Our Corporate Plan Objective – Housing at the heart of a rebalanced country

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We’ve launched our ambitious, new corporate plan – it sets out how we’ll support you over the next three years to help you create better homes and places.

This new plan focusses on your unrivalled member experience, it outlines our influencing priorities for the next few years: meeting the net zero challenge and housing at the heart of a rebalanced country, and it highlights our plans to provide the best services to support you now and into the future.

One of the objectives within our corporate plan states ‘we’ll work with NHC members to ensure that housing’s vital contribution is recognised and valued; and to secure the policy and resources necessary to make rebalancing a reality for people and places across the North.’

Within this objective we cover six ambitions which ensures housing is put at the heart of the governments rebalancing agenda.

 

Ambition 1: Ensure that the contributions NHC members make to a range of ‘levelling-up’ missions, particularly to employment and health, are recognised.

As part of the governments levelling up agenda there are four missions:

  • Boost productivity, pay, jobs and living standards by growing the private sector, especially in those places where they are lagging;
  • Spread opportunities and improve public services, especially in those places where they are weakest;
  • Restore a sense of community, local pride and belonging, especially in those places where they have been lost; and
  • Empower local leaders and communities, especially in those places lacking local agency.

We will map activity against the levelling-up missions ensuring our member contributions are recognised, particularly in the area of employment and health. We’ll kick this off at our Levelling Up Conference: Housing at the Heart of a Rebalanced Country which takes place on 14th July in Leeds. We’ll be bringing together key stakeholders to define the debate on how best to achieve place-based regeneration. We will discuss and share knowledge, and good practice in place-based working and develop the frameworks needed to maximise housing’s role in partnership with others. Our aim is to build an understanding of the contribution housing providers can make to the rebalancing agenda. Through this we can ensure that the great work of our members is recognised. Book your free place at the conference here.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Housing in the North have decided to use their meetings in 2022/23 to consider the role of housing in levelling-up. The NHC, as secretariat to the APPG, will be working with the Group’s officers to facilitate this. Look out for updates on our website.

Any member organisations who are running projects which deliver against the missions of the Levelling Up White Paper, particularly on the Missions related to health, wellbeing, employment and pride of place are invited to get in touch to share the details with the NHC.

 

Ambition 2: Continue to make the case that greater capacity is required in northern local authorities if we are to make rebalancing a reality.

The average net spend on housing in Northern councils has fallen by 54% since 2010/11, impacting on housing strategy, private sector housing renewal, homelessness and housing advice, and housing-related support services. The average net spend on planning in Northern councils has fallen by 65% since 2010/11, and this has impacted the development of local plans, planning policy, development and building control, environmental initiatives, and business, economic and community development activity.

We will continue to evidence current housing and planning capacity through this year’s Northern Housing Monitor – our ‘state of the region’ report for housing in the North.  We will evidence as far as possible the current level of capacity in housing and planning teams, and we’ll collect evidence on the roles required in housing and planning to deliver new services.

One of the opportunities to boost capacity includes the Public Practice model. Public Practice is a social enterprise with a mission to build the public sector’s capacity to improve the quality, equality and sustainability of places. The model brings diverse skills from the private sector through its Associate Placement Programme to attract, talented, motivated and experienced built environment practitioners – Associates – who want to work within the public sector.  The NHC championed their programme earlier this year and were delighted they have chosen to expand services into the North.

For the planning aspects of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, we will hold a consultation event on the aspects that the government will be consulting on including the proposed infrastructure levy. This will be a similar format to the consultation event held on the Planning for the Future White Paper in October 2020 working with supporter member Ward Hadaway.

 

Ambition 3: Contribute to the development and delivery of an updated Decent Homes Standard; improving housing quality across the North.

We plan to build on our compelling and robust evidence base on the quality of the North’s existing homes, ensuring that the Levelling-Up White Paper’s mission to improve housing quality results in a sustained focus on the North of England.

We will continue to contribute to the DLUHC Decent Homes Review Sounding Board, contributing member views and ensuring that the Standard is ambitious and deliverable. We’ve worked as part of the sounding board for the past year and we’re nearing the end of the process now. We advised on a range of different criterion which varied from ventilation and electrical safety to more placemaking measures. DLUHC have changed the ambitions and scope of the programme, and in their latest update have grouped the Standard’s focus into three areas: thermostatic-mixer valves and windows; electrical safety, refuse management and water efficiency; and ventilation and home security.

There are also plans to design a standard which covers both socially rented and private rented homes.  The NHC will continue to monitor the development of the new standard as it relates to both tenures.

Our next edition of the Northern Housing Monitor will evidence current levels of decency and energy efficiency standards across tenures in Northern regions and will anticipate and highlight any gaps against possible future standards.

 

Ambition 4: Work with Government, Parliament and our members to drive up standards in the North’s private rented sector.

We will be monitoring and responding to the expected 2022 Renters Reform White Paper and subsequent legislation on behalf of and in consultation with our members. The proposals on renter’s reform include commitments to abolish so-called ‘no fault’ section 21 evictions and strengthen landlords’ rights of possession, delivering on the levelling up mission to halve the number of non-decent rented homes by 2030 and create a rental market that is fairer and more effective for tenants and landlords.

Our Private Rented Sector member network offers the opportunity for members to come together and discuss emerging themes and issues. The key themes emerging from the network in relation to renters’ reform include: the need for streamlined standards in relation to HHSRS and MEES; place-based issues about areas of low value where landlords can’t or won’t invest due to viability; and avoiding ‘two-tier’ regulation where some properties will be exempt from raising homes to a level of decency because sum of investment outweighs overall value of the property. We’ll continue to bring members together to discuss and debate these important issues over the coming year.

