South West Housing Initiative

SOUTH WEST ECONOMY AT RISK FROM HOUSING CRISIS

First ever regional Housing Summit highlights solutions

Homes in the South West cost nearly 12 times annual average earnings in the region – making the region‘s housing the least affordable in Britain.
This was just one of the startling facts quoted at the first-ever South West Housing Summit in Exeter, organized by the South West Housing Initiative (SWHI) – the region‘s unique partnership of house builders, housing associations, housing professions, and employers.
The summit heard that 10% of the most deprived areas in the country can be found in Bristol, Plymouth and Torbay – while Penzance has more than half its population living in areas that are among the 20% most deprived in England.
The day-long event was attended by MPs, housing developers, regional business leaders and councillors and officers representing a third of the South West‘s local authorities.
Highlighting the acute crisis in small villages, Matthew Taylor, MP for Truro and St Austell, asked whether it was time to accept that small villages are not living, working places but where people retire to and commute.
Mr Taylor, who conducted a review for Prime Minister Gordon Brown on how land use and planning can better support rural business and deliver affordable housing, warned: “We must not price out people who work in the country or we will end up with a world in which the well off live in the country and commute to the towns while the lower paid are forced to live where property is more affordable in the towns and cities.”
“Young families can no longer afford to live in villages and this is leading to the closure of rural schools, post offices and pubs.”
Mr Taylor said he had met farmers who can no longer raise livestock because no one is available to do the work.
The only way to solve this, he declared, is by creating more affordable housing.
This would require changing the mindset of people who oppose the further growth of villages because otherwise many rural communities will become unsustainable.
“We have to deliver housing that meets the needs of people who work there on rural wages – typically that is 20% below the national average,” said Mr Taylor.
Local communities needed to be empowered to deliver affordable housing – not just local councils but the community wanting to keep open schools, pubs and shops.
While people might be opposed to large-scale development, they might quite like to see the allocation of half an acre for affordable terraced housing where the lower paid could live and do the less well paid jobs locally.
There are, he said, various mechanisms that can achieve this – such as through community land trusts, partnering housing trusts - even donation of a building plot by a local landowner.
A lot of people could afford the bricks and mortar but not the site, he said, so perhaps leaseholds might be a solution since ground rent for a farmer could well provide as much income as he would get from growing crops on the equivalent amount of land.
He added that there are not many votes for development in more urban areas – nobody wants a big housing development at the bottom of their garden but it could be made to work with the right vision in the context of the garden suburbs of the past.
Building with community engagement could help to deliver the numbers needed where they are needed more cheaply and in a far more sustainable way.
Later the summit learned of just such a project in East Portlemouth, Devon. The average price of a home in the community, which lies just across the water from the sailing resort of Salcombe, is well in excess of £1 million – well out of reach of local people.
Parish council chair Lindsey Lindley said it was either rural idyll or rural nightmare. “We have a population of 70 and no official housing allocation because we are not big enough to be a village.
“People are forced to move away because they cannot find anywhere to live.”
She described how locals had formed a charity with the aim of increasing the stock of low cost rental homes.
A wealthy resident agreed to donate four properties and a plot of land worth £2 million at market prices. Despite opposition from local planners – and some residents - elected district councillors approved the construction of six houses. They are still being built but later this year will provide homes for six families with a total of 14 children.
No public investment had been involved – the community had financed its own solution, Ms Lindley asserted.
MP John Howell, Tory front bench planning and local government spokesman, told the summit that England‘s planning system has too many one-size-fits-all policies.
“People feel they have no say in the development of their local areas,” he said.
Power over planning had moved to central government and the present planning system was wholly negative and adversarial.
He proposed three drivers for reform:
1.    Make the system cheaper and simpler;
2.    Rebalance decision-making to restore democracy and local control;
3.    Give more emphasis to sustainable development.
Referring to the imminent release of a Tory Green Paper on the issue, he said piecemeal tinkering would not fix the system and the fundamental failure of local planning.
He advocated a key role for housing trusts and giving local communities the right and power to develop in their own interests. There was, he said, a need to walk a path between democracy and localism.
Councillor Barbara Janke, leader of Bristol City Council and chair of the South West Housing and Regeneration Board, said the South West is the only region where house prices are higher and income is lower than nationally.
There are 160,000 households on social housing waiting lists across the South West equating to one in 14 households.
She said this underlined the need to build more homes and make the best use of existing housing stock while working jointly with private, voluntary and the not-for-profit sectors.
Robert Napier, chair of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), said: “I know how strong the feeling is that together we don‘t just build houses . . . we create places where people want to live and where there is work.
“We also want to build places and houses fit for the next 50 years or longer. That means a low carbon footprint and good space standards – quality places.”
HCA regional director Colin Molton said the total number of affordable homes needed in the South West is over 10,000 a year.
He said HCA‘s priority is to create quality sustainable communities in priority areas supporting economic growth and reducing disparities.
“We will only succeed if all the partners work together to achieve our objectives,” he said.
Thoss Shearer, deputy regional director of Regional Strategies, Housing and Planning, said a regional economic task group had been set up by South West regional minister Jim Knight to mitigate the effects of the recession and ensure the region plans effectively for recovery.
Speaking for Mr Knight, who had hoped to attend the summit himself, Mr Shearer said the government had increased the region‘s current affordable housing programme by nearly £100 million.
It had also unblocked 37 schemes providing a total of more than 4,000 homes and secured funding for seven local authorities in the region to build new homes.
Stuart Whitfield, chair of CBI South West, said: “We believe that if the South West is to participate fully in recovery from the recession we need to up our rate of new housebuilding to support our labour market and to give our companies the employees they need to grow in the region.
“The CBI sees the supply of housing as one of the key planks of local economies and it is for this reason that we have supported the South West Housing Initiative since its inception.”
He said a key issue was to tackle the affordability situation in the region – and house building could play an important role in kick starting economic recovery.
Housing and management consultant Richard Kitson, chairman of SWHI, said: “We are the only region in England where house prices are above the national average but incomes are lower. Not surprisingly, housing waiting lists have increased by nearly 50% in five years.
“So clearly there is a need but convincing local people that we have to provide the homes remains a challenge.
“We owe it to those people who do not have a suitable roof over their head to do this; and we owe it to all those who already have a home and enjoy the South West to retain its natural attractiveness but also to make sure that the economy can thrive.”
Steve Anderson-Dixon, managing director of regional newspaper group Northcliffe Media South West and Wales, described himself as a reformed Nimby. He said that he had once opposed the construction of a small housing estate in the village where he lived but had later helped his daughter to buy a house on that same development. It helped him to see, in particular, the need for low-cost housing in villages.
Speaking as an employer of more than 2,000 people, he wants to retain talented people and it is important, therefore, that they can find homes they can afford. His group supports solutions to the region‘s housing problems – depopulating villages would lead to lower newspaper circulations and lower advertising revenue.
Martin Willey, co-ordinator of the South West Housing Initiative, said its activities are as much about the health of the economy as about housing.
He said a study had shown that it was a myth that shared ownership – a method whereby low income people can get on the housing ladder – is high risk from the lender‘s perspective.
And yet the risk factor was often quoted by lenders turning down mortgage requests for such schemes.
He said it was important to raise awareness of the need for low cost housing by briefing individual or groups of councils.
SWHI ACCOLADES
The Housing Summit also focused on the importance of recognizing achievements already being made by the region‘s support bodies and housing deliverers – with the introduction of SWHI Accolades, each of which was sponsored and selected by a major organisation .
The Accolades, sponsors, and recipients included:
1. Delivering green infrastructure through “joined-up” government.

