HOUSING STRATEGY
2013 – 2015
Contents Page No
What has happened since the last strategy 4
Introduction to North Warwickshire 5
Demographics 5
Local Economy 6
National Context 6
National Planning Policy Framework 6
Achieving Sustainable Neighbourhoods 6
Low Carbon Footprint 7
Green Belt Development 7
Localism Act 7
Community Right to Build 8
Neighbourhood Planning 8
Affordable Rents 8
Management of Waiting Lists 8
Assistance to Homeless People 9
Welfare Reform 9
Health and Social Care 9
Housing Need 10
Housing Market Assessment 10
Joint Strategic Needs Assessment 10
Housing Register 10
Housing Needs Surveys 11
Neighbourhood Planning 11
Homelessness Statistics 11
Health and Well Being Strategy 12
Local Plan 13
Empty Homes 13
Supported Housing 14
Rural Issues 14
Allocations Policy 14
Sustaining Tenancies 15
Sustainable Neighbourhoods and Partnership Strategic Group (SNAPS) 16
Future Supply 16
Delivery of Local Investment Plan 16
Empty Homes 17
Local Authority Mortgage Scheme 18
Landlords in Private Sector 18
Sustaining Independent Living 18
Council Owned Housing Stock 19
Tenancy Strategy 19
Resources 20
Homes and Communities Agency 21
Development Partners 22
Housing Revenue Account 22
Green Deal and Energy Company Obligations 23
Supporting People Funding 23
Homelessness Prevention Funding 23
The Prevention of Homelessness Programme 23
Future Work and Action Plan 25
Appendix A – Action Plan 2013-2015 26
Appendix B –Housing Sites for North Warwickshire Local Investment Plan 33
What has happened since the last Strategy?
The last Housing Strategy was written in 2008. The actions set out in the Strategy have been met. This includes providing for a countywide Local Investment Plan to provide a focus on the delivery of new affordable homes as well as working strategically with the County Council to provide support services. The resources anticipated in the Strategy were significantly curtailed due to the economic downturn however the Council had some notable successes in delivering its action plan:
· Since 2008, North Warwickshire Borough Council in partnership with our Registered Provider partners and the Homes and Communities Agency has enabled the provision of an additional 152 affordable homes in the Borough. Some schemes are not just about new homes. In Arley, a development heavily subsidised by the Council in the provision of land at less than market value, included the delivery of a new medical centre for the area as well as a new pharmacy. In Piccadilly the development provided for improved community facilities for the village.
· North Warwickshire Borough Council was successful in 2010 in their application for funds from the Homes and Communities Agency Local Authority New Build Programme. In partnership with Waterloo Housing Group, the Homes and Communities Agency, Marks Davis Partnership, Bailey Garner, John Thompson and Partners and Frank Haslam Milan 25 new homes were built. The use of Council land and funding allowed for four small developments to provide much needed additional homes in villages. The first Council properties to be built in a 20 year period they were developed to a high standard of energy efficiency and were in high demand.
· By working in partnership with Waterloo Housing Group, we were able to regenerate one of our oldest streets into an eco street by providing new measures to their properties including ground source heat pumps, solar panels and under floor heating as well as external improvements by extending their gardens to the back of their properties making them more user friendly. This was completed with help from the Homes and Communities Agency and the Low Carbon Building Programme who contributed towards the £4.4 million investment needed to realise the project.
· In partnership with Bromford Housing, Supporting People and the Homes and Communities Agency, we have opened our first supported housing project for younger people at Meadow House, Atherstone for young families. The scheme has 6 self contained units where young families can learn life skills such as cooking, budgeting and how to conduct a tenancy preparing them before moving onto and sustaining their own long term tenancy. This scheme has been extremely successful and allows young families to stay within their own vicinity instead of having to move out of the Borough to get the support that they need.
