Agenda item

To consider progress against delivery of the actions in relation to the Housing and Homelessness Strategy. 

80.1          Attention was drawn to the report of the Head of Service: Housing, circulated at Pages No. 103-132, which asked Members to consider the progress made against delivery of the Housing and Homelessness Strategy Action Plan.

80.2          The Head of Service: Housing advised that Housing and Homelessness Strategy 2022-26 had been approved by Council in April 2022 and contained three key priorities.  The update report covered the six months since the last report to the Committee in September.  In terms of Priority 1, there was continued success in respect of the objective to prioritise delivery of social rented properties with 26 units delivered throughout quarters one to three of 2023/24.  Another focus for the second year of the strategy was in relation to utilising land in Tewkesbury Borough Council’s ownership to support the delivery of affordable housing and encouraging other public bodies to do the same; a few potential sites had been identified and a Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) provider would conduct site visits to establish their suitability.  With regard to Priority 2, the Council had changed its approach to provision of social rented units so they would have better energy efficiency and £1.7m commuted sums had been committed to support new build schemes.  Recent projects included the regeneration of Crown Close where poorly performing flats and a garage site would be replaced by housing with improved parking arrangements and green space.  There wee tight timescales to build units with Bromford and 12 social rented properties had been delivered through the Local Authority Housing Fund scheme which would support the response to international resettlement cases before being made available for general use.  Finally, in relation to Priority 3, work was being done to build on the customer experience through listening to customers and engaging staff with training to improve knowledge and working practices, and temporary accommodation options had been identified to further support those in need.  This would be the last update report on the current strategy which was being reviewed and refreshed to include more objectives and to better demonstrate the progress being made.

80.3          With regard to action a) utilise land in Tewkesbury Borough Council’s ownership to support the delivery of affordable housing and encourage other public bodies to do likewise, a Member sought clarification as to which public bodies this was referring to.  In response, the Head of Service: Housing advised this included the County Council and Town and Parish Councils, for instance, Tewkesbury Borough Council had proposed a land swap for an area of land owned by the County Council which was used as farmland to improve the land offer.  There was also engagement with diocese as they were one of the largest landowners in the country.  A Member noted that Page No. 112 of the report referred to 510 empty homes and he asked for the current figure and whether that would be impacted by the proposed Council Tax changes to encourage the owners of second properties to bring them back into full time use and occupation through the imposition of premiums.  In response, the Head of Service: Housing advised that he did not have up to date figures; however, a review had been conducted as part of the new Empty Homes Strategy and the Environmental Health team had started to review each property; the Council Tax changes would provide the incentive for properties to be brought back into use.  A Member asked whether the 510 empty homes included rooms or flats above shops and the Director: Communities advised that he assumed it did but he would check and advise Members following the meeting.  The Member indicated that it could be the case that someone paid business rates on the whole building therefore perhaps would not know if they were empty.  Another Member indicated that Page No. 112 of the report also stated that 24.9% of households were older persons only – the highest in the county - but she could not see anything in the action plan to address that and asked if it would be covered in the new Council Plan.  The Head of Service: Housing advised that the strategy was being reviewed in order to compare figures to see how things were changing and, whilst it did not directly link to an action, the need to increase accessibility to enable people to stay in their homes for longer was recognised.   A Member asked if there was any update to the figure of 11,700 new homes which had been identified at Page No. 112 of the report as being required in the period 2021-2041 and confirmation was provided that the new figures around housing need would be included in the emerging Strategic Local Plan (SLP); the local housing need assessment exercise, which was now almost five years old, would be repeated in the next couple of years.

80.4          With regard to Objective 4 – Support rural communities to grow organically, a Member asked what was being done to make homes in rural areas affordable for young people.  The Head of Service: Housing advised that a project in relation to that was being funded with Gloucestershire Rural Community Council (GRCC) which would involve engaging more widely with local groups beyond the Parish Council.  Rural exemption sites were one way to bring forward which may not be developed in normal circumstances; however, this was reliant on finding sites and local will etc.  Consideration was being given as to how commuted sums could be used more creatively to do something different.   It was intended to run a Member session in relation to the project with GRCC and Members would be notified of the date in due course.  Another Member drew attention to Page No. 128, Priority 2, action b) develop plans to ensure accessible homes are available to people who need them, and asked if there was a timescale for this.  In response, the Head of Service: Housing explained that the Council played an enabling role which involved encouraging registered social landlords to include an accessibility rating for their properties; this had been met with resistance although one registered provider had started to do this. 

80.5          In response to a query as to how well the Council was performing in relation to meeting housing need, the Head of Service: Housing advised that the annual figure from the local housing need assessment was 129 affordable housing units per year, of which social rented tenures formed 60% of the total affordable dwellings.  The Council was not currently meeting that need but there was a time lag between the social rented housing now being secured via planning permissions coming to fruition - there was a legacy of affordable rented housing being delivered through older planning permissions which first needed to clear. The Chair indicated that the Committee had found it difficult to scrutinise the success of the Housing and Homelessness Strategy over the last year based on the data provided and he hoped the KPIs would be reviewed as the end of financial year approached.  The strategy itself was very ambitious but it was unclear how the Council was performing against the 17 objectives and he asked if any update could be provided in relation to that.  The Head of Service: Housing agreed it was an ambitious programme and the approach that had been taken when developing the strategy was that nothing should be discounted.  Two years in, it was acknowledged that it was difficult to understand how the Council was performing against the targets and new KPIs would be developed based on the new Council Plan which would help to address that issue.  The Chair indicated that he would like some information about what had been achieved over the last two years and the Head of Service: Housing undertook to circulate key bullet points following the meeting.  In response to a query as to the timetable for the revised strategy, the Head of Service: Housing advised that it was intended to bring a draft revised strategy to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for feedback in June.

80.6          It was

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