 

Ambition 5: Secure funding for brownfield renewal across the North – evidencing the need and celebrating success.

Using our connections with the Northern Combined Authorities, we will demonstrate the difference existing Brownfield Funding has made, celebrating success and making the case for further funding to existing Combined Authorities and to new Combined Authorities if and when these emerge. Our current priority is to support members where possible on operational issues with the current fund, and to celebrate the success and ensure more investment in brownfield renewal into the future.

 

Ambition 6: Raise awareness of solutions available to support members with their rebalancing objectives.

We’ll strive to support members with any challenges coming out of the Decent Homes Standard, ensuring our procurement solutions support members with their rebalancing objectives.

 

Making rebalancing a reality for people and places across the North

Created by our full staff team alongside our member-led Board, the corporate plan has been shaped by insight built through our member engagement opportunities, by looking ahead to future challenges and from our member perceptions research which took place last year.

Within this corporate plan objective we will strive to ensure the contribution housing and of our members is recognised and valued; and through our activity we’ll work to secure the policy and resources required to make rebalancing a reality for people and places across the North.

Shared Prosperity Fund launched

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The Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) was launched by Government on 13 April 2022 and this paper briefly summarises the UKSPF Prospectus.

There will be opportunities in the development of local Investment Plans for the housing sector as a whole to work in partnership so that the UKSPF flowing into communities aligns with housing priorities.

Within the short window for submission of investment plans, the housing sector’s collective evidence will support the prioritisation of housing need and for all stakeholders across social housing to contribute their evidence in partnership.

The Northern Housing Consortium will work to highlight areas of good practice and collaboration between our unique membership of Local Authorities, Housing Associations, and ALMOs and ensure the contribution of each is maximised.  We encourage all those working in relation to the UKSPF to share their views and examples of collaborative working by getting in touch.

 

What is the UKSPF?  – The UKSPF, which will succeed the EU structural funds, is designed around three key themes: Community and Place; Supporting Local Businesses and People and Skills.  It complements the Levelling Up Fund with investment covering regenerating high streets, tackling anti-social behaviour or helping more people into jobs. It will be the main source of funding to support employment provision. The initial fund will total £2.6bn between 2022-2025, reaching £1.5bn per year by March 2025 and this funding is central to the Levelling Up agenda. There is also a £559m adult numeracy programme for the whole UK called Multiply[1].

 

Delivery – The Fund operates primarily over the strategic geographies of the Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) and will be planned and delivered by lead authorities that can be either a local authority or a mayoral combined authority.

 

Allocations – The Fund will be allocated via a funding formula rather than a competition through local partnerships. DLUHC said the allocation formula considers local population data and a broadly based measure of need, including factors such as unemployment and income levels.  See Appendix A for Northern regional allocations.

Each allocation will comprise both revenue and capital funding over the next three years and all places will receive an allocation which is conditional upon an investment plan being submitted to the Government for approval.

 

Investment Plans – Local government is being given responsibility for developing investment plans which should set out their local evidence of opportunities and challenges within the three investment priorities. Investment plan submissions will be between 30 June 2022 to 1 August 2022 with first payments expected to lead local authorities from October 2022.

 

Next steps – each place must work with partnerships to develop a plan setting out how they will target their funding on local priorities, against measurable goals.

 

 Appendix A

 UK Shared Prosperity Fund Funding Allocations

 

Local Authority and CA UKSFP Core Multiply Total UKSFP Core
Newcastle £17,286,922    
Northumberland £19,077,888    
North Tyneside £10,720,251    
North of Tyne CA £47,085,061 £4,128,607 £51,213,668
       
Barnsley £7,287,599    
Doncaster £8,960,876    
Rotherham £7,083,489    
Sheffield £15,574,166    
South Yorkshire CA £38,906,130 £7,256,309 £46,162,439
       
Halton £3,493,101    
Knowsley £4,500,786    
Liverpool £14,721,188    
Sefton £7,451,277    
St Helen’s £5,409,403    
Wirral £8,804,552    
Liverpool City Region £44,380,307 £8,375,194 £52,755,501
       
Bradford £17,177,855    
Calderdale £6,265,510    
Kirklees £13,203,570    
Leeds £21,292,920    
Wakefield £10,063,022    
West Yorkshire CA £68,002,877 £12,483,680 £80,486,557
       
Bolton £9,115,364    
Bury £5,526,207    
Manchester £16,613,628    
Oldham £7,578,496    
Rochdale £7,148,507    
Salford £7,393,130    
Stockport £8,117,036    
Tameside £6,569,667    
Trafford £5,850,460    
Wigan £9,938,101    
Greater Manchester £83,850,595 £14,384,692 £98,235,287
       
Darlington £6,379,149    
Hartlepool £6,137,059    
Middlesbrough £9,392,874    
Redcar & Cleveland £9,160,627    
Stockton on Tees £11,655,967    
Tees Valley £42,725,676 £3,631,629 £46,357,305
       
