A Henry Stewart Detailed Briefing on

Agreements to Provide Affordable Housing

The Details of the Agreements

 

Chairman:

John Cross, Chief Executive, BPHA

Speakers:

Chris Baldwin, Partner, Drivers Jonas
Ed Barnes, Partnership Director, McCann Homes
Peter Bishop, Director of Environment, London Borough of Camden
Lynne Croker, Development Manager, East Hampshire District Council
Chris Marsh, Sustainable Property Consultancy
Christopher Proudley, Partner, Trowers and Hamlins
Ingrid Reynolds, Group Director of Property and New Business, Notting Hill Housing Group
Richard Tilley, Director, CgMs LtdProgramme

WHAT IS GOING ON BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE LOCAL AUTHORITY
• The politics of housing need
• Housing targets and their impact on planning policy
• How policy develops
• Policy trade offs between affordable housing and other benefits
• How negotiations work - Officer/Councillor relationships and processes

HOW INDEPENDENT CAN THE PLANNING COMMITTEE BE? WHAT CONSTRAINS ITS DECISIONS?
• Who are the Planning Committee? Who are they governed by?
• What weighs with the Planning Committee?
• What happens in the run up to the Planning Committee? What constrains its decisions?
• What applications do the Planning Committee deal with?
• Procedural requirements
• What happens after the Planning Committee?

THE ROLE OF THE INDEPENDENT ASSESSOR: WHAT THE ASSESSOR DOES AND HOW HE/SHE ASSESSES DEVELOPERS’ PROFITS (THE GLA TOOLKIT)
• Background and rationale
• Protocols and procedures – the GLA Toolkit
• Dealing with Affordable Housing and planning obligations
• Issues and outcomes

WHAT DOES THE LAW HAVE TO SAY ON WHAT THE DECIDERS CAN DECIDE AND HOW THEY MUST MAKE THE DECISIONS
• County Councils preparing Structure Plans will be replaced by Regional Planning Bodies producing Regional Spatal Strategies and Local Planning Authorities will produce Local Development Frameworks rather than UDPs and Local Plans. Draft Guidance in the form of PPS 11 & 12 will give advice as to how this is to be taken forward. How this will differ from the existing position and how it will affect the provision of affordable housing
• Administrative changes designed to facilitate the obtaining of planning permission will be discussed
• The grounds for compulsory purchase of land under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 have been extended: implications for development and, in particular, the provision of affordable housing
• The framework for allowing developers to make planning contributions rather than enter into planning obligations has been set up by the Act: currently, the subject of consultation, it is not clear exactly how the provisions of the Act will be interpreted in respect of the provision of affordable housing. Potentially, this is a revolutionary change

WHO SAYS WHAT THE DEMAND IS AND WHERE IT IS AND WHO BELIEVES/ CHALLENGES THE INFORMATION
Developer’s Perspective
• Segmentation in the housing markets – needs (for whom), demands (size), expectations and wants – the customer driven experience
• National, Regional and Local Government involvement in the housing markets – shaping provision through Regional Spatial Strategies, Housing Boards and the Communities Plan
• Wants and needs of Housing Associations in the housing markets. Are their needs any different from those of the purchaser of a ‘market-sale’ home?
How Housing Associations’ needs affect their demand for more affordable housing to be provided. Pepperpotting
Local Authority Perspective
• District-Wide Housing Needs Surveys (sampled)
• Surveys in small site settlements (The Rural Housing Enabler)
• A common housing register and choice-based lettings schemes
• Developing parish profiles
• Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA): Balancing Housing Markets, housing market assessments
• Who believes and who challenges the information?
• the wider community
• members and Parish/Town Councils
• private developers and housebuilders

HOW PRIVATE SECTOR ACCESS TO SOCIAL HOUSING GRANTS CHANGES MUCH OF THE THINKING
• What is the current position for developers in relation to the development of affordable
housing?
• How is the Government's thinking currently changing?
• What is proposed?
• How will RSLs react?
• What difference will it make?
• Will housebuilders/developers be rushing to become RSLs?
• Will more affordable housing be built as a result?

NEGOTIATING AFFORDABLE HOUSING DEALS
• Assessing housing needs studies
• Interpreting national/local policies
• Off site provision and commuted payments
• Types of affordable housing
• Discussions with the planning and housing offices
• Providing briefing material for the planning committee
• Tying up the S106 Agreement

WHAT ARE HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS DOING IN THE EQUATION – WHAT DO THEY WANT? WHY DO THEY WANT IT?
• Which housing association should you work with?
• Balancing numbers, price and quality – the policy and funding drivers for housing associations
• What can housing associations afford to pay for affordable housing and how soon?
• What quality and standards are required and why?
• What about mix and tenure and integrating tenures in schemes?
• How will properties be managed and how will services be paid for?
• Will housing associations share risk/add value to a scheme?
• Case studies:
• Adastral Village South, Barnet – an example of partnership between housing association and housebuilder
• Salamanca Place, Lambeth – an example of a S106 scheme density environment

HOW ARE DEVELOPERS WORKING WITH HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS AND WHAT ARE THEY LEARNING FROM THE EXPERIENCE
• How to work successfully in partnership with Housing Associations to deliver the right product and the cost in the right location
• How can the market-sale sector learn from the Housing Association sector and vice versa

REAL WORLD CASE STUDIES ANALYSED THROUGHOUT THE DAY – WHAT HAPPENED AND WHY IT HAPPENED IN THE WAY IT DID
Peter Bishop, Director of Environment, London Borough of Camden
Lynne Croker, Development Manager, East Hampshire District Council
Christopher Proudley, Partner, Trowers and Hamlins
Ingrid Reynolds, Group Director of Property and New Business, Notting Hill Housing Group