The revised strategy will build on this work to ensure the Council makes the best use of existing stock to meet housing need as well as striving to attract resources to build new homes. It sets out the Council’s ambitions for the next two years and looks forward to developing a 5 year Strategy which reflects the information from a new Housing Market Assessment, revised Supporting People Strategy and agreement of a new Core Strategy which will provide for the development of a new Local Investment Plan.
Introduction to North Warwickshire
North Warwickshire is a predominantly rural borough with no large town or natural centre. The largest centres of population are Atherstone, Coleshill and Polesworth, each with populations of less than 10,000. These settlements all have market town status. Two thirds of the borough lies within the West Midlands Green Belt and the rest is open countryside. North Warwickshire and its rural nature and coalfields legacy are still very much part of everyday matters within the borough.
North Warwickshire is surrounded by urban areas with Birmingham, Solihull and Tamworth to the west, Coventry to the south and Nuneaton to the east. Most of the larger centres of population are on the edge of the Borough and the residents of those centres tend to look at nearby towns and cities outside the borough for their main services. Thus, Atherstone traditionally looks to Nuneaton, Polesworth, Dordon, and Kingsbury to Tamworth and Coleshill and Water Orton look to Birmingham. Public transport links reflect this with low levels of service between small settlements inside the Borough.
Demographics
The 2011 Census indicated that the Borough only saw an increase of 200 people between the 2001 Census and the 2011 Census figures. This is despite at least 1280 houses (gross) having been built. It is possible this is a symptom of changing lifestyles with smaller family sizes occupying larger homes and ageing population remaining in family homes.
The population of North Warwickshire is 62,014 (2011 Census) in an area of 28,427 hectares, a density of just over 2 persons per hectare. The residents of the Borough display a number of contrasting characteristics. The Borough is a net exporter of workers with more people travelling out of the borough to work (particularly in the Birmingham conurbation) than travel in. To that extent the population is mobile. There are 34 Parishes in the Borough and most residents have a great affinity with their town or village, maintaining strong communities.
House prices in the Borough are starting to decrease due to the effects of the economic climate. They have however, only decreased by a slight amount of 2% across all property types over the course of the last year.
Average Price
North Warwickshire all properties £168.106
Detached £252,073
Semi Detached £151,799
Terraced £125,487
Flat £140,150
Source: Land Registry of England and Wales
There is still a wide gap between earnings and house price affordability. With the average income per resident of North Warwickshire for 2012 being £26,957.
Source: Warwickshire Observatory Labour Market Statistics
According to the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2010, North Warwickshire is ranked 198 out of 326 authorities. However there are three wards that are in the top 30% for deprivation which are Atherstone Central, Atherstone South and Mancetter and Atherstone North.
12% (4750) of the population are unemployed and in receipt of state benefits. Those who are employed tend to work within the services industry such as shops, hotels, restaurants and administration which tend to be the lower paid end of employment.
Source: NOMIS
Local Economy
North Warwickshire’s economy has been transformed over the last thirty years from having coal mining as the key employer in the 1970’s and 80’s to now being the headquarters for many companies such as TNT, ALDI and BMW. The development of the rail freight terminals at Birch Coppice and Hams Hall support the distribution network industry. Only one coal mine exists today, Daw Mill, which is Britain’s biggest coal producer employing more than 600 people. The market towns of Atherstone, Polesworth and Coleshill offer a range of attractions for those living in and visiting North Warwickshire.
North Warwickshire has also recently been awarded a grant of £100,000 from the Mary Portas High Street Innovation Fund for a range of measures designed to help local people improve their high streets and improve vitality and viability which is aimed at bringing empty shops back into use.
North Warwickshire has excellent road links to Birmingham, Coventry and the rest of the country with the M6 and M42 providing direct access to the M1, M5, M40 and M69. The Borough is situated directly adjacent to the new Enterprise Zone at the MIRA Technology Park (along the A5) and this will provide exciting employment opportunities.
