To consider the progress made against delivery of the Housing and Homelessness Strategy Action Plan. 

30.1          Attention was drawn to the report of the Head of Service: Housing, circulated at Pages No. 100-131, which asked Members to consider the progress made against delivery of the Housing and Homelessness Strategy Action Plan.

30.2          The Lead Member for Housing, Health and Wellbeing indicated that this was an inherited strategy which had been approved prior to the elections in May and he was keen for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to look at it in detail to ensure it was fulfilling its aims.  The Head of Service: Housing advised that the Housing and Homelessness Strategy had been approved in 2022/23 and had been developed in consultation with partners, including Members who had attended a workshop session.  The strategy contained three key priorities: increasing the supply of new homes, including affordable homes; regenerating and making best use of existing housing; and meeting the housing needs of homeless households and others with specific needs.  The main achievements against those priorities during the year were set out at Paragraph 2 of the report.  In terms of priority one, this included working with Gloucestershire Rural Community Council (GRCC) to progress the programme of rural housing needs surveys and Members were advised that GRCC had offered to run a session for all Members in relation to rural housing so that would be arranged in due course.  In terms of priority two, it was intended to help customers to understand the level of accessible properties available on the housing register by adding a rating e.g. a property rated A would be fully adaptable and wheelchair accessible whereas a property rated G would be inaccessible.  In addition, the team had supported a project led by Rooftop to secure better standards for customers in terms of tenure, energy efficiency and sizes.  With regard to priority three, there was an ongoing piece of work to improve knowledge within the team in order to support survivors/victims of domestic abuse; hearing from individuals with lived experience had been very impactful and had led to different approaches being adopted in some cases.

30.3          In relation to the introduction at Page No. 106 of the report, a Member noted that paragraph three stated that a key priority was addressing the challenges of climate change and went on to mention that the strategy aimed to reduce reliance on fossil fuels for new and existing homes and he asked if there were any plans to offer retrofitting to existing homes.  Members were informed that the Council did not provide grants directly but this was something offered through the Warm and Well Scheme delivered by the Severn Wye Energy Agency on behalf of the authority.  A Member noted that Page No. 108 of the strategy stated that the average rent per week for a two bedroom property in Tewkesbury Borough was £172 for a private sector property which she felt seemed low given that rising interest rates had reduced property values and increased average rents.  In response, the Head of Service: Housing confirmed that rents had increased over the two years since the strategy had been written and there were now fewer options available to rent in the private sector.  In response to a query regarding how up to date the strategy was in terms of actions and targets, the Head of Service: Housing advised that that strategy itself spanned the period 2022-26 and the objectives were set out at Page No. 111 of the report.  The Director: Communities explained that the strategy had been adopted by the previous administration so the Council may decide it wished to undertake a review.  He clarified that the actions within Appendix 2 to the report correlated with the actions within the strategy.  In relation to Page No. 108 of the report, a Member noted the number of new homes required during the period and asked what that figure was based on.  The Head of Service: Housing explained that this was informed by the housing needs assessment which had been carried out across the county in 2019 and published in 2020.  The Member asked if it was possible that people were coming from other nearby towns and the Head of Service: Housing advised that the survey took into account the whole market area across the county as opposed to it being district by district.  He undertook to circulate a link to the housing needs assessment report following the meeting.

30.4          With regard to Page No. 112 of the report, a Member asked how Objective 3 – Seek to reduce the impact of new homes on the environment whilst increasing their resilience to climate change, was being managed and was informed there were no specific outcomes, for example, securing a better standard of build was outside of the Council’s control although this was something which could be included in the review of the Joint Core Strategy.  Whilst it was difficult to see measurable outcomes, it was possible to point to schemes promoted by the Council which had been built to a higher standard, for instance, where properties were rated A for energy efficiency.  The Member asked what had been done in terms of working proactively and in partnership with Parish Councils to find ways to meet local housing need and was advised that, for every housing needs survey, the Council met with the Parish Council and local groups to seek their opinion on potential suitable sites.  In response to a query, the Director: Communities advised that the details of the housing needs surveys that had been undertaken in the borough to date were included on the Council’s website and he would update Members following the meeting.