Unitary Authorities UKSFP Core Multiply Total UKSFP Core
Blackburn with Darwen £5,933,293 £851,021 £6,784,314
Blackpool £5,114,423 £770,711 £5,885,134
Cheshire East £11,585,762 £1,535,547 £13,121,309
Cheshire West and Chester £11,145,008 £1,497,303 £12,642,312
County Durham £30,830,618 £2,803,077 £33,633,695
East Riding of Yorkshire £10,419,619 £1,523,637 £11,943,257
Gateshead £11,634,466 £1,169,621 £12,804,087
Kingston upon Hull £9,081,013 £1,533,466 £10,614,478
South Tyneside £8,868,632 £810,389 £9,679,020
Sunderland £14,936,161 £1,641,730 £16,577,891
Warrington £6,496,128 £916,581 £7,412,709
York £5,107,510 £741,291 £5,848,801
Lower tier authorities UKSFP Core Multiply Total UKSFP Core
Adur £1,000,000 £0  
Allerdale £3,842,852 £0  
Barrow-in-Furness £2,477,528 £0  
Burnley £3,488,102 £0  
Carlisle £4,104,659 £0  
Chorley £4,212,901 £0  
Copeland £2,638,112 £0  
Eden £1,990,203 £0  
Fylde £2,643,292 £0  
Hyndburn £2,943,592 £0  
Lancaster £5,293,336 £0  
Pendle £3,626,135 £0  
Preston £5,243,004 £0  
Ribble Valley £1,967,754 £0  
Rossendale £2,643,864 £0  
South Lakeland £3,845,592 £0  
South Ribble £3,367,878 £0  
West Lancashire £4,256,708 £0  
Wyre £3,929,132 £0  
Upper tier local authorities UKSFP Core Multiply Total UKSFP Core
Cumbria[2] £0 £2,326,432  
North Yorkshire[3]

comprising:

Craven

Hambleton

Harrogate

Richmondshire

Ryedale

Scarborough

Selby

 £16,892,952 £2,667,945  

[1] ‘Multiply’ is a programme that aims is to increase the levels of functional numeracy in the adult population across the UK.

[2] Restructuring of local government in Cumbria will mean that delivery arrangements will be updated.  Individual plans for each of Cumbria’s district council areas are still needed.

[3] Parliament has agreed legislation to restructure local government in North Yorkshire (excluding York). North Yorkshire County Council, as a ‘continuing authority’ is now tasked with developing a county-wide plan for delivery of UKSPF.

NHC Private Rented Sector Network Reconvenes for 2022

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The Northern Housing Consortium’s Private Rented Sector Network met for the first time in 2022 this month, with plenty to discuss since the recent Queen’s Speech. The Network was established to offer NHC members working in or connected to private sector housing the space to network and share good practice from across the northern regions and is Chaired by Dr Julie Rugg who informs discussion based on her expertise researching the Private Rented Sector.

This first session was used to digest announcements made in the Queen’s Speech and arrange a work programme to ensure the northern voice is heard. Announced earlier in the month, the introduction of the Renter’s Reform Bill is intended to fulfil the Conservative Party’s manifesto commitment to abolish Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions; and to strengthen other grounds for possession, such as for rent arrears and anti-social behaviour. The Bill will also legislate for the extension of the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector (a Levelling Up White Paper commitment), introduce a new ‘property portal’ to give tenants performance information to hold their landlord to account and create an Ombudsman for private landlords.

Acknowledging the Network’s large, pan-northern membership, NHC members were joined by colleagues from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ Private Rented Sector Division. Discussing their work in Standards and Enforcement, David Selby and Lisa Whiting, shared their desire to hear the views of NHC members on the expansion of the Decent Homes Standard into the PRS. In particular, as the standard is developed, the Department would be looking closely at what success would look like for colleagues in the implementation of the Standard, and how any issues in relation to costs could be navigated.

In a wide-ranging discussion, NHC members discussed with the Department the need to avoid the duplication and ‘layering on’ of regulation, and the need to ensure that the Decent Homes Standard in the PRS compliments developments in the review of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System and Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards. NHC members saw an opportunity to create a ‘streamlined’ standard that Landlords could easily understand and importantly avoid any discrepancies that hinder Local Authorities in their work.

Equally, colleagues discussed the need to ensure that any work to enforce the new Standard be properly resourced. With sufficient capacity, it was felt that members could undertake proactive work providing support and education to professional landlords whilst effectively tackling the activities of criminal landlords.

Attendees also warned against the creation of ‘two-tier’ regulation where landlords in low-value housing markets could cite viability in alluding their responsibility to invest in their properties. Overall, it was felt that the wider Levelling Up agenda provided an opportunity to think holistically about how NHC members support homes of all tenures in their communities; looking at housing quality alongside decarbonisation and wider place-making to create better homes and places.

Recording and notes from the NHC’s Private Rented Sector Network are available to all NHC members signed up to the PRS Network Mailing List. To join the mailing list, please email Kristina.dawson@nhc.org.uk.

Steve Douglas: a huge loss to the sector

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We’ve been reflecting on the sad news of the loss of Steve Douglas earlier this month. The NHC had a long-standing relationship with Steve, particularly through his role in the Commission for Housing in the North. The Commission articulated ambitions that were unique to the North, calling for more local flexibility and the importance of revitalising places; Steve understood both the challenges and solutions, and supported our work in his role as Commissioner.

He was also involved in our events programme, chairing larger conferences and sessions with the RSH. An absolute professional, Steve made a heavy agenda look like easy work, and his passion for housing was clear throughout. If you’ve attended any events where Steve was part of the programme, you will have no doubt seen that passion and professionalism yourself.

The NHC’s Chief Executive, Tracy Harrison, said:

“I’ve had the great pleasure and privilege of working with Steve on several projects over the years, including during his time at the Housing Corporation, at Altair, and when he served on the Commission for Housing in the North. He was consistently professional, kind and generous, and just oozed gravitas! An intelligent man who was deeply committed to his work, and a thoroughly decent, lovely person too. He’s a huge loss to the sector, and I’m just so sad for his family and loved ones.”

