Issue - meetings

The Executive Member for Neighbourhoods presented the recommendation which was referred to in the Executive report of 22 November 2022 regarding the adoption of a Technical Guidance Note.

Councillor P Boylan proposed that the recommendation in the report be supported.

Councillor B Deering seconded the proposal.

Councillor Deering said that the Council was one of the highest providers of affordable housing in the county and took the provision of affordable housing very seriously. 

Councillor Goldspink said that the Liberal Democrat Group was happy to support the recommendation.  She added that it was unfortunate that decisions appeared to be taken by developers in terms of whether they might want to use this scheme in terms of providing affordable homes. 

Councillor Redfern added her grateful thanks to officers and supported the comments made by Councillor Goldspink.

The motion to support the recommendation having been proposed and seconded was put to the meeting and upon a vote being taken, was declared CARRIED.

          RESOLVED – that the First Homes         Technical Advice Note be approved.

The Executive Member for Neighbourhoods presented the First Homes Technical Guidance Note report. He said that First Homes were a new affordable housing product where developers provided homes to buy at a discount. He said that the council’s Housing Strategy included a range of low cost home ownership options but Officer analysis had suggested that the First Homes product would be ill suited to the housing market in East Herts.

Councillor Boylan said that paragraph 3.4 in the report highlighted that shared ownership was more affordable to residents in East Herts than First Homes. He said that the proposed technical note recommended that First Homes were not used but as they were a nationally recognised scheme, the council could not prohibit their development.

Councillor Buckmaster said it was helpful to have the conditions in place should a developer approach the council to provide First Homes.

Councillor Boylan proposed, and Councillor Goodeve seconded a motion supporting the recommendation in the report. On being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – To recommend to Council that the First Homes Technical Advice Note be approved.

The Executive Member for Neighbourhoods submitted a report inviting the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to consider the proposed first homes technical advice note on the basis that this would form the basis of the council’s guidance to developers.

The Executive Member for Neighbourhoods said that first homes were a new form of low-cost home ownership which would see a developer provide a number of homes to buy at a discount of between 30 to 50% of market price. He said that each local authority would determine the size of the discount to be applied in their area.

The Executive Member for Neighbourhoods said that Officers had conducted analyses that had indicated that the first homes product was not well suited to the East Herts housing market and section three of the report explained this in more detail. He stated that the table at paragraph 3.4 highlighted that the shared ownership home would be affordable for more working households in the District than a first home.

The Executive Member for Neighbourhoods explained that it was anticipated that the subsidy required by a developer to devote to providing first homes would reduce their ability to provide many or possibly any other affordable housing and would make the inclusion of social rent homes all but impossible.

The Executive Member for Neighbourhoods said that the Council could not prohibit a developer from providing first homes as this was a nationally recognised affordable tenure. He directed Members to paragraph 2.5 for the proposed criteria for first homes and he invited the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to consider and endorse the proposed first homes technical advice note for presentation to the Executive.

Councillor Goldspink stated that, in relation to the new homes and providing housing for sale at a reduced cost, the report says that Officers do not recommend this option but that developers can provide them if they want to. She asked how developers could make decisions about social housing and where they were built.

The Executive Member for Neighbourhoods said that the majority of new affordable housing in East Herts was provided on private developer sites and in these instances the developer proposed what affordable homes were provided and where they should be in a development. Officers would negotiate with the developer to ensure that the proposals were compliant with the Council’s District Plan, notably that 40% of the homes were affordable with 75% of these being for affordable rent and the remaining 25 % being for shared ownership.

The Executive Member for Neighbourhoods said that the proposed first homes technical advice note sought to strengthen the council’s position when negotiating with developers about the inclusion of first homes. Councillor Goldspink expressed concerns about the developers making decisions about the provision of first homes. She said that the first homes policy statement was the best that could be achieved. Councillor Goldspink expressed her hope that ways could be found for the council to have more control.

Councillor Snowdon said that he was supportive  ...  view the full minutes text for item 144