To be moved by Councillor Adam Hug and seconded by Councillor Vincenzo Rampulla:
“The council notes that as of December 2014 the number of families in temporary accommodation was 2390, by December 2015 this number had risen to 2450. In March 2014 the number of homelessness acceptances was 705 and in March 2015 the figure remained at a high level with 617 acceptances.
In 2016 decisions will be made about the future of a number of major development sites in Westminster. These include the major private developments at West End Green on Edgware Road and the so called ‘Paddington Shard’ at 31 London Street, alongside significant new council schemes such as the Phase 2 of the Church Street Regeneration.
As stated in the Draft Westminster Housing Strategy “Very few developments are started by affordable housing providers in Westminster, as they cannot compete with the private sector for development sites. The bulk of new affordable housing is delivered as a result of private developments, through agreements linked to their planning consent. We have a target in our planning policy that aims to exceed 30% of all new housing developed in the city to be affordable housing”. Large scale developments and developments on council land provide the greatest opportunities to deliver significant numbers of new social and genuinely affordable homes in Westminster, therefore West End Green, the Paddington Shard and Church Street Phase 2 are central to the Council’s efforts in this area.
The council notes the proposed Dudley House development at Paddington Green. It welcomes the principle of the proposed addition of 197 ‘affordable homes’ as part of the development, although noting that earlier options for the site could have achieved a higher number of new affordable homes. However given the proposals are currently for intermediate rent only, it seeks firm assurances that all new units will be affordable to households earning under £40,000 per year and requests that the proposals include new social housing units.
The council notes that this 30% affordable planning target is lower than many other inner London boroughs and yet Westminster has consistently failed to meet this target. It also notes that Cabinet Members often cite a ‘lack of land’ as being behind Westminster’s failure to provide enough affordable housing. However it further notes that, given such a planning target is a proportion of the total new homes built on land in Westminster, the failure to enforce this currently modest target is at the root of the Council’s comparatively weak performance in affordable house building.
The council believes it is clear that there needs to be a major increase in the number of new genuinely affordable and social housing units to deal with the persistent and critical problem of the lack of housing for families on low and middle incomes. Some of this need was identified in the Council’s Draft Housing Strategy and direction of travel paper but that proposals to fully meet this need have not been provided.
Furthermore the council believes that officers and Cabinet Members must ensure that each developer is made aware of the Council’s determination to deal with our serious housing problem and that the developers will be expected to play their part in serving this need by ensuring that at minimum their proposed schemes are compliant with the council’s planning target for affordable housing. This is of particular relevance to the major schemes listed above.
The council resolves to comply with its planning target for affordable housing, reporting annually on progress to council members, setting out in detail the reasons for any failure. It also resolves that compliance with the annual affordable housing targets should form a major component of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) used to monitor and remunerate senior staff in the planning and housing teams. The council further resolves to review the current 30% level at which the planning target is set, with a view to moving to an increased target in line with other inner London boroughs.
The council resolves to follow the lead of boroughs including the Royal Borough of Greenwich, Islington and Southwark to develop proposals that would require developers to open their viability assessments to the public before applications are decided upon if they claim they cannot meet the affordable house building requirements set out in council planning policy.
Minutes:
The Minority Party had selected for debate the Notice of Motion as set out on the agenda. The Notice of Motion was moved by Councillor Adam Hug and seconded by Councillor Vincenzo Rampulla.
Councillor Robert Davis moved and it was seconded by Councillor Daniel Astaire that the Notice of Motion be amended, as follows:
In first paragraph delete "remained at a high level" with and replace with "at" then delete remain paragraphs and replace with:
The Council notes the on-going commitment of the administration to provide good quality, suitable and affordable housing for households in temporary accommodation. The Council currently expects to overachieve against its target to deliver 30% of all new residential development as affordable housing, with around 34% being the current projection for the next 10 years.
