Councils in the south east have failed to adopt a clear strategic approach to housing and are too inward looking when it comes to planning, despite rocketing demand.
That was the message from Hertfordshire county council assistant personnel director Carole Grimwood, addressing the south east housing conference organised by St Albans MP Kerry Pollard this week.

She also called on the government to act in cases where developers concentrated on building accommodation for key workers, instead of for all those who could not afford a home.

Hertfordshire was set to revise its affordable homes strategy following last year’s “disappointing” allocation of funding from the DTLR’s Starter Homes Initiative, she explained.

Grimwood complained that councils often had little information on the housing needs and aspirations of key workers in the area. The fact that essential staff were often employed across council boundaries brought further problems, she said.

But she added that Hertfordshire was concerned about land being sold solely for the purpose of housing key workers, to the detriment of social rented accommodation.

This would be difficult to resolve without government intervention, Grimwood explained.

“We are obliged to dispose of our properties at the highest bid to get our capital receipts. Without these receipts we would not be able to provide other much-needed public services,” she said. “This is something that needs to be resolved nationally.”

The issue of preference for key workers in housing developments recently emerged in St Albans, the conference venue.

Developer Laing Homes North Home Counties claimed a “landmark” victory after a planning appeal decision on a proposed key worker scheme found in its favour.

Laing had offered six key-worker homes on 20-year tenures on a development, but the council objected, claiming a priority need for affordable rented housing. However, planning inspector Jill Kingaby backed the developer (Housing Today, 28 March).

Source

Housing Today