information sheet

No: 039/2015

DATE OF ISSUE: 25 September 2015

Subject:Affordable Housing Development Programme: Update

Lead Officer:John Gordon

Contact on 01789 260843

1Introduction

1.1Meeting local housing need has been and remains a key corporate priority for the District Council. This high-level priority is reflected in more detail in several key documents including:

  • Corporate Strategy 2015-2019
  • Housing Strategy 2015-2020
  • Core Strategy 2011-2031 (in preparation).

Crucial to giving effect to this priority is the delivery of an ongoing Affordable Housing Development Programme by the Council.This information sheet presents an update on recent achievements and expected activity in the delivery of that Programme.

1.2The information provided represents the position at the time of writing (September 2015) and is subject to change. It is based on information provided by the Council’s partner housing associations and other intelligence.

1.3Before presenting specific statistics, it is worth providing a brief reminder of why and how the Council seeks to provide new affordable homes.

  • Stratford-on-Avon District has for many years had the highest average house prices and rents in the West Midlands and – equally importantly – one of its worst affordability ratios i.e. the relationship between prices/rents and incomes.[1] Consequently, many residents struggle to access any market accommodation and this, in turn, has serious long-term implications for the sustainability of our local communities and economy.
  • Additionally, national planning policy requires the Council to meet its objectively assessed housing need in full for both market and affordable housing. This issue is, of course, being addressed as part of ongoing work to prepare our Core Strategy.
  • Since the sale of the Council’s entire housing stock in 1996, the Council has relied almost exclusively on the ability of its partner housing associations to build and manage new affordable homes to help mitigate the impact of the situation described above.It’s therefore of critical importance that the Council does all it reasonably can to enable its partners to sustain their own development programmes within our District.

2Highlights2014 to 2015

2.1A record number of affordable homes were built between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2015. In all, 215 affordable homes were provided which is the highest ever annual total since at least 1996. The homes include:

  • Two specialised housing schemesfor adults with learning and/or physical disabilities at Bidford-on-Avon and Shipston-on-Stour. The Bidford scheme was supported by the Government’s Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund and was the only such scheme to be funded in this way in Warwickshire.
  • Two further rural housing schemes at Harbury and Ilmington.
  • Practical completion of the first apartments within the Extra Care Housing scheme at Tithe Lodge, Southam. The scheme is expected to become fully operational by October 2015.
  • An urban regeneration scheme at Woodlands Road, Stratford-upon-Avon which provided 15 bungalows and houses to replace 12 defective houses.
  • Photographs of some of the completed schemes are included at Appendix 1.

3Performance 2012 to 2015

3.1The performance data below refers to the three years from April 2012 to March 2015 inclusive. This is because the number, type and size of new affordable homes can vary considerably from year to year.

3.2Number and purpose

A total of 433 affordable homes have been provided sinceApril 2012. Of these homes, 87% were general needs and 13% were specialised accommodation.(Since April 2011, which is the base date of the emerging Core Strategy,538 affordable homes have been provided).

3.3Tenure

The majority of homes were developed for rent (78%); the remainder were nearly all shared ownership homes.

3.4Size and type of homes

Two and three-bedroom properties accounted for 70% of new homes.See the table below for a detailed breakdown of homes by the number of bedrooms:

Number of bedrooms / Percentage of 433 properties
One / 12%
Two / 45%
Three / 35%
Four / 8%

Two thirds of the new homes were houses. The other homes were mainly flats or maisonettes. Twenty bungalows were also built.

3.5Partner housing associations

Almost 60% of homes were developed by just one of the Council’s partner housing associations (Orbit Group). Other associations that have or are developing affordable homes in this District include Stonewater (formed by the merger of Jephson and Raglan housing associations), Bromford, Warwickshire Rural, Waterloo, Fortis Living and some smaller special needs associations.

3.6Funding

Irrespective of whether or not any Government grant is available, housing associations use their reserves or borrow monies to help fund the delivery ofallnew affordable homes. Without this funding, no homes would be built.These monies are supplemented by other funding on most schemes. The common sources of additional funding in this District are detailed below.

1)The majority of the affordable homes were reliant on some cross subsidy from market led “s106” sites and were developed on a nil grant basis.

2)The Council has a strong track record in attracting inward investment from the Homes and Communities Agency despite considerable reductions in the scale of its programmes nationally. Over the past three years, £6.8 million of Government grant has been paid towards the provision of affordable homes in this District– largely, but not exclusively,for special needs, rural schemes and regeneration schemes.

3)The District Councilhas also helped fund some rural community-led schemes to meet the identified needs of local people. Six rural schemeshave been completed under the Council’s Rural Housing Programme 2012 which provided £1.1 million of funding to Warwickshire Rural Housing Association.

3.7Planning status

Most new homes have been built on sites allocated in the Council’s Local Plan Review oron “windfall” sites. A further 11% of homes came from rural community-led sites.Development sites were predominately “brownfield” (54%) or “greenfield” (42%).

In terms of the distribution of sites with reference to the emerging Core Strategy settlement hierarchy, the largest sources of supply were from sites in or adjacent to the Main Rural Centres (38%) followed by Stratford town (37%).

4Future delivery

4.1For a wide range of reasons, forecasts for housing delivery in future years must necessarily be regarded as indicative only. Subject to this proviso, we are currently expecting to deliver up to approximately250 affordable homes during the current year, 2015-16.

4.2The total confirmed yield of affordable housing from the pool of “committed” sites (that is to say, those sites currently under development or with planning permissions in place) currently stands at in excess of2,000 homes.

4.3In February 2015, the Council’s Cabinet gave in principle approval to operate a further Rural Housing Programme. This will provide grant funding to Warwickshire Rural Housing Association to enable it to develop a further three schemes: at Broom (Bidford-on-Avon parish), Long Compton and Wootton Wawen.

4.4Policy issues affecting the delivery of affordable housing will be reported to the Leader’s Policy Advisory Group in due course.

5Conclusions

5.1The provision of homes to meet the needs of local people has been and remains a key objective of the District Council. To this end it operates an ongoing Affordable Housing Development Programme with its partners.

5.2Delivery last year (2014-15) was highly successful: indeed the District saw its highest ever annual total of new homes delivered under this Programme, as well as the completion of the Council-funded Rural Housing Programme 2012.

5.3Looking to the future, sites capable of delivering approximately 2,000 affordable homes have been confirmed, and a further Rural Housing Programme grant-funded by the District Council has been agreed in principle.

Appendix 1

ILLUSTRATIVE SCHEME PHOTOGRAPHS: COMPLETIONS 2014-15


Murray House, Bidford-on-Avon /
Murray House, Bidford-on-Avon

Wilkins Way, Ilmington /
Wilkins Way, Ilmington

Rosedale, Shipston-on-Stour /
Tithe Lodge, Southam

[1] For example, in 2013, the ratio of lower quartile house prices to lower quartile household earnings was 8.9, compared to 6.7 for the whole of Warwickshire and 6.45 for England.