Natural England presented the Accolade to Plymouth City Council and its many organizational partners, including Primary Care Trusts, education authorities, the Environment Agency, etc in delivering a series of projects to improve health through providing green infrastructure (eg, open space, walkways, sports facilities, and teaching inititiavives).

2. Successful partnership between a house-builder and housing associations.

The National Housing Federation (NHF) presented the Accolade to Mi-Space, a specialist business within the Midas Group, for work with Magna Housing Association and Flourish Homes to delivery sustainable communities with a wide mix of different types of well designed housing.

3. Parish councils delivering affordable homes for local workers
The Improvement & Development Agency for local Government (IDEA) presented the Accolade to East Portlemouth Parish Council for a community initiative that is delivering affordable homes in a locality where market-prices average more than £1million.
4. Good practice in submitting planning applications for affordable housing
The Planning Advisory Service presented the Accolade to South Somerset District Council, which has demonstrated how a council can deliver good housing results in reasonable time and with community support.
5. Planning for the future
The Planning Inspectorate presented this Accolade to South Hams District Council for delivering one of the South West‘s first and best Local Development Frameworks – the key to identifying where new and affordable housing will be provided.
6. Achievement of the Chartered Institute of Housing‘s South West pledges
The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) presented this Accolade to West Country Housing for their South West Homes initiative, the body selected to deliver a wide range of Government “Home Buy” programmes, to help deliver affordable homes in the South West.
7. Engaging residents in delivering balanced and sustainable communities
South West Councils presented this Accolade to Bristol City Council for its Lockleaze project that successfully engaged the local community in delivery planning and housing solutions in preparation for an upturn in the economy.
8. Integrated public investment in infrastructure
The Royal Town Planning Institute SW presented this Accolade to South West Councils, Arup, and DTZ for the creation of a formula to co-ordinate all public sector infrastructure capital investment to deliver housing.

Ends 18th January 2010

Further information:
Richard Kitson (SWHI Chairman): 07889-755639
Martin Willey (SWHI Co-ordinator): 07836-315896

NOTES TO EDITORS:
• The South West Housing Initiative (SWHI) is a unique voluntary partnership of home builders, housing associations, housing related professions, employers and employees formed to encourage and support practical and sustainable solutions to the region‘s housing shortage.
• We all recognise that good quality homes and a balance of market and affordable, owned and rented, are important if we are to maintain vibrant local and regional economies.
• SWHI believes that it is vital that new homes should be well designed and environmentally sustainable and provided in carefully designed neighbourhoods.
• SWHI partners include regional representatives of:
1. The Home Builders Federation (HBF);
2. The National Housing Federation (NHF);
3. The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH);
4. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI);
5. The Trades Union Congress (TUC);
6. Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI);
7. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS);
8. The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA);
9. The Law Society;
10. Shelter.
• Video interviews with the main speakers will be posted on the SWHI Housing Summit website: : http://southwesthousing.co.uk/summit/summit-info.html
• Each of the SWHI Accolades (summarised above) represents a strong local news story;
• Sponsors for the Housing Summit were:
o Clarke Willmott, national law firm
o Homes & Communities Agency
o South West Councils.