The Council recognises that over this period the first phase of the regeneration programmes and Section 106 agreements are expected to yield around 2,000 affordable homes, the second phase of the Church Street renewal programme will deliver 820, spot purchases are estimated to be around 250 and non-self-contained units can reasonably be expected to be 580. This presents a total of 3,650 affordable housing units over the next 10 years against an overall London Plan target for housing of all kinds of 10,677.
The Council commends the work undertaken by the Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration, Business and Economic Development in producing the Westminster Housing Strategy Direction of Travel Statement and, in particular, its focus on redressing the short supply of affordable accommodation for middle-income households in Westminster. Intermediate housing makes up only 1.5% of the stock in the city while social housing makes up 25%. As demand for each is similar, action is clearly required to ensure this need is met.
The Council acknowledges the planning team’s hard work, in the face of a range of competing demands, to achieve the best deal possible on affordable housing from new developments. This extends to their efforts to secure affordable housing contributions from new schemes in the city.
The Council remains committed to working with developers to ensure that the industry plays its part in meeting Westminster’s overall housing needs.
The Council notes the content of Westminster’s forthcoming draft supplementary planning document on ‘Use of Planning Obligations and Other Planning Mechanisms’, which calls for a renewed sense of openness and frankness in the viability process.
The Council has also consulted on, as part of the City Plan revision, amendments to its planning policy to formalise a ‘credit system’ intended to increase affordable housing delivery by encouraging more flexibility and speeding up delivery. This would deliver affordable housing earlier and allow the requirements to be shared between a number of different sites. The Housing and Planning Bill, currently being debated in Parliament, will require the Council, along with other local authorities, to review its housing and planning policies to reflect the future legislative landscape.
After debate, the Lord Mayor put the amendment moved by Councillor Robert Davis and seconded by Councillor Daniel Astaire to the vote and on a show of hands declared the amendment ADOPTED.
RESOLVED:
The Council notes that as of December 2014 the number of families in temporary accommodation was 2390, by December 2015 this number had risen to 2450. In March 2014 the number of homelessness acceptances was 705 and in March 2015 the figure at 617 acceptances.
The Council notes the on-going commitment of the administration to provide good quality, suitable and affordable housing for households in temporary accommodation. The Council currently expects to overachieve against its target to deliver 30% of all new residential development as affordable housing, with around 34% being the current projection for the next 10 years.
The Council recognises that over this period the first phase of the regeneration programmes and Section 106 agreements are expected to yield around 2,000 affordable homes, the second phase of the Church Street renewal programme will deliver 820, spot purchases are estimated to be around 250 and non-self-contained units can reasonably be expected to be 580. This presents a total of 3,650 affordable housing units over the next 10 years against an overall London Plan target for housing of all kinds of 10,677.
The Council commends the work undertaken by the Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration, Business and Economic Development in producing the Westminster Housing Strategy Direction of Travel Statement and, in particular, its focus on redressing the short supply of affordable accommodation for middle-income households in Westminster. Intermediate housing makes up only 1.5% of the stock in the city while social housing makes up 25%. As demand for each is similar, action is clearly required to ensure this need is met.
The Council acknowledges the planning team’s hard work, in the face of a range of competing demands, to achieve the best deal possible on affordable housing from new developments. This extends to their efforts to secure affordable housing contributions from new schemes in the city.
The Council remains committed to working with developers to ensure that the industry plays its part in meeting Westminster’s overall housing needs.
The Council notes the content of Westminster’s forthcoming draft supplementary planning document on ‘Use of Planning Obligations and Other Planning Mechanisms’, which calls for a renewed sense of openness and frankness in the viability process.
The Council has also consulted on, as part of the City Plan revision, amendments to its planning policy to formalise a ‘credit system’ intended to increase affordable housing delivery by encouraging more flexibility and speeding up delivery. This would deliver affordable housing earlier and allow the requirements to be shared between a number of different sites. The Housing and Planning Bill, currently being debated in Parliament, will require the Council, along with other local authorities, to review its housing and planning policies to reflect the future legislative landscape.