Agenda and draft minutes
Venue: Committee Room One - Town Hall, Mulberry Place, 5 Clove Crescent, London, E14 2BG. View directions
Contact: Martin Ling (Housing Strategy Manager) Email: martin.ling@towerhamlets.gov.uk , and Tom Scholes-Fogg (Democratic Services Clerk) Email: tom.scholes-fogg@towerhamlets.gov.uk
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APOLOGIES To receive any apologies for absence. Minutes: Apologies were given from Duncan Bowie, Alastair Baird, Yvonne Arrowsmith and Faraz Baber. |
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MINUTES FROM LAST MEETING PDF 87 KB To agree the minutes from last meeting on 18 January 2016. Minutes: The minutes of the last meeting were agreed as an accurate record. |
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PANEL RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE COMMISSION To receive and discuss the Expert Panel’s recommendations to the Housing Policy and Affordability Commission.
Minutes: The Chair, Councillor Blake, asked the Expert Panel for their comments on the recommendations to the Housing Commission which are attached at Appendix 1.
Dan Hopewell, Bromley By Bow Centre, advised that London Borough of Tower Hamlets (LBTW) needs to have a co-ordinated housing plan with neighbouring London Boroughs as the solution to the housing problem extended beyond Tower Hamlets. He stated LBTH needs to identify who the target population was around affordable housing, as the increasing demographic of Tower Hamlets was now more like inner London in his opinion. He added the need for LBTH to work with other landowners, including other social landlords to secure marriage values particularly given the volume of land available.
Mayor Biggs stated he believed everybody deserved an affordable home. He added that the Borough could do with teachers living in the Tower Hamlets and near the schools they teach at but due to the cost of property, this was not currently possible. He was also concerned about conditions in the private sector with the growth of poor quality Houses in Multiple Occupation.
Councillor Sirajul Islam asked whether affordable shared ownership could be an option to addressing the housing need. He stated he believed that the aspiration of our children should not just be to be able to own an affordable home but to benefit from an affordable Council home which once was seen as a positive option.
Dan Hopewell responded and advised that the average London first time buyer was now 40 years old and that buyer will possibly be living at home until they were at least in their 30s. He said social housing was now only for those with the greatest need, and in some places, renting a home all of your life is seen as normal, therefore LBTH needs to make the case for social housing and that it is not a bad thing.
Sarah Sackman, Barrister, said whether people are on a low income or not, there is a real need for affordable housing – and the danger is that in trying to please everyone then LBTH will please no-one. She added, LBTH must meet the needs for those who are homeless and in the greatest need. With regards to recommendation one, Ms Sackman said, it was important the first recommendation is developed and the question asked by LBTH ‘who is the affordable home for?’
With regards to recommendation two, she stated if Tower Hamlets doesn’t strive to produce social rented housing on Council owned sites then it cannot expect the private developers to do it. Tower Hamlets needs to take the lead.
Finally, with regards to recommendation seven, Sarah Sackman said she believed there needed to be a full capacity audit of Council owned land and social landlord, Transport for London and NHS owned sites, and the audit should look at land assembly and how each site could be developed either by Tower Hamlets or by another provider.
In order to look at options of solving the ... view the full minutes text for item 3. |
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ESTATE REGENERATION Minutes: Martin Ling, LBTH informed the Commission about the Prime Minister’s statement on estate regeneration. He advised that David Cameron had pledged a £140 Million fund to kickstart work on 100 estates across the country. Martin Ling added that the day after the Prime Minister’s announcement, Savills produced a report titled ‘Completing London’s streets’. The key to the business model was to attract private finance to subsidise the social housing and a promise that existing residents would be offered a like for like return
Councillor Blake informed the Commission that the approach of creating streets in places of estates was a concern. She asked the Expert Panel for their thoughts on estate regeneration.
Dan Hopewell said estates which were built in the 1960s and 1970s were in a poor state of repair. He said there was some green space that never used and even some instances where the green space was behind fence so it could not be enjoyed. He added he thought the knockdown and re-building sounded interesting but the additional value being advocated could be in-full building and using green space.
Mayor Biggs stated there were some places where it worked quite well.
Sarah Sackman agreed with Dan’s comments, and said LBTH should have a protocol engagement- looking at estates on a case by case basis. She said she believed any regeneration needed to benefit the residents who live there in the first place, with a need to be transparent as it could undermine LBTH’s reputation if estate regeneration projects were badly handled.
Sarah Sackman stated she thought the second recommendation - land owned by LBTH had huge potential, and LBTH should use it to maximise affordable housing.
Councillor Islam said one member of the public told him that contractors ripped the council off – and suggested LBTH should look at creating its own construction companies. |
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CHAIR'S CLOSING COMMENTS Minutes: The Chair, informed the Panel and the Public that the next meeting would consist of Members, Expert Panel and Officers, and the recommendations would be agreed. She thanked the public for coming along to the Housing Commission, and highlighted its importance in addressing the housing problems. |
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ANY OTHER BUSINESS Minutes: There was no other business at the meeting, however Mayor Biggs ended by saying he wants to listen to people in order to understand the problems, and quickly use the thoughts and comments to guide the Council’s policy going forward. He added that some of the work will be looking at the short-term while other bits of work are focussing on the longer-term. The Mayor said the Commission’s work will go towards the development of the Local Plan. |