Clerk: Mrs. L Rampton

Parish Council Office,

Winscombe Community Centre,

11 Sandford Road, Winscombe,

North Somerset BS25 1JA

Tel: 01934 844257   Fax: 01934 844292

 

Affordable Housing Working Group Meeting Notes

Friday 24th June 2011, 10.00am

Link Room, Winscombe Community Centre

 

Members Present:            Mark Boddy (MBo), Steve Bridges (SB), Archie Forbes (AF), Bren Johnson (BJ), Valerie McGann (VMc), Gavin Rider (GR), Chris Sampson (CS), Mike Williamson (MW).

Clerk:                           Lynne Rampton (LR)

Apologies for Absence:            Geoff Luckett (GL)

 

Background: New members were welcomed to the meeting and the remit of the Working Group as a non-decision making group was explained for the benefit of those members. It was clarified that this meeting was to consider the forthcoming public consultation events, to confirm the need for affordable housing and is not site specific at this time.

 

A brief introduction of themselves was given by each member:

MBo – Whilst not associated with any pressure group, he is against development of the Hillyfield site. Unsure of the proven need but considers further investigations should take place.

SB – Well known in the Parish, in favour of affordable housing but preferably not outside the settlement boundary or in the AONB.

AF – Parish Council Chairman, spokesperson for the AHWG & in favour of affordable housing for the parish.

BJ – Returned to the parish to raise her family, considers there is a need for affordable housing but not in the AONB. Member of the Hillyfield Action Group.

VMc – Three generations of family living in the parish and believes that affordable housing should be for the benefit of those with a connection to the parish. Daughter is married to an employee of Summerfield Developments, owners of the Hillyfield site but has not joined the working group to promote that site.

GR – If there is a proven need for affordable housing, we should try to build inside the settlement boundary. Care should be taken not to overlook the shortage of larger accommodation. Concern was expressed regarding the ‘exception site policy’ sometimes used for the provision of affordable housing and also for the determination of housing need. Member of the Hillyfield Action Group.

CS – Requests have been made to the Parish Council over numerous needs to address the affordable homes situation for the parish. Convinced of the need for affordable housing but must find somewhere suitable.

MW – Considers that we must address the needs of this parish for affordable housing in the proper manner and is not necessarily concerned about policies affecting the rest of the country.

As all members were in agreement, consideration could be given by the Parish Council to issuing a policy statement advising that it does not wish to develop land outside the settlement boundary or in the AONB for the delivery of affordable housing unless no other suitable land can be found.

 

Update on the need for Affordable Housing in this Parish: Frustration was expressed by some members that this issue is continually revisited. The Parish Council, at their meeting held on 17th March 2011 unanimously concluded that there is sufficient evidence of a need for affordable housing in the parish based on further analysis of information held on the NSC housing register.

Discussions took place on NS strategic targets and the requirement of the ‘needs assessment’ to follow DCLG guidance and that need to be quantified and qualified. A member considered that lessons could be learnt from some close-by parishes that have found their ‘affordable homes’ filled with people that do not have a local connection to the parish.

A debate took place regarding the provision of starter homes v larger family homes with it being concluded that the type of properties to be delivered will be determined at a later date.

 

Affordable housing consultation events: A three stage consultation process had been submitted to the parish council at the June 2011 meeting with the first of these events that is to explain what affordable housing is and a request for information on further sites scheduled to take place on 26th July 2011. To enable as many people as possible to attend the event, KHA and NSC should be asked to attend until 8.30pm, not 6.30pm as previously discussed. The second consultation event could be held at a venue in Sandford.

Advertisements publicising the 26th July event have been submitted to both the Parish Magazine and the Home and Local that will be distributed to households in advance of the event. KHA will arrange for the printing of 2,000 leaflets that will be hand delivered to each home in the parish and the local press should be asked to publish event details. SB offered to organise and coordinate the leaflet delivery and assistance from the Hillyfield Action Group was volunteered for this task.

Meeting closed at 11.15 am*