General Discussion
At the beginning of last month a TDC Housing officer addressed the Dawlish Neighbourhood Plan (Mark 2) Steering Group about how central government policies would be impacting on
Dawlish. Here's what she had to say:
" the Government had recently passed the Housing &
Planning Act with regulations still to follow. It was suspected to include the
definition of starter homes as affordable housing. Starter homes were homes
that would be available at a cost of 80% of the market value. The government
had proposed that 20% of all affordable homes must comprise starter homes.
This would have significant implications for Dawlish; the Teignbridge Local
Plan had allocated a 25% minimum threshold of affordable housing – in the
event the regulations are passed, 20% of the 25% would be starter homes
and there was nothing the local planning authority could do as this formed
national planning policy.In terms of the Local Plan’s housing allocation for Dawlish there were
approximately 900 new homes planned with an anticipated level of 225
affordable homes with a 70/30 split of rented affordable or shared ownership /
discounted market value homes.
An affordable home was defined as affordable rented, must not exceed 80%
of the market rent – shared ownership was also within that definition. The
new regulations on starter homes would not impose a local connection
proviso and would be open to any first time buyer aged between 23 and 40.
Currently Teignbridge attached a local connection condition so that first
preference would be for local people but for n of starter homes this would not
apply
Following questions from Members, Mrs Pujol advised that she believed there
it bwould be a condition of purchasing a starter home that the purchaser
remained in the property for 5 years, possibly longer – further clarification
would be realised with the publication of the regulations.
In terms of the remaining 5% allocation of affordable housing on new
developments there was currently no policy on what that would be – she was
in talks with Planning colleagues over the supplementary planning document
to include rented as the need was evidenced. Teignbridge was actively
exploring the possibility of establishing a housing company which would
enable the Council to buy ‘off the shelf’ cheaper end properties that could be
rented out to try and maintain the supply of affordable rented accommodation
however it would be a significant challenge.
Extra care housing was a step up from sheltered housing; it allowed
independent accommodation, with care provided on site. The level of nursing
care was in-between care home and sheltered housing Teignbridge were
finding it a challenge to deliver extra care across the district – 1 scheme has
been delivered in Newton Abbot; the scheme cost over £9M – less grant
around from HCA – which was on average £20K per unit. New HCA funding
guidance states there will be no grant for rented housing. There was a pot of
funding available for supported housing but grants for extra care were
reducing. The Council wanted to put extra care at Shutterton but at present
there appeared to be no appetite to deliver this from the Registered Social
landlords.
With regards to the housing company Mrs Pujol advised that Teignbridge had
very limited land in terms of land availability; it would have to go out and buy it
as any other developer. Consultants were currently undertaking a feasibility
study to see if it was viable. It was not new in terms of our aspirations, and it
would be small numbers; approx 50 units per year – so it was not big numbers
compared to the local plan allocations.
Mrs Pujol reiterated that Teignbridge was doing all it could to ensure
affordable and extra care housing remained options for residents and would
update the Group when further clarification was received from Government.
http://www.dawlish.gov.uk/edit/nb_uploads/1915.pdf
Thanks Lynne - and to be clear, a 20% requirement for Starter Homes (that's 20% of all homes built) will significantly eat into any Affordable Homes requirement previously set within the 2014 Teignbridge Local Plan.
In the case of Dawlish where the AH target is 25%, for every 100 homes to have been built, 25 would have been Affordable (Split 70% rented, 30% shared ownership/discounted). But - when the new Housing and Planning Bill comes into force - 20 will be Starter Homes and the other 5 only will be Affordable.
In Newton Abbot (where the AH target is 20%) for every 100 new homes, there will be 20 Starter Homes and NO Affordable Homes.
No wonder Boris Johnson pushed the self-destruct button on Thursday. He had only just realised the implications of the H&P Bill on the speech he was about to write about social mobility...
And another point - to be eligible for Affordable rented or shared ownership applicants must have a local connection.
There will be no local connection requirement for the Starter Homes.
Assuming that houses of any kind will get built of course.
For if the economy goes pear shaped then.............
BTW - there was a planning meeting at TDC last Tuesday where the planning application
for 409 or so new dwellings at Gatehouse Farm was passed.
This development should have had a 25% Affordable Housing requirement.
It was agreed however that it should have 17.5%.
And of course the developers can always go back to TDC planners sometime in the future and plead that even that amount should be reduced because of this reason or that reason.
The state of the economy might be one reason they might use........
Looks like last summer's much-heralded government starter homes plans are now headed for the shredder. Is it any wonder that we do not have the new housing we need when policy changes (whether welcome or not) which significantly affect the delivery cycle come along at such regular intervals?
"Housing market broken, ministers say ahead of White Paper..."
Wasn’t Exminster set at 35% affordable and did I not read recently that the developer “Bovis” had agreed with TDC that it would now be 10%. That’s Bovis of the famed Facebook site Bovis Homes Victims Group. A group made up of over 1000 people complaining about the shoddy houses that Bovis have built. Have a look at the following link https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/11/bovis-accused-of-pressurising-buyers-to-move-into-unfinished-homes?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other To see just what people think of Bovis Homes, still just think a 20 year plan build rubbish now and in 20 years knock them down and rebuild them.
