The Cabinet Member (Environment and Strategic Housing) will comment on the key achievements or topics for improvement in the past year in his programme area as it relates to the Committee; what matters will need to be addressed in the coming year and issues with which he may wish to involve Scrutiny in the future.

The Committee received a presentation from the Cabinet Member (Environment and Strategic Housing).

During his presentation, the Cabinet Member highlighted the following areas:

• That delivering affordable housing was one of the key priorities within the Sustainable Community Strategy.  Herefordshire had the worst housing affordability ratio of all local authorities in the Region. The delivery targets for 2009/10 for affordable housing had been achieved, and the Service expected to achieve the target of 170 houses for the current year.

• The Audit Commission had undertaken an inspection, and said that the County had some of the highest standards of affordable housing in the Country

• That there were rules within the Unitary Development Policy (UDP) that gave preference for housing to Gypsies and Travellers.  This was not necessarily the most appropriate way forward, and greater emphasis should be given to the needs of Gypsies and Travellers by providing more appropriate sites.  The Travellers site in Madley had not been used for a long time, and it would be sold off, the money ring fenced to buy a new site in consultation with Traveller families.

• That the Mortgage Rescue Scheme had been recognised at national level as being best practice.

The Chairman thanked him for his presentation.

In the ensuing discussion, the following points were answered by the Assistant Director, Homes and Communities:

• That encouraging more landlords to provide rental accommodation from the private sector was a long standing problem, landlords often perceived that assured short hold tenancies made it difficult to evict tenants who were not paying their rent so they took a risk averse approach when choosing tenants.

• The targets for delivery of affordable homes for the forthcoming two years would be reflected in the Local Development Framework (LDF) figures, but he expected them to be in the region of the high 200’s.  It was expected that delivery by 2025-26 would be around 400 a year.  The initial  targets reflected a challenging market, as developers were not developing sites

The Cabinet Member replied to a Member’s comment, and said that he agreed that a target of 170 houses with a waiting list of over five thousand people was an insupportable situation, but it was a reflection of the reality faced by the Council.  There was no available funding from the Homes and Communities Agency.  It should be borne in mind that of the total number on the waiting list, only a hundred actually required urgent re-housing at this time.  Attempts had been made to create empty flats above shops, but the Council had received no support from the absentee landlords who owned the commercial properties and grants were unavailable

He went on to say that the density of the build of affordable housing did need to be higher than other developments, but agreed with a Member that the provision of appropriate garden space was essential.  He disagreed that the County was producing sub standard housing, and said that all houses were built to EU Standard 3, which was far higher than they were required to build.  No block building was allowed on sites, and homes were built to the specific needs of the Housing Associations.

The Assistant Director, Homes and Communities concurred with comments from Members that consideration would be given to finding ways to encourage the single occupants of larger homes occupied to move into accommodation more suited to their needs, thereby freeing up properties for families.

Resolved:  That the presentation be noted.