His work at St Mungo’s was just the latest evidence of his tireless commitment to improving housing and improving lives, and certainly the North’s housing sector will miss him. Friends and colleagues have paid tribute to Steve in Inside Housing here.

The Climate Change Committee have released their assessment of the Heat and Buildings Strategy

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The Government’s independent advisor on tackling climate change has recently published their assessment of the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) Heat and Buildings Strategy, which was launched in October last year.

The Heat and Buildings Strategy set out Government’s approach to decarbonising buildings, a major part of meeting the net zero by 2050 target. The Strategy confirmed £800m for the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, £950m for Home Upgrade Grants, £450m for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and £338m for Heat Network Transformation Programme over a three-year period, amongst other funding and policy commitments. You can read more about the Strategy in our earlier blog here.

The Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) independent assessment comes at a time of rocketing energy bills for households and a time where energy security is high up on the Government’s agenda due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. ONS data released this month shows inflation has surged to 9%, with around three-quarters of this rise due to soaring energy bills. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) suggest that the level of inflation being experienced by low-income households is actually closer to 11% at the moment due to a higher proportion of their total income going towards gas and electricity bills.

Beyond the immediate support required through the benefits system to ease the impact of rising costs for households now, insulating our homes and transitioning away from exposure to volatile global gas pricing has never been more urgent.

The CCC report details the scale of the challenge, outlining that 77% of the UK’s domestic heating demand is being met by natural gas, with around 7% being met by electricity, the same for oil and bioenergy, and the rest by solid fuel. The report also reiterates that the UK’s relative domestic energy use is higher than all other nations across Europe due to having the oldest, leakiest housing stock that has not been suitably insulated.

In the North, we know there are higher concentrations of older homes and so the challenge is even more acute in these communities, represented through higher than average levels of fuel poverty across the North. Though the challenge remains vast, the CCC’s report advocates the benefits available through reducing emissions from our homes, namely, potential savings on energy bills, improving comfort and creating healthier spaces to live in. The CCC implore the pace of improvements to the fabric of existing homes and the move to low-carbon heating, committed to in the Heat and Buildings Strategy, to be ramped up quickly and continue over the next 10-15 years.

The CCC are clear that improving the energy efficiency of homes and widespread electrification of heat should be central to the response to increase the UK’s protection against high wholesale gas prices and meet net zero. Overall, the Heat and Buildings Strategy is identified as “an important (and long sought) step forward that offers a foundation for making progress in the sector”.

But the CCC assessment shows there are still significant gaps in plans. They recommend Government brings forward the consultations pledged in the Strategy, including the consultation on rebalancing levies between gas and electricity. This is particularly important for NHC members as reform in this area would make electrified heat cheaper and therefore increase the viability and appeal to tenants and residents of moving to low-carbon heat. Affordability is key to this and the NHC will be following developments on the consultation closely to ensure low-income households are able to reap the benefits of housing decarbonisation.

Other consultations the CCC call to be responded to include the BEIS consultation to set Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) in the private rented sector, something the NHC has been calling for. They also identify driving improvements in the owner-occupied sector as a key policy gap to be addressed, as this is where the majority of poor energy performing homes are. These three consultations are all defined as “critical decisions” across tenures which Government now need to act upon.

The CCC welcome the Heat and Buildings Strategy’s commitment to developing the heat pump supply chain, and its focus on heat pumps (and heat networks where appropriate) as the priority option for home heating. Key to the CCC’s advice is ramping up the pace, scale and coordination to address the skills challenge associated with the roll-out of heat pump technology to upskill, retrain and attract new entrants to these new green jobs. The Northern Powerhomes report shows the huge opportunity for the North with potential for 77,000 retrofitting and low-carbon heating jobs in the region.

They also welcome that the Strategy recognises local action as key to housing decarbonisation with local authorities well-placed to develop area-based plans. The CCC highlight that local authorities will need the resources and capabilities to be able to do this, which the Strategy does not consider. This is particularly important for the North as the Northern Housing Monitor showed that over the last decade, local authority housing and planning capacity fell by 58% and 73% respectively. The CCC recommend Government review current and expected gaps in resources and provide additional funding and new centralised pools of talent that authorities can draw on to be able to deliver.

Public engagement was presented as critical to retrofit in the Strategy, and the CCC urge Government to launch a comprehensive public engagement strategy to ensure people know how the transition will impact them. NHC members are already doing some brilliant work with tenants on this, and the Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury’s final report includes some helpful recommendations about how providers can work with tenants on retrofit and wider climate action.

The CCC report also discusses the importance of retrofit plans taking into consideration homes’ resilience to future changes to the climate, such as expected warmer and wetter weather. CCC outlines there has been positive development on climate adaptation for new homes, such as to mitigate overheating and flooding, but there now needs to be policy focus on existing homes to ensure climate adaptation is central to energy efficiency programmes.

The NHC agrees with CCC’s assessment that the current cost-of-living and energy security crises mean the policy framework detailed in the Heat and Buildings Strategy must now be progressed at pace and scale and we hope Government heed their advice. It was disappointing that the Energy Security Strategy missed the opportunity to accelerate plans to reduce energy demand by making homes warmer and greener. The NHC will follow the Energy Security Bill, announced in the Queen’s Speech, as it goes through Parliament to keep members updated.

