Innovation in council housebuilding – Northumberland

The council has completed a programme of 288 new HRA homes in recent years. It is also strongly supporting community organisations to create affordable rented housing to meet local need across the county.


The council has completed a programme of 288 new HRA homes in recent years. It is also strongly supporting community organisations to create affordable rented housing to meet local need across the county. Currently many aspects of housing provision, including opportunities for new build, are under review in the light of recent legislative changes and that of the political leadership of the council, which is keen to see plans drawn up to support the future provision of affordable rural housing.

Context

Northumberland County Council was established in 2009 as a unitary council. Prior to that, there existed six district councils plus the former county council, which were brought together following local government reorganisation. Its housing stock was inherited from two former district councils, the four other councils having previously disposed of their stock via large scale voluntary transfer, and the current stock of 8,542 dwellings is managed in-house within the HRA.

The county is geographically and economically very diverse, with many rural communities. Northumberland has focused its housing strategy on ‘healthy people’ and ‘sustainable economies and communities’, which includes provision for a growing population of older people (the fastest growing segment of the population). A proposed North of Tyne combined authority is likely to offer fresh opportunities for the council to work in partnership to deliver housing across the county, including council housing.

