Issue - meetings

To approve the use of commuted sum monies, received in lieu of affordable housing, for the delivery of affordable rented housing units.

RESOLVED

That £1.295m commuted sum monies received in lieu of affordable housing be allocated to deliver 43 affordable rented housing units, as detailed in the Appendix.

The Cabinet considered the report circulated with the agenda (copy attached to the official minutes).

Mrs Taylor introduced the report. She explained that the Council had £1.33m commuted sums ring-fenced for the provision of affordable housing. Government priorities were now focussed on increasing the supply of housing, including low cost home ownership and starter homes. The housing market could be expected to increase the supply of these homes , but at the same time the supply of affordable rented housing was expected to decline.

The Cabinet had recently agreed that commuted sums received in lieu of affordable housing could be used:

(a) To convert shared ownership to rented units

(b) To attract investment to meet specific local needs, e.g. bungalows, disabled units, redevelopment of outdated or difficult to let housing

(c) To enable viability of small schemes e.g. rural schemes and schemes with high design costs or additional amenity requirements

(d) Where grants would reduce rents to affordable levels, particularly in the case of larger family rented homes.

It was, therefore, proposed to allocate £1.295m of commuted sum funds to affordable housing projects as set out in the Appendix to the report. These were mainly small sites which were relatively expensive to deliver and, following the government’s rent reduction policy, would not be delivered without financial support from the Council. All but one of these sites would be developed as 100% affordable housing. This would help to achieve the right housing in the right place.

Mrs Grange (Housing Enabling Manager) corrected paragraph 5.5 of the report in that seven out of the ten sites already had planning permission. If any of the schemes did not proceed, the commuted sums could be re-allocated as they did not have to be spent until 2020.

Mrs Lintill expressed disappointment that, although Petworth had sites that had contributed substantially to the commuted sums, none of the proposed projects would meet the need for affordable housing in Petworth. Mrs Grange confirmed that sites in Petworth were being sought. She explained that within the National Park commuted sums would in future mainly arise from planning agreements negotiated by the South Downs National Park Authority. The National Park Authority would be responsible for determining where they were to be spent. The Council would need to seek agreement with the National Park Authority that sums arising in Chichester District should, where possible, be spent in Chichester District. A meeting with the National Park Authority was to be held on 10 June.

Mrs Keegan pointed out that sometimes these schemes aroused local opposition, especially if there was no guarantee that the new houses would be occupied by local people. Mrs Taylor pointed out that use of commuted sums did give the Council some negotiating strength with the registered provider in considering the allocation of homes at first letting. Mrs Grange added that under the rural allocations policy, people in bands A, B or C who had a local connection to the parish would have priority in the allocation of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 197