You can see the full Independent Assessment of the Heat and Buildings Strategy here.

Please do not hesitate to follow up on this with the NHC by contacting Anna Seddon (Policy and Public Affairs Manager) at anna.seddon@northern-consortium.org.uk.

Empty Homes – An Enduring Solution

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Levelling Up Community Regeneration

 The Government’s Levelling Up agenda has brought a renewed focus on tackling the place-based challenges that hold back many neighbourhoods; inequality and deprivation; poor quality, mismanaged private rented sector housing; and long term vacant and derelict housing. Amongst a number of proposed interventions, the Government plans to introduce measures to empower Local Authorities to bring empty homes back into use.

 In this guest blog, Brighid Carey from Action on Empty Homes discusses their new Community Action Toolkit, and the holistic and community-centred approach to building high quality homes and neighbourhoods that sits at the heart of keeping housing at the heart of a rebalanced country.

NHC members with an interest in the Levelling Up agenda are encouraged to contact Liam Gregson, Member Engagement Manager to discuss how to be involved in our work – liam.gregson@nhc.org.uk

 

Empty Homes – An Enduring Solution

Brighid Carey, Consultancy and Project Manager, Action on Empty Homes

Action on Empty Homes has launched a new Community Action on Empty Homes Toolkit, a guide for local authorities and communities working together with other partners through the process of bringing empty homes into use, to deliver affordable housing for local people. The Toolkit highlights the opportunity for new conversations and new ways of thinking, building creative collaborations to deliver lasting change.

In 2021, the number of empty homes in England stood at 238,306, a level symptomatic of a five year-trend of steadily rising numbers of long-term empty homes, despite a worsening housing crisis. Across the north of England, higher than national average concentrations of empty homes persist: in Scarborough 1 in 13 homes is empty, in Manchester it’s 1 in 30, and in Newcastle the figure is 1 in every 31 homes standing unoccupied. Recognising the scale of concern, the recently published Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill would double council tax on empty homes after one year instead of two, and enable local authorities to charge double council tax on second homes.

For communities, the cost of empty homes may be counted by the impacts on lives. Areas with high numbers of empty homes generally experience higher levels of vandalism and street crime, their residents are more likely to be in low-wage employment, and health and education indicators are poor[1]. Such areas are often characterised by high cost, poor quality privately rented accommodation[2].  Communities become trapped in a spiral of decline that can erode their confidence, lower aspirations and undermine well-being.

 

Local authorities and housing association have central roles:

·       Get your council to discuss using the Toolkit and supporting communities to bring empty homes into use, to help revitalise neighbourhoods and provide much-needed local housing

·       Housing associations – think about how you can support community action, especially through ethical divestment of street stock

·       Send communities a positive message that you’re willing to collaborate with them and support their empty homes work

·       Get in touch with AEH for more information: brighid.carey(at)emptyhomes.com

 

It’s time to ask different types of questions when it comes to empty homes. Local authorities and housing providers ask ‘How can we reduce the numbers of empty homes?’ and ‘Will enforcement work this time?’ Communities see things differently. They ask ‘How can we find somewhere decent to live?’, ‘Why are there so many homes going to waste?’  ‘How can we live well here and feel proud when it all looks so uncared for?’ What can we do about it? Communities ask questions about the things that really matter to them – they are concerned about the details of life that can make the difference between feeling well and optimistic or feeling anxious and powerless. Because of their understanding, communities are very well placed to find solutions and act to put things right – for themselves.

AEH has been working alongside communities bringing empty homes into use for the past six years. For the first three of these years, we studied six community groups, some well-established in property renovation, others at the beginning of their journey.  All had recognised unmet housing needs within their communities, had been frustrated by the numbers of homes standing empty, and had decided to do something about it.

The groups were studied represented very diverse communities. Cultures CIC in Stockton on Tees was originally formed to support individuals and groups from BME, migrant and refugee communities and help their social, economic and cultural inclusion. Cultures CIC knew that new entrants to the UK often ended up in poor quality privately rented housing and in low paid work. Working in collaboration with Thirteen HA, Cultures CIC started the process of leasing and renovating empty homes, to provide homes for community members. Cultures CIC had a very small amount of funding but through its outreach work and onsite training, was able to attract donated labour and materials.  Giroscope in Hull had decades of experience in renovating empty homes. Set up in the mid 1980’s to bring empty homes into use, Giroscope has gone from strength to strength, pulling significant capital funding into the areas of Hull where they work.

Of the communities were worked alongside, only one, Giroscope, had actually started out as a housing project. The others were community or neighbourhood groups who wanted both to create more and better affordable housing options for local people, and to address some of the underlying issues that had led to areas having long-term empty homes in the first place.

We found communities to be very effective at addressing these underlying issues. All of the community-led projects in our study provided work experience and on-site training for local people, people with vulnerabilities and people from frequently excluded groups. Some created commercial and office spaces for new community businesses such as bakeries, cycle workshops, gardening services, community shops and venues for training and events. They provided broadband services, advice and information centres and tenancy support, and a range of other services and amenities for local people. Bringing empty homes into use was the catalyst and the medium through which communities delivered the changes they wanted to see, which in turn helped to rebuild the local social and economic infrastructure.

Because communities are ‘intelligent’ about themselves, they understand the roots of issues for local people, and when empowered with leadership and decision-making, can target resources directly towards their resolution, and inspire positive lasting change.

You can download a free copy of the Community Action on Empty Homes Toolkit here.