The North Warwickshire Works Programme was set up in 2010 to establish a partnership of local organisations in the area who are involved in delivering employment support, advice guidance and training. The aim of the partnership is to deliver the Section 106 agreement for Birch Coppice. There are a total of three S106 agreements in place (to date). Various contracts have been awarded including an employment engagement project, NEET’s outreach programme (Connect to your Future Now), IT package and skill match with local employers (Talent Match), Bespoke Training packages, work clubs and much more.
National Context
National Planning Policy Framework
The National Planning Policy Framework set out the Government’s planning policies to achieve sustainable economic growth. It provides a framework within which local people and the Council can produce their own distinctive local and neighbourhood plans, which reflect the needs and priorities of their communities.
Achieving Sustainable Neighbourhoods
The National Planning Policy Framework states that there are three dimensions to ensuring that developments are sustainable in the long term and those three dimensions consist of:
Economic – contributing to building a strong, responsive and competitive economy, be ensuring that sufficient land of the right type is available in the right places and at the right time to support growth and innovation; and by identifying and coordinating development requirements, including the provision of infrastructure.
Social – supporting strong, vibrant and healthy communities, by providing the supply of housing required to meet the needs of present and future generations; and by creating a high quality built environment, with accessible local services that reflect the communities needs and support it’s health, social and cultural well being.
Environmental - contributing to protecting and enhancing our natural, built and historic environmental and as part of this, helping to improve biodiversity, use natural resources, minimise waste and pollution, mitigate and adapt to climate change including moving to a low carbon economy.
Low Carbon Footprint
The Government has a commitment to addressing climate change and is encouraging organisations and individuals to play their part. Commitment is being sought to ensure that both existing and new homes are sustainable now and in the future in order to deliver resilient, adaptable built environments, enhancing the natural environment and people’s quality of life.
The Government has set a new target requiring emission reductions of 50% on 1990 levels in the period 2023-27, including through improvements of energy efficiency of domestic properties. The Government is committed to tackling fuel poverty, when a household spends more than 10% of its income on fuel bills and improved energy efficiency has a key role to play.
Green Belt Development
The Government attaches great importance to the Green Belt. The fundamental aim of Green Belt policy is to prevent urban sprawl by keeping land permanently open, the essential characteristics of Green Belt are their openness and their permanence.
The National Planning Policy Framework sets out five purposes:
· To check the unrestricted sprawl of large built up areas
· To prevent neighbouring towns merging into one another
· To assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment
· To preserve the setting and special character of historic towns
· To assist in urban regeneration, by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land.
Localism Act
The Localism Act 2011 sets out the Government’s plans to shift power from central government back into the hands of communities and councils. In terms of housing, this includes greater flexibility around how social housing is allocated, changes that allow homeless families to be housed in the Private Rented Sector and the introduction of fixed term tenancies. In terms of planning, the changes that are relevant to the Housing Strategy is the Community Right to Build and the Parishes considering Neighbourhood Plans and Development Orders.
Community Right to Build
This gives communities a new way to deliver development that they would like to see, whether it is homes for the area or shops, businesses or facilities. The benefits of the right to build are that it will be decided by the community and retained by the community. There will be some conditions as published in the guidance notes developed by the Homes and Communities Agency that will have to be met and you also need the agreement of local people through a community referendum. The government is expecting this to be particularly relevant to rural communities.
Community Groups can ask for support and guidance from the Local Authority and can apply for a grant from the Homes and Communities Agency to support their development needs.
Neighbourhood Planning
Neighbourhood Planning has been introduced to give communities a new way to work together and decide the future of the places where they live and work. This will put power back in the hands of local residents, businesses, councils and civic leaders.
Communities will be able to:
· Choose where they want new homes, shops and offices to be built.
· Have their say on what those new buildings should look like.
· Influence the design and functionality of the open spaces around their homes.
· Grant planning permission for the new buildings they want to see go ahead.
The Government has also made funding available to the Design Council to enable them to provide a range of design support services to local communities to enable them to form a clear vision for how they would like to see their neighbourhood develop.