Cabinet considered the report of the Executive Director which updated Members on how the Council could directly intervene in the housing market, as a developer to accelerate housing delivery and increase overall housing supply.  The report had also been scrutinised by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) on 25 November 2019; a copy of the minutes was tabled at the meeting.

The target set out in the adopted Local Plan Core Strategy was for 335 dwellings per annum from 2011-2028.  However, the average delivery rate of housing completions equated to only 198 dwellings per annum since 2011.  This meant that the Council needed to deliver 458 homes per year (over 4,100 homes in total) between the current time and the end of the plan period.

It was noted that the Housing, Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy (HHRSS) had been developed and adopted by Council on 19 February 2019.  The HHRSS Improvement Delivery Plan (IDP) listed ‘increasing the supply of housing’ as its first priority.  The report outlined the actions necessary to meet objective 1.1 of the IDP and gave Cabinet the opportunity to consider previous recommendations proposed in regard to a Council led housing development programme.  The following salient points were noted:

·       Annually 458 dwellings would need to be built to meet the Council’s local plan target.

·       A Council 15 year development programme up to 2035 could realistically deliver 1,000 dwellings.  £200m would be required to achieve this.

·       Local Authorities that owned 200 or more dwellings was required to account for them within their Housing Revenue Account (HRA).  As the Council did not own any homes, Rother could develop up to 199 through the general fund without opening an HRA.  This method of house building had limitations, as approval would be required from the Secretary of State for each development.

·       A Council Local Housing Company (LHC) could take the format of a private company limited by shares or a private company limited by guarantee.  The LHC would be led by a Board of Directors excluding any Cabinet Members.  Two board structures were outlined in Appendix 4 to the report.

·       Initially an experienced housing provider e.g. Optivo or Orbit would be required to provide a housing management service if housing stock was to be retained by the Council.

·       Several sites across the district had been identified for housing growth / development namely Blackfriars Battle, North and North East Bexhill, Northeye, Hastings Fringes and small rural areas.

·       Employment of a Housing Programme Manager would be required to develop a programme, identify suitable sites and manage the establishment of an LHC.

·       Establishing an LHC would cost approximately £30,000 including all relevant fees, as well as an annual cost of £10,000 for additional works to maintain a housing company.

Members noted the OSC comments and after consideration agreed that a LHC be established following further research on board structures and housing companies established by other councils had been completed and reported at a future meeting.  Cabinet endorsed recommendations 2) to 7) as detailed in the report.

RECOMMENDED: That:

1)     a Local Housing Company be established following further research on board structures and housing companies established by other councils had been completed and reported at a future meeting;

2)     a £200m Housing Development Programme to be delivered by the Local Housing Company be approved and financially supported by the Council;

3)     the Programme aims to complete up to 1,000 new homes by 2035, with the primary objective being to increase and accelerate the overall delivery of housing in the district;

4)     the Programme seeks to deliver mixed tenure developments in accordance with Local Plan and Housing Policy;

5)     the Local Housing Company to be financially supported to purchase land on which to develop new homes, accessing borrowing to do so;

6)     the Local Housing Company will sell the market housing through direct marketing and should seek to sell the affordable element on each scheme to a local registered provider; and

7)     provision of sufficient additional resource is made through the Medium Term Financial Strategy Reserves for the development and delivery of the Housing Development Programme, including £60,000/year to appoint a Housing Development Programme Manager in the first instance.