30.5          A Member drew attention to Page No. 114 of the report and she asked what was meant in terms of land assembly with regard to Objective 4 – Support housing-led regeneration included a bullet point around working with registered providers and other landowners to establish opportunities for land assembly.  The Head of Service: Housing explained that this was about registered providers working collectively on a scheme to get the best results for an area.  The Member asked if it included assembling properties which were already built and confirmation was provided that it could do, but it was also about assembling pieces of land for regeneration.  In response to a query as to whether this referred to old or new housing, Members were informed it could be both – registered providers would look at their existing stock and decide whether to bring it up to a better standard through regeneration or to dispose of the stock completely. All opportunities were assessed in order to work out the best approach.  Another Member noted that the first bullet point within Objective 4 referred to supporting the housing-led regeneration of allocated brownfield sites in Tewkesbury town centre and he asked what the latest position was in respect of the MAFF site.  The Executive Director: Resources advised there was no site specific update but the new Executive Director: Place would be looking at the place vision for the whole borough when he joined the authority next month.  Another Member queried how successful the regeneration of brownfield sites in Tewkesbury town centre had been and the Director: Communities advised that this ambition was more planning-focused and there were other sites which needed to be considered including one in Priors Park.

30.6          With regard to Page No. 123 of the report, Year One Priority 2 Action a) Develop a complementary strategy to reduce the number of empty homes, making use of legal powers available, a Member noted that there were 510 empty homes in 2021 and asked how many of those had been brought back into use.  In response, the Director: Communities advised that none had been brought back into use to date as the first year of the Empty Homes Strategy focused on identification of empty properties.  The team was now working on identification and prioritisation with a view to starting to bring properties back into use; however, that was a difficult and time consuming task which would be challenging with the current resources in the team.  The Chair requested that an email be circulated to Members setting out what had happened to date and what was planned for the next 12 months.  With regard to Page No. 123 of the report, Year One Priority 2 Action d) Work jointly with registered providers and other partners to support carbon reduction demonstration projects and procure funding to assist with carbon reduction measures, a Member asked how many projects had been supported.  In response, the Head of Service: Housing advised that no projects had been supported in terms of delivering products as work in year one had focused on accessing decarbonisation funding from the government but he was not aware that any registered providers had applied.  The Director: Communities advised that Officers were in the process of arranging a Member seminar with Bromford in December where that could be explored in more detail.

30.7          A Member drew attention to Page No. 126 of the report, Priority 3 Action d) Conclude the Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Accommodation Needs Assessment and engage with the local communities to understand their requirements, and pointed out that Parish Councils interacted with people who needed to find these type of sites and she asked how information could be provided to Parish Councils to ensure those people were not excluded from the assessment.  Another Member sought clarification as to whether the assessment and the call for sites had reached a conclusion and the Head of Service: Housing advised that it was a Gloucestershire County Council project so he would provide an update following the meeting.

30.8          In relation to Page No. 129 of the report, Priority 2 Action a) Review the options for dealing with social rented homes that are unpopular and difficult to rent, a Member noted that Bromford had been approached to identify properties that could be considered for alternative use and she raised concern that this meant there may be vulnerable people being placed in unsuitable accommodation.  The Head of Service: Housing explained that ‘unpopular’ and ‘difficult to rent’ did not mean they were in poor condition, inappropriate or in bad areas, rather that there were more popular options close by, for instance, older two bedroom flats were less popular than newer two bedroom houses.  In relation to Page No. 131 of the report, Priority 3 Action c) Ensure the future needs of children and young people are considered in rural housing needs assessments, a Member asked whether it was possible to be more imaginative around involving young people as their housing desires for the future may be quite different to the assumption of what they might need.  There were creative solutions out there and she would like to see this action expanded beyond the housing needs assessment.  The Lead Member for Housing, Health and Wellbeing indicated that he would take this comment on board.

30.9          The Chair expressed the view that, whilst the Housing and Homeless Strategy was a good document which had been well researched, and there was clearly activity taking place, it was not possible to ascertain from the information presented exactly what had been achieved and how this was making a difference. He hoped that when the report came back to the Committee in six months time there would be improvements in both ambition and delivery.  He indicated that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee would be happy to work with the Lead Member to help make the necessary improvements.  The Lead Member for Housing, Health and Wellbeing thanked the Committee for the comments and suggestions and expressed the view that the landscape had changed significantly since the strategy had been written and today’s discussion had given him food for thought in terms of the updates and response that was needed.

30.10        It was

RESOLVED          1. That progress against the Housing and Homelessness Strategy Action Plan be NOTED.

2. That a recommendation be made to the Lead Member for Housing, Health and Wellbeing that the ambitions and delivery of the strategy be reconsidered over the next six months.