Quality of Place

Environmental Network

 

As pressure mounts on eco-friendly services, retro-fitting of current accommodation and zero carbon developments the need for information and knowledge sharing on this agenda is becoming more important than ever. The NHC are in an excellent position to ensure that areas of good practice are disseminated effectively and that queries on this and related topics are dealt with efficiently.

 

In order to assist our members in improving their services in this area the NHC are setting up a new virtual network; this network will be for those involved in the environmental agenda or interested in discussing issues surrounding this topic. This network will also be consulted with over new procurement solutions which members may find useful in meeting new legislation and obligations, future events the NHC may run on this topic, giving members an opportunity to showcase some of their good work, and used as a sounding board to gather information for responses to Central Government or other related reviews.

 

If you are interested in joining this network please contact Anna Milner, Research and Intelligence Manager on anna.milner@northern-consortium.org.uk

 

IGP Land Project Update

Bringing forward land is at the heart of the effective delivery of affordable housing. Ensuring that a viable site, with planning permission in place, development vehicles lined up and with secured funding is a complex set of processes which can be fraught with tensions and barriers.

 

Our final report, funded by the Housing Corporation through its Innovation and Good Practice Grant, explores the means by which affordable housing delivery can be improved across the North through better management of our land resources. The report identifies ways that all agencies and organisations involved in the identification and delivery of land could ultimately increase delivery of suitable land and thereby increase the delivery of affordable housing across the North. The report will be published in April 2009.

 

The delivery of affordable housing can be a complex process, with many individual components at risk of falling down. However, land does hold a pivotal position in the delivery of housing as identified in the 2007 Housing Green Paper:

 

"A requisite for the faster delivery of more housing is more land, so that land availability is not a constraint on the delivery of more high quality homes. Local Councils therefore need to do more to bring forward suitable developable land for housing"

 

Government policy documents and various research studies - including this one - suggests it is not the availability of land that is acting as a constraint on delivery of affordable housing - rather it is the location, quality, developable nature of the land, associated costs that are contributing to the view that there is not enough suitable land available for housing.

 

The report explores key barriers facing the assembly or suitable housing and brings forward a host of recommendations to overcome these issues. The economic climate is having an impact on land valuations but also on delivery methodologies and vehicles - both of which are also addressed within the report.

 

If you have any queries, please email Charlotte Harrison or call her on 0191 5661034.

- Next Issue: June 2009 -

 

© Northern Housing Consortium, March 2009