Agenda item

C Blackburn introduced a paper to provide the Board with an update on strategic housing issues in South Yorkshire and to discuss potential future collaborative priority actions.

Members were reminded that a Housing Review was undertaken by the consultant ResPublica in 2020, and the draft recommendations were considered by the Board in October 2020. 

The review had identified a range of strategic housing issues in South Yorkshire, which still remain relevant today and were captured broadly under the six key headings:

·        Place-making

·        Densification

·        Affordability

·        Quality of Homes

·        Housing Retrofit

·        Innovative Finance Mechanisms

Although the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted on delivery over the previous 18 months, progress had been made in several areas, with opportunities to explore further collaboration on key strategic housing issues.

The views of the Board were invited on priorities for potential future collaborative action.

Key points arising from Members’ questions and discussion are summarised below:

·        The Board welcomed the opportunities to collaborate but queried if the correct level of resources were currently available to support the delivery of housing and related place priorities. 

·        The housing industry were currently awaiting the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) to be updated and were also awaiting changes to Part L and Part F of the Building Regulations for new dwellings. 

·         In relation to the Future Homes Standards: changes to Part L, it was understood that, once the changes were implemented, there could be increased costs to build new homes of between £4-10k per home (depending on the size of house being built).  It was felt that this would have an impact on land value, future land viability and possibly affect the number of affordable homes being available. 

In response, B Guthrie said that it may be beneficial for the Board to task the local authority Heads of Planning to look at possible solutions and provide a report back to the Board. 

In response B Guthrie suggested that standardisation of arrangements (for example, standard forms of leasing, disposal routes etc.) may need to be developed in South Yorkshire in order to give developers, house builders and housing associations, the comfort that, if they develop in South Yorkshire, then there are not widely different sets of arrangements across the region.

C Moore added that, in relation to land values, the changes may allow for different ways of working.  He suggested that there could be an opportunity for developers, land owners and builders to work in partnership with local authorities to mitigate risks. 

·         It was queried if the Housing Retrofit heading should be replaced with the heading of ‘Sustainability of Housing’. 

·         It was proposed that there should be a refresh of the Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) in South Yorkshire work and a policy developed around addressing the poor standards of housing stock in South Yorkshire, and there was support for the proposal to review the South Yorkshire Residential Design Guide.

·         It was suggested that an MCA led Team should be established to lead on net zero and to develop a consistent approach in relation to sustainability. 

·         The Board requested that a housing Framework be developed to help identify the collective actions to be undertaken to address the strategic housing issues, including showing the interrelationships and resource needs. 

RESOLVED – That the Board

i)               noted and commented on the strategic housing issues in South Yorkshire and ongoing and emerging collaborative work in these areas.

ii)              Requested a Housing Framework be prepared to set out the collaborative actions to address Strategic Housing issues.