Agenda item
SPOTLIGHT SESSION: CABINET MEMBER FOR STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT AND WASTE
The Committee will hear a presentation on this topic at the meeting.
Minutes:
The Committee heard a presentation from Councillor Rachel Blake, Lead Member for Strategic Development and Waste, on housing development and housing delivery vehicles. Councillor Blake began the presentation by listing key housing achievements 2017/18. These included:
· 148 new council homes delivered at Watts Grove and let at social rents and Tower Hamlets Living Rents
· Facilitated delivery of 3,326 affordable homes since April 2014
6,879 market (private) units completed since April 2014.
· New Build contract let for 5 infill sites.
· 132 homes purchased, 83 Poplar HARCA and 49 Council, using £13.8m spend of Right to Buy Receipts (RTB)
· Implementation of Affordability Commission recommendations, including new Rent Policy May 2017, introducing Tower Hamlets Living Rent aimed at households on median incomes
· 150 resident sign ups on new Self Build & Custom Build register, forum established
· New housing vehicles launched including Mulberry Housing Society and Seahorse Homes.
Councillor Blake then moved on to explain some of the risks:
· Financial restrictions – HRA borrowing cap, RTB receipts (30% cap and 3 year deadline)
· Brexit and ensuing challenges
· Reduced CIL & S106 income for infrastructure and sustainability of residential developments
· Availability of land and supporting funds
· The affordability of shared ownership schemes
The presentation concluded to state what could be done to mitigate the risks. This included:
· Positive planning – masterplan/development frameworks for growth areas
· Infrastructure provision to un-lock difficult sites
· Fast tracking schemes that meet the 35% affordable homes policy requirement.
· Implementing recommendations of the Fire Safety Scrutiny Review.
Questions from Members:
Members asked if there was an update on the Isle of Dogs and Poplar opportunity Framework. Councillor Blake explained to the Committee that this was a Greater London Authority policy to coordinate the planning and coordination of development on the island. It was noted that it was the first time that such a policy was being applied to a residential space.
When questioned whether the one thousand affordable homes would be delivered via a big scheme, Mark Baigent, Interim Head of Strategy, Sustainability and Housing Options, confirmed that the Council would be welcoming both large and small schemes. Councillor Blake said that the Council had drafted a programme of development so a number of sites have already been identified for development.
It was confirmed that Tower Hamlets Homes would be expected to manage new build affordable properties.
Members highlighted the importance of sufficient and innovative waste management as there had been issues reported in the borough about the difficulty of waste vehicles gaining access to new build properties.
Councillor Blake said that she was aware of the issue and would be eager to return to the Committee to discuss waste management at a later date.
Councillor John Pierce queried who was on the Mulberry Housing Society Board. It was confirmed that the membership of the board consisted of Ken Jones, who has had housing experience from Waltham Forest Council, Sayed Uddin from Deloitte, Ann Sutcliffe from Tower Hamlets Homes and Mark Baigent from Tower Hamlets Council.
The Committee requested to see a trajectory of development for Mulberry Housing, once it had been established, and invited the Chair of the organisation to speak at a future meeting of the Housing Scrutiny Committee, in order to engage with its work.
Action: Elizabeth Bailey, Senior Strategy, Policy and Performance Officer, to add update from Mulberry Housing Organisation Chair to the Forward Plan.
Members asked what the alternative options were in response to unaffordable shared ownership schemes. Councillor Blake said that the Council needed to make stronger arguments for sustainability with the providers of the schemes.
A query was raised on how to get community support for the infill approach. It was clarified that infill development is the process of developing vacant or under-used pockets of land within existing urban areas. It was suggested that some of the reasons why the community disliked infill development was because they felt no connection to the development and because of density implications. One solution was to adopt a local lettings approach in relation to infill.
In response to a question about large developments dominating areas with poor infrastructure, Councillor Blake confirmed that the Local Plan will be prescriptive on the scale of developments and will be working with neighbouring boroughs, such as Newham, to build infrastructure such as bridges connecting isolated developments to town centres.
Members expressed concern that ground floor commercial space on new developments often remained unoccupied for years. Councillor Blake confirmed that the Council would be willing to take a risk on businesses applying to occupy the space to ensure they are not left vacant for too long.
RESOLVED
To note the presentation from Councillor Blake housing development and housing delivery vehicles.