Agenda item

To receive a presentation from Settle concerning the provision of rented social housing.

Mr Gavin Cansfield and Ms Penny Metcalf, settle, thanked the Chair for the opportunity to address the Committee, and gave a PowerPoint presentation, followed by a question and answer session with the Committee.

The Chair thanked Mr Cansfield and Ms Metcalf for their presentation.

Audio recording – 4 minutes 40 seconds

Mr Gavin Cansfield and Ms Penny Metcalf, settle, thanked the Chair for the opportunity to address the Committee, and gave a PowerPoint presentation entitled ‘Delivering more homes’, followed by a question and answer session with the Committee.

Mr Cansfield included the following points in his presentation:

·                Settle was a housing association which helped people who were struggling to find a place to live. Its purpose was to help people live comfortably in their homes;

·                Its plan was to contribute to solving the housing crisis, to be a trusted landlord and a place where colleagues loved to work;

·                It was delivering new, good quality homes in North Hertfordshire and investing in existing neighbourhoods with a focus on sustainability and working with partners;

·                It hoped to build 1500 homes by 2024, and thereafter 400 each year;

·                There were a number of ways in which settle and the Council could work together in future to meet the shared objective of delivering affordable housing for residents.

The following Councillors asked questions:

·                Councillor Sue Ngwala;

·                Councillor Morgan Derbyshire;

·                Councillor Claire Strong;

·                Councillor Tony Hunter;

·                Councillor Nigel Mason.

Comments and questions included:

·                There was a perception that moving from shared ownership could be expensive in terms of the fees which the resident had to pay;

·                How many of the new homes intended to be built would be achievable without the Local Plan being passed in North Herts?

·                It was good to see that some rural areas were getting affordable housing, such as the development in Holwell village;

·                How many of the 1500 homes intended to be built would be within North Herts?

·                The new playground in Westmill Estate was very good and popular with local residents.

Mr Cansfield and Ms Metcalf replied to questions as follows:

·                Shared ownership household costs were on average 70% of that of the open market. The shared ownership model was being adapted by government policy to help it be accessible to as many people as possible. By way of further information, Members could be provided with a note on the recent scheme in Royston and how that helped households there;

·                The supply of new homes coming through the planning process at the moment was lower than required to meet settle’s house building targets; settle was looking at ways to unlock the delivery of more new homes;

·                1000 homes had currently been identified to build, 300 of these were in North Herts. It was hoped that as more houses were identified, more of these would be in North Herts to increase the percentage from 30%;

·                Settle had delivered around 9,500 homes to date;

·                Members would be provided with a list of contacts in case of queries from members of the public on operational matters. Walkabouts would also be arranged if Members wished;

·                Market sales were rare - the only reason for them was to cross-subsidise the affordable product;

·                One in four of the homes settle developed was for social rent, i.e. the supply of social rent homes had been increasing;

·                20-25 homes were lost each year through the statutory Right to Acquire scheme.

The Chair thanked Mr Cansfield and Ms Metcalf for their interesting and informative presentation.