[1] House Of Commons Briefing Paper 3012 ‘Empty Housing (England)’ (Oct 2020)

[2] Sic

SHDF – Funding Guidance Materials for Wave 2

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On 12 May, BEIS and the Turner & Townsend team working on the Social Housing Retrofit Accelerator (SHRA) led a funding guidance workshop for Wave 2 of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.

Slides from this workshop can be accessed here, with information on likely policy for Wave 2, as well as how to access support from the SHRA, the BEIS-funded programme available to all Registered Providers of social housing (including Private and Local Authority providers).

The policy design for Wave 2 is in the final stages of development. At this point in time, it is not finalised, and is subject to change – as there are still internal approvals processes to go through.

BEIS is sharing ‘likely policy’ now following feedback received from landlords, the NHC and others, that there are significant benefits of sharing policy details as early as possible to help to prepare quality bids.

What’s in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill

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The demise of section 106 and everything else you need to know

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, announced in the Queen’s Speech started its progress through Parliament with its first reading on 11 May.

This is one of the flagship bills of the Parliamentary session and, of all the bills announced in the Queen’s Speech, it is likely to be one of the most controversial, enshrining into law the 12 missions of the Levelling Up White Paper to drive local growth, empower local leaders and regenerate areas.

The Bill’s 4 broad objectives are to:

  • boost productivity, pay, jobs and living standards by growing the private sector
  • spread opportunities and improve public services
  • restore a sense of community, local pride and belonging
  • empower local leaders and communities

There will be no standalone Planning Bill and planning reform will instead be framed around the Levelling Up programme with the Levelling Up Bill taking forward some of the planning reform outlined in the earlier Planning for the Future White Paper (August 2020).

Six ways the Bill will change planning

  1. PLAN-LED – Strong reasons required to override Local Plans
  2. BEAUTY – Design codes will have full weight in decisions on development
  3. INFRASTRUCTURE – Section 106 replaced with a locally set Infrastructure Levy
  4. REGENERATION – New types of Development Corporations and powers for using compulsory purchase
  5. LAND SUPPLY – Dropping five-year housing land supply requirements
  6. NEIGHBOURHOODS – Street Votes on local design codes and obligation to consider neighbourhood priorities.

This briefing outlines the main provisions of the Bill of relevance to NHC members, and describes the impending shake up to the planning system.

Delivering the levelling up missions

The Government announced in February 2022 that it would introduce a statutory obligation to report annually on the progress towards meeting the Levelling Up missions.  Enshrining the missions into law is the strongest message the Government could give on its intention to deliver the package of proposals.  The missions include plans for housing decency, home ownership, regenerating towns and extending devolution.  With requirements to specify target dates for delivery and report annually on progress, with missions cutting across the whole of Whitehall, the Bill makes a significant statement of intent.

Local Democracy and Devolution

Part 2 of the Bill takes forward the mission for every part of England that wants one to have a devolution deal with powers at or approaching the highest level of devolution, and a simplified, long-term funding settlement by 2030.

It sets out models that will allow bespoke devolution deals, giving local leaders the powers to meet their communities’ needs. The aim is to achieve more joined up services and decision making, greater flexibility over funding and more inward investment. Alongside these new powers, the Bill includes measures to increase the accountability and transparency of local leaders. This will include supporting attendance at overview and scrutiny and audit committees through amending remuneration provisions.

A new type of combined authority model is proposed – ‘combined county authorities’ (CCA) – to be made up of upper tier local authorities (county councils and unitary authorities) only. Upper tier local authorities will be expected to work closely with their district councils, who will be able to be ‘non-constituent members’ of a CCA.

Improving the Planning Process – a plan-led system

The whole thrust of the planning reforms is that applications will be genuinely plan-led.

Clause 83 of the Bill gives Local Plans more weight when making decisions on applications so that there must be strong reasons to override the plan, with the emphasis being “unless material considerations strongly indicate otherwise”. The same weight will be given to other parts of the development plan which are given full legal force.  Some plan policies (such as general heritage protection) will be set out nationally with no need for local replication.  There will be a new power to prepare supplementary plans to replace the ‘supplementary planning documents.’  A new duty will be placed on infrastructure providers to engage in the process. A series of ‘Gateway’ checks during production will help to spot and correct any problems at an early stage.

The ‘duty to cooperate’ will be repealed and replaced with an ‘alignment test’ across groups of local authorities set out in national policy to collaborate to produce a voluntary spatial development strategy, where they wish to provide strategic planning policies for issues that cut across their areas. Groups of authorities will be able to collaborate to produce a voluntary spatial development strategy, where they wish to provide strategic planning policies for issues that cut across their areas.

The Bill will remove the requirement for authorities to maintain a rolling five-year supply of deliverable land for housing, where their plan is up to date. The intention is to limit speculative development.

Local plans should be produced within 30 months and new Local Plan Commissioners may be deployed to support or ultimately take over plan-making if local planning authorities fail to meet their statutory duties.

The process for producing the plans will be supported with new digital powers to allow more standardised data to inform plan-making.  The Bill includes a new power to prescribe the use of specific types of planning data software and require that electronic planning applications comply with “particular technical standards or specifications.”

Neighbourhood plans will be given greater weight in planning decisions and the Bill introduces a new neighbourhood planning tool called a ‘neighbourhood priorities statement’ which the local authority will be obliged to consider when preparing its local plan. Residents will be able to take part in new ‘street votes’ to make proposals to extend or redevelop their properties in line with their design preferences.

Infrastructure Levy

The Bill follows through with the proposal to replace the current system of developer contributions through section 106 with a mandatory, and locally determined Infrastructure Levy.

