Agenda item
COMMENTS FROM THE EXPERT PANEL
Minutes:
Yvonne Arrowsmith, Chief Executive of East Thames, said LBTH needed to be clear who the council was building for, what TH wanted longer term, what scale of house building was needed to meet the needs, and that within LBTH there were high and low value areas. She added that a building programme should be linked to those earning average incomes. In addition she stated the Council should be considering at what density the Council should build at in different parts of the borough and consider its policy on the use of commuted sums.
Duncan Bowie, Senior Lecturer at the University of Westminster, asked whether LBTH Council knew how much land it owns which can be used without demolishing current housing stock, what extent TH was prepared to waive maximum receipts. He went on to ask whether LBTH was looking at deferred payments re-City Hall – as when the value goes up TH will get the back, and whether TH was working with other London Boroughs (LBs). Duncan Bowie ended by saying land disposal strategy & planning has to be part of a package.
Sarah Sackman asked how much land TH has for development with other LB/institutions – how land assembly fits into it – and is there an assessment of the associated costs and whether the Council would use its CPO powers. She also asked how much of land is ready to use and develop as of now, whether TH was investigating re-development of existing stock, and regarding land evaluation, whether TH was doing it off own back or selling market values for land.
Alastair Baird, Regional Director of Barratt Homes, stated LBTH needed clarity and should look at other Government bodies. He added that due to the direction of TH – one site doesn’t fit all, so the Council needed to look at what Government land holdings were in the Borough. He also suggested the Council would need to be careful as it builds it development role and that the current market conditions were a minefield and would be a steep learning curve.
Dan Hopewell, Director of Strategy at the Bromley by Bow Centre, highlighted that given the need in TH for housing, it was important to look at what other neighbouring authorities were doing. He added that some properties were under occupied in TH and that it can be more effective to encourage people to downsize as they get older and their housing needs change.
Mayor Biggs stated whilst the previous administration had delivered a considerable volume of affordable housing stock; his concern was that it was not accessible to many people on low incomes The Mayor told the Commission that the Council needed to look at partnerships with developers, and TH are in the process of looking at buying back council properties which were previously sold.
The Mayor said another option was to look longer term, and to rehouse older people who now have different housing needs compared to previous years, particularly if people are living in properties with spare bedrooms. Mayor Biggs informed the Commission that there was some new affordable rent properties were one or two bedrooms cost more to rent than those homes with three or four bedrooms.
Cllr Siraj Islam suggested that the Council should consider setting up its own construction company which could provide a lower cost solution to development.