Agenda item

The Chief Executive presented the Worcestershire Housing Strategy 2023 – 2040. 

The Executive Committee was advised that the strategy had been commissioned by Worcestershire Leaders’ Board in 2021 and had involved partner organisations working together.  As part of the process, there had been a lot of consultation held with local stakeholders from the public, private and voluntary sectors.  The strategy was designed to provide a good evidence basis for addressing housing issues at a local level.  Redditch Borough Council, like other District Councils in Worcestershire, would develop a bespoke action plan for the Borough which would address specific local housing needs.  Reference was made in the report to homelessness but Members were asked to note that a detailed Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy had already been approved by Councils in Worcestershire, including Redditch Borough Council.

Following the presentation of the report, Members discussed the content of the strategy in detail and in doing so raised a number of points:

·             The importance of housing to a range of issues impacting on residents, including health and well being and the local economy.

·             The challenges in respect of housing provision locally, regionally and nationally and the action that could be taken by the Council in this context.

·             The need for joined up thinking and for partner organisations to work together to ensure that good quality homes were available to meet the needs of local residents.

·             The potential for the Council to learn from other district authorities when drafting the bespoke action plan for Redditch.

·             The level of commitment from partner organisations to delivering the vision detailed in the Worcestershire Housing Strategy and the need for organisations to recognise the value of housing in terms of helping to take preventative action in respect of poor health and other factors that impacted on people’s lives.

·             The impact of the cost of living crisis on the extent to which partner organisations would recognise the importance of housing to local communities.

·             The levels of deprivation in Redditch compared to other parts of Worcestershire and the impact that poor quality housing could have on deprived communities.

·             The role of Redditch Borough Council has a social housing provider and the demand locally for Council houses.

·             The extent to which public consultation would be undertaken with respect to the Redditch action plan and the forms of consultation that might be utilised.

·             The financial costs involved in retrofitting existing houses and the point at which it would be more cost effective to build new homes to replace existing buildings.

·             The extent to which owner occupiers would be eligible to apply for grant funding to help with retrofitting their properties.

·             The grant funding available from the Government for the decarbonisation of properties and the likely level of demand for this funding for properties in the Borough.  Officers explained that bids would need to be submitted and there was likely to be a lot of demand for this funding in relation to social housing units.

·             The role of the local MP for Redditch as Minister of State for Housing and Planning and forthcoming meetings between the MP and Council Officers to discuss the funding available for retrofitting properties.

·             The extent to which bids for grant funding would be means tested.

·             The availability of skilled tradespersons across the country to deliver the retrofitting work that would be required once grant funding had been allocated.

·             The potential for Act on Energy to provide useful advice to the Council in respect of retrofitting properties moving forward.

·             The need to educate residents in respect of how to best manage their homes in order to minimise the potential for problems to occur with issues such as damp.

During consideration of this item, reference was made to a recommendation on the subject of the Worcestershire Housing Strategy that had been made at a meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 20^th July 2023.  Members noted that this recommendation related specifically to the second recommendation in the report on the subject of the bespoke housing action plan for Redditch.  The Committee had been keen to ensure that it was noted by the Executive Committee that the plans could be extended to other tenures and would not just apply in respect of the Council’s housing stock.  Officers had confirmed during the meeting that this would be addressed in the Redditch action plan.

Members commented that the recommendation referred to retrofitting for homeowners.  Specific concerns were raised about the particular circumstances of owner occupiers and the potential for their needs to be addressed in the Redditch action plan.  In this context, Members concurred that they would be happy to endorse the recommendation from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee subject to the reference to homeowners being updated to refer to owner occupiers.

The Committee was advised that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had also considered making a recommendation on enhancing the Council’s housing stock as quality homes.  However, no recommendation had been made on this subject as Members had been advised that this would already be covered as part of work on the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Capital Programme.

RECOMMENDED that

1)          the Worcestershire Housing Strategy 2023 – 2040 be adopted;

2)          Officers be asked to develop a Borough Level Action Plan with consideration given to the proposals in this Strategy; and

3)          the Action Plan should include what support will be available for owner occupiers to retrofit their own property taking into account the Cost of Living Crisis.