Councils need to help Erewash meet 800-home shortfall or face Government intervention, minister says
A leading Government official has said Nottinghamshire authorities need to help Erewash meet a 800-home housing shortfall or face the risk of direct intervention. Darren Jones, treasury secretary , made the comments on a visit to Long Eaton on Thursday (January 23) to discuss and tour social housing on the former Oaklea Mills lace factory site.
Mr Jones was pressed by the Local Democracy Reporting Service on Erewash Borough Council’s particular difficulties in finding land to earmark for housing with much of the area being protected Green Belt. It needs to find space for 6,948 homes over the next 12 years but a Government inspector highlighted in October that there was a shortfall of 820 homes due to increased housing targets – to match the national aim of building 1.5 million homes in five years.
Government inspector Kelly Ford raised “significant concern” that, without meeting this gap the plan for future development, several years in the making, would be “unsound”. Mr Jones said: “The targets are an ambition we want people to get to but importantly the duty of cooperation between neighbouring councils and across the region is also really important.
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“We have been quite clear in Westminster that where there are councils who are refusing to cooperate and to collaborate with their neighbouring councils in order to get the housing built that we need or failing to put in Local Plans that meet those needs we will reserve the right to come in and make those decisions for local communities. It is important that councils do cooperate with each other where there are sites that are available so that we can get those houses built.”
On the specific need to meet Erewash’s 820-home shortfall, Mr Jones said: “It will be for the councils to work together on that. There is a duty to cooperate that we do expect councils to follow and we hope given the size of the number there, 800 between neighbouring authorities should be something that they will be able to manage.” Erewash is part of the Nottingham Housing Market Area (HMA) with Nottingham, Broxtowe, Gedling and Rushcliffe.
Erewash says it had already ruled out or included all feasible sites outside of the Green Belt, including brownfield and “grey belt” sites, and has already had to resort to Green Belt sites in Cotmanhay, Kirk Hallam, Oakwood and Spondon.
However, Mr Jones said there were “lots of cases” where Green Belt sites are actually “grey belt” and ripe for development, but detailed that “genuine Green Belt” would be protected. Mr Jones said Government funding can be used to speed up the building of affordable housing, particularly on brownfield sites, including on the Oaklea Mills development from EMH Homes.
Pressed on the genuine affordability of affordable housing, he said affordable housing is characterised as 60 percent of market value, which he said works in some areas, but not in those where rents are particularly high. He said shared ownership remained a viable option for people to be able to buy their own homes.
Mr Jones said having new housing which is more energy efficient helps to keep homes more affordable in the long term with lower utility bills. He said: “There are two mechanisms for getting affordable homes built and one is the planning requirements and making sure that developers are putting some of their money where their mouth is and building affordable homes because they make a profit on the ones they sell on the open market but the other thing is using funding from Government.”
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