6.1 Question 1 from Cllr Hannell to Cllr Wilkie
What percentage of the total housing being proposed to be built across Dacorum will be Council owned “social” housing?
Minutes:
Cllr Hannell asked Cllr Wilkie what percentage of social housing proposed to be built across Dacorum will be council-owned social housing.
Cllr Wilkie thanked Cllr Hannell for the question. Cllr Wilkie noted that the administration has brought this up a number of times and commented that whilst the local plan and affordable housing comes under her portfolio, social housing comes under Cllr Dhyani's portfolio. Cllr Wilkie confirmed that she would provide an additional response and that any supplementary questions would be answered by Cllr Dhyani.
Cllr Hannell advised that he had not asked a particular individual to answer the question.
Cllr Wilkie advised that the starting point to seeking affordable housing on a development site is the council's adopted planning policies and, in most cases, this is 35% of new units being proposed on sites of 10 units or more in urban areas and 5 dwellings or more in rural areas. Cllr Wilkie referred members to the Affordable Housing Supplementary Planning Document 2023, Affordable Housing 2013 and the subsequent Affordable Housing SPT clarification note from 2022. Cllr Wilkie explained that future social housing needs will be addressed through the new local plan, underpinned by the most recent evidence, and the national planning policy framework defines social housing within the wider definition of affordable housing, representing a starting point for which future applications will be determined until the new local plan is adopted in due course. Whilst an extremely important consideration, the delivery of social housing needs to be considered with all other issues.
Cllr Hannell asked if the administration will commit to holding developers to account over social housing numbers and not allow them to renege on their commitment to complete the building of genuinely affordable housing across the borough.
Cllr Wilkie advised that the provision of affordable housing is a high priority and that exact numbers on each site will depend on proposals during the planning application stage for each site. Where a developer seeks to provide fewer affordable homes against the council policy, this will need to be justified through a viability assessment. There may be occasions where other considerations, such as a specific infrastructure taking precedence, including a developer offering to buy a residence for assisted living rather than social housing, which falls under affordable housing.
Cllr Hannell asked if it was agreed that the current administration will silence a number of objections that residents have with the amount of house building proposed if they provide a large number of genuinely affordable homes with a local connection qualification criteria that will allow their children and grandchildren to remain in Dacorum.
Cllr Wilkie commented that the question was regarding whether social housing numbers would be given in advance.
Cllr Hannell responded that he was under the impression that he could be nimble with his supplementary questions.
The Chair agreed, stating that only the first written question needs to be pre-stated.
Cllr Wilkie asked Cllr Hannell to repeat his question.
Cllr Hannell asked if the current administration would silence a substantial number of the objections constituents have with the amount of house building proposed if they provided a large number of genuinely affordable homes with a local connection qualification criteria that will allow their children and grandchildren to be able to stay in Dacorum.
Cllr Wilkie agreed that there is a strong argument for the points made in terms of allowing a larger number of affordable homes and that the local connection is already established in local housing. Cllr Wilkie commented that they could look at how to progress matters to ensure that local people benefit from the social housing being built.