2 responses from Mr Tony Whittaker, Cumbria Affordable Housing Group
1. Mr Tony Whittaker, Cumbria Affordable Housing Group : 7 Jul 2008 10:18:00
Please write your comment or explain your reasons for supporting or opposing this part of the Report. You may also wish to refer to the tests of soundess in the glossary of the Preferred Options document before making your comments.
South Lakeland LDF Core Strategy· Policy PO2 supported.· Policy PO4 supported with the exception that the Group supports increasing the thresholds for sites of 4 – 9 units where evidence supports this.· The Group were supportive of the proposal by Tony Whittaker to include the policy of allocating some sites for 100% affordable housing as per PPS3. · AM to take all the above on board as part of the consultation process.
2. Mr Tony Whittaker, Cumbria Affordable Housing Group : 18 Dec 2008 16:15:00
At last week's Cumbria Affordable Housing Group, a sub-group of the Cumbria Housing Group, the issue of intermediate renting was discussed. Intermediate renting is the provision of rented accommodation at sub-market rents, as such it falls within the definition of affordable housing as stated in PPS3. In order to meet the full extent of affordable housing needs within each planning authority the Group believes it is important that planning policies allow for such housing to be provided. In order to identify the need for such accommodation locally the Cumbria Rural Housing Trust has been asked to show this in its future parish surveys.
The Group was supportive of the Homes & Communities Agency's (formally Housing Corporation) models of intermediate renting:
Ongoing intermediate renting - rent set at 80% of the market rent in perpetuity
Rent to Buy - rent set at 80% of market rent for a maximum of 3 years, the home is then sold on a shared ownership basis
The market rent is agreed by the planning authority upon receipt of a valuation from an independent chartered surveyor.
Whilst the Group felt that current policies may allow for such provision it was felt that policy documents show make this clear otherwise such housing is unlikely to come forward.
Finally, the Group wished to make clear that this should not be a means for developers to provide affordable housing which is more financially favourable to them, rather it should be used to help meet the wider spectrum of affordable needs from social rent to intermediate rent to intermediate sale in accordance with local evidence.
I believe SLDC is the only planning authority in Cumbria that has made specific mention of intermediate renting (within IPATH). What the Group is suggesting is that rather than use the specific rent figures in the Companion Guide we use the HCA's model of 80% of market rent. This makes things much clearer for everyone. The second model is one that SLDC has recently agreed to as a deed of variation for the Boon Town, Burton scheme. It is a useful policy in times of a recession (such as now!) as it enables someone who wants to buy, but cannot currently do so due to the credit crunch, to rent for a limited period whilst the market recovers and they are able to buy in the future.
I assume that you will not want to incorporate these changes into the IPATH guidance as this has only recently been changed but I would like to see this included as part of the LDF. Please let me have your views (received 18th dec 08)
What change(s) would you suggest for this part of the Report?
altering the approach to affordable rents, to be 80% of market rent , rather than rents set out as in IPATH