The rates will be set as a percentage of gross development value rather than based on floorspace, as with the Community Infrastructure Levy at present. Going forward, the Community Infrastructure Levy will be restricted to Greater London and Wales.

Infrastructure delivery strategies prepared locally will determine where and how infrastructure spending is allocated.

Following responses to the consultation on the 2020 White Paper, the Bill confirms that charges will be determined locally by local planning authorities who will be able to set different rates within their area. For example, different rates could be set for brownfield and greenfield sites within a local authority boundary to help boost development in certain areas.

The Bill includes a framework in Schedule 11 committing to the Levy securing at least as much affordable housing as developer contributions do now.

Local authorities will be able to determine the portion of the levy they receive in-kind as onsite affordable homes using a ‘right to require’ thereby removing the role of negotiation in determining levels of onsite affordable housing.

Further regulation will also consider how the levy will be applied to registered provider-led schemes and will detail a ‘retained role’ for Section 106 agreements to support the delivery of infrastructure on the largest sites.

While the Bill provides the framework for the new levy, much of the detail will be set out in future regulations.  The new non-negotiable and locally set Infrastructure Levy will be introduced through a phased ‘test and learn’ rollout and a consultation will be coming soon on the detail.

Beautiful places and environmental outcomes

Environmental impact assessments (EIAs) and strategic environmental assessments (SEAs) will be scrapped and replaced by a new “outcomes-based” approach to examining the likely environmental impact of proposed projects and plans.

A consultation will be issued shortly on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework to improve environmental outcomes. This will include changes to embed the Environment Act’s reforms into plan-making.

The Bill will require every local planning authority to produce a design code for its area. These codes will have full weight in making decisions on development. The ‘Office for Place’ will support local planning authorities to deliver design codes and better design outcomes.

Measures in the Bill will also strengthen the role the planning system plays in protecting the historic environment and puts Historic Environment Records on a statutory basis, placing a new duty on local authorities to maintain one for their area.

Regeneration

This Bill will make provision for a new type of Urban Development Corporation, with the objective of regenerating its area and accountable to local authorities in the area rather than the Secretary of State.  It also updates the planning powers available to development corporations, so that they can become local planning authorities.

Part 7 of the Bill on Compulsory Purchase puts beyond doubt local authorities’ powers for using compulsory purchase for regeneration.

Measures will be introduced to reform land compensation to ensure that fair compensation is paid for the value attributable to prospective planning permission (‘hope value’).

The Bill will also give local authorities an important new power to instigate high street rental auctions of vacant commercial properties in town centres.

Local Planning Capacity

The package of reforms will require an increase in skills for local authorities, for example digital and design skills and Government is carrying out work to assess the need for sufficient skills, capability and talent for the new system to run effectively.

To improve capacity in the local planning system, the Bill announced that planning fees will increase for major and minor applications by 35% and 25% respectively. This will be consulted on in the summer before changes are made through secondary legislation at the earliest opportunity following the consultation.

The Government has stated that increasing fees must lead to a better service and the existing planning performance framework will be expanded to measure performance across a broader range of measures.

DLUHC has committed to continue to work with sector experts to develop a planning skills strategy for local planning authorities.  A sector working group is discussing capacity issues now that the package of proposals is available.

NHC View

We welcome the provisions of the Bill to strengthen and add to the tools that can be used to deliver regeneration and make good use of brownfield land. The Bill will enhance compulsory purchase powers, make it easier to establish locally-led development corporations and improve transparency about the ownership and control of land. Housing on brownfield sites can deliver on many of the Government’s levelling-up priorities: restoring pride by tackling eyesore sites, creating opportunity through jobs in remediation and construction, and boosting living standards by creating new homes for sale and rent that cost less to run.

Reforms to section 106, and the creation of a locally-set non-negotiable levy will need careful assessment.  While not without its flaws, the existing system allows for flexibility and greater certainty on securing affordable housing.  It is good to see that the new Infrastructure Levy will be set at a local level – this is something we pushed for when the levy was first proposed.  Land values and development costs vary significantly across the country and therefore a mechanism that levy’s contributions to infrastructure and other planning obligations must be response to local conditions if it is to be part of a levelling up programme.

The focus remains on delivering affordable homes and there is a concern that the levy will be less prescriptive than section 106 in its requirements for affordable housing on site. In the North, 31% of all units completed since 2015/16 were achieved from developer contributions and there is still a question about how in practice the number of genuinely affordable homes currently provided though section 106 will really be ensured, particularly in low value markets. We welcome the phased ‘test and learn’ approach to the introduction of the levy to ensure the system delivers for all parts of the country.

Local planning authorities must be provided with the resources to manage the levy and ensure that obligations are delivered.  It is encouraging that work is underway to develop a skills strategy, but we know that Northern local authorities have been disproportionately impacted by reductions in spending since 2010. This could undermine their capacity to undertake the planning and housing reforms and support for skills and new roles will become more pressing. Upfront support will also be required during the transitional period where there would have to be two planning systems running simultaneously.

There is still some way to go for the Bill and there could be amendments following various consultations. Changes to regulations, guidance and wider support for councils, and ways to involve residents will be just as important as the new legislation. Also, we will need to wait to see what is covered by national development management policies.

With the Bill just starting its journey through Parliament, a significant amount of detail remains to be worked through and the NHC looks forward to working with Government and our Members to help shape the detail.

