenda item

To consider and support the Housing Strategy Action Plan for 2019/20. 

That the Housing Strategy Action Plan for 2019/20 be SUPPORTED.  

60.1           The report of the Head of Community Services, circulated at Pages No. 123-150, attached the Housing Strategy action plan for 2019/20 which Members were asked to consider and support. The action plan formulated the actions which would continue to meet the priorities in the strategy for the period April 2019 to March 2020 as well as a summary of the key activities which had been achieved in the second year of the strategy; the proposed activities for year three were contained within Appendix 1 to the report.

60.2           Members were advised that the Housing Strategy was moving into year three of five and had been refreshed in line with new guidelines and legislation. The Housing Strategy incorporated renewal as well as the Homelessness and Prevention of Homelessness Strategy and the Tenancy Strategy. The key priorities of the strategy remained as previously: increasing the housing supply; preventing homelessness; meeting the housing needs of specific groups; and improving the health and wellbeing of local people. The Housing Strategy had been developed by an Overview and Scrutiny Working Group and had been adopted by Council in January 2017. The annual action plans were agreed by the Executive Committee with regular reporting to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for review of achievements and future challenges.

60.3           During the discussion which ensued, a Member questioned whether modular housing was still something that was under consideration or whether it had fallen out of favour. In response, a Member indicated that Bromford Housing was putting on an exhibition in Winchcombe that afternoon to show its plans for modular housing on an old garage site so it was definitely an option which was being considered. The Head of Community Services agreed that it was still an aspiration to deliver modular housing and the Council was working with housing providers to find suitable sites, although some difficulties had been found in terms of meeting space standards. The Lead Member for Built Environment confirmed that there were a large amount of commuted sums available for affordable housing and Officers were working hard on ways to spend it; it was anticipated that the ideas would be ready to report to the Executive Committee in the first quarter of 2019/20.

60.4           In terms of a site in Staverton which had been earmarked for modular housing, the Head of Community Services explained that the Council was still working with Rooftop Housing Association on the project; this was currently in the conceptual stages but it was of note that Rooftop had already delivered a significant amount of modular housing in Worcestershire. In terms of social housing, there were issues around emergency and temporary accommodation but the Council was working closely with the Bromford Housing Group on delivery in the Borough. Officers were currently working up an options appraisal for additional properties to help meet the emergency and temporary accommodation needs and it was intended that a report on that would be submitted to Executive Committee and Council in June/July 2019. A Member pointed out that the government had recently announced additional money for housing associations and she questioned whether the Bromford Housing Group had applied for the funds; she also questioned whether Tewkesbury Borough Council could be involved in how it was spent. In response, the Head of Community Services explained that he was not aware of the particular details but he undertook to investigate and advise the Member accordingly. Another Member expressed her thanks to the Housing Team for the way they were managing the new regulations; she had heard reports from a number of local residents who had received excellent advice from the team in recent months which she felt was a testament to the way the team worked.

60.5           In respect of the recent planning appeal, and the Inspector’s view of the Council’s five-year housing land supply, the Borough Solicitor indicated that she intended to send a briefing note to all Members shortly but, in the meantime, she was able to confirm that the Council did not agree with the Inspector’s judgement of its housing land supply and would be challenging it with the Secretary of State and, if necessary, the Courts. She understood that this meant the Council would effectively be challenging a decision that had gone in its favour, as the Inspector had found in favour of the Council at the appeal, but Officers took the view that they could not leave the conclusion in respect of the lack of housing land supply unchallenged. In addition, the Planning Policy Manager pointed out that the opportunity for housing was also explored through the Joint Core Strategy and Borough Plan and types, tenure, size etc. were all considered through the development process.

60.6           Referring to Page No. 127, Paragraph 6.2 of the report, a Member understood that 11 applications were being processed for Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) under the new legislation and she questioned how long the licensing process was taking and whether residents were living in them unlicensed in the meantime. In response, the Head of Community Services explained that there were 11 in the process of being licenced. The Council had taken the approach that they would not licence any properties without inspecting them first - this was not a requirement of the legislation but was felt to be the correct approach – with that in mind the process was taking longer than anticipated. In addition, the recent Community Services review had agreed a new post which would deal with these and that had not yet been recruited to. It was anticipated that all applications would have been processed within the next eight weeks. He advised that the residents who were living in the properties were still there; however, it should be borne in mind that this was a legislative change so there was no reason to believe that any of the properties would have suddenly become unsafe.

60.7           Accordingly, it was