Next steps

Government will be consulting on:

  • Changes to the National Planning Policy Framework including the removal of the requirement for authorities to maintain a rolling five-year supply of deliverable land for housing, and on the National Development Management Policies
  • Detail of the Infrastructure Levy and changes to compulsory purchase compensation
  • Consultation on the new system of Environmental Outcomes Reports
  • Consultation on the quality standards that Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects
  • Proposals for changes to planning fees.

Transition plans will be set out but in broad terms changes to planning procedures will begin to take place from 2024.

Book your place at the Levelling Up Conference: Housing at the Heart of a Rebalanced Country – Thursday 14th July at Hilton Leeds City.  The conference will include keynote speakers, good practice case studies, and a core focus on networking and collaboration.

Public Practice expands to the North of England: join us on 12th May to hear more

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Public Practice, the social enterprise with a mission to build the public sector’s capacity to improve places, is expanding its placement programme to the North of England, to include the North-West, North East and Yorkshire & the Humber regions.

This announcement comes as Public Practice’s national Local Authority Resourcing and Skills Survey finds that difficulties attracting skilled staff is by far the largest recruitment issue faced by local authorities, cited by 79% of the survey’s respondents. Local authority members of the NHC were invited to take part in the survey earlier this year.

Key findings included:

  • 79% faced difficulty attracting appropriately qualified or skilled candidates, the most common issue with recruitment by far, nearly 30 points above the next most pressing difficulties cited by around half of all respondents, such as funding, retention, or recruitment delays
  • There is a clear demand for built environment skills across the board, with the following areas prioritised by more than half of all respondents:
    • Digital & Data (64.3%)
    • Architecture, Urban Design and Master Planning (62.2%)
    • Environmental Sustainability (60.3%)
    • Ecology & Biodiversity (56.5%)
  • As a combined geography, the North has ambitious recruitment plans for the next 12 months.

Public Practice plays a key role in supporting public sector authorities to identify gaps in the capacity of planning and place-shaping teams. The organisation then matches skilled candidates to year-long placements with authorities, which are supported by learning, development and knowledge sharing activities. In February, Homes England with the support of the Department of Levelling Up, Homes and Communities (DLUHC) launched their investment of just over £200,000 in Public Practice, to enable the not-for-profit’s expansion across the country.

This week’s announcement is Public Practice’s first step towards this and emerges from three months of extensive consultation and research to build evidence to shape the direction and approach for how it will expand its programme nationally.

Call for local authorities and candidates

  • Public Practice recruitment is now open for placements in the North (North-West, the North East and Yorkshire & the Humber regions) and also in the South East (London, South East and East of England regions) from the 25th of April to the 30th of May.
  • Public Sector bodies – including Combined Authorities, Local Authorities, County Councils, and Unitary Authorities – are invited to express their interest here
  • Applications from built environment experts with a minimum of three years of experience are invited here.

Pooja Agrawal, Chief Executive of Public Practice, will join us for a 1 hour webinar on Thursday 12th May to discuss the programme in more detail and invite comments and questions from NHC members. Click here to book your place.

Supporting you to create better homes and places

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We’ve launched our ambitious new corporate plan – it sets out how we’ll support you over the next three years to help you create better homes and places.

Created by our full staff team alongside our member-led Board, our Corporate Plan has been shaped by our members – through engagement activity, shared future challenges and our perceptions research – here is a deeper dive into our plans over the next three years.

At the heart of our Corporate Plan is your unrivalled member experience. We will continue to build strong relationships with our members, delivering solutions which fit your evolving needs and ensuring excellence in the development and delivery of our services.

Our unique membership of councils, housing associations, ALMOs and combined authorities means we can bring together professionals across the housing sector to help create better homes and places. We will create a community of support, networking and industry insight across the membership.

We will build on our existing and effective partnerships, working with those who share our members’ interests to maximise reach and impact (recognising the integral link between housing, health and other sectors), whilst ensuring best use of our own resources.

We will use collaboration opportunities to expand our range of solutions and access others’ expertise, driving better choice and value for members and driving income for reinvestment in the NHC and Consortium Procurement.  We will work with other consortia strategically to use our collective power to aggregate demand, stimulate local supply chains, build skills and expertise and offer regional solutions. We will strengthen relationships with our key supply partners, utilising their expertise in the support of our members’ needs – we aim to complement rather than duplicate.

We will influence on the priorities that are shared by you – meeting the Net Zero challenge and putting housing at the heart of a rebalanced country. Through our influencing activities we will secure change using a robust evidence base on the issues that matter to members, we will strengthen our relationships with decision makers and policy shapers locally, regionally and nationally, ensuring the people who count respond to our core policy objectives.

Through engagement with members we will demonstrate our focus on members’ key agenda items outside of influencing priorities. While we are committed to our influencing priorities shared by our northern members – net zero and rebalancing – our wider engagement activity reflects the diverse and wide-ranging issues our members face. Through our events and engagement programme we will support you to navigate challenges, share best practice and deliver excellent services.

We will continue to offer a rewarding, supportive place to work where we invest in people, they can be themselves and fulfil their potential – an organisation we are all proud to be a part of. We will build on our organisational structure and support framework that enables our staff team to thrive, act autonomously, competently, and become subject matter experts in their field.

We will ensure that Sustainability, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, and Wellbeing are considered at the heart of everything we do as an organisation – informing and supporting our members and the way we work internally.

Over the next three years our new plan will guide the delivery of our mission: to bring together housing in the North to develop insight, influence and solutions for our members.  We’d love to receive member feedback email  kate.maughan@northern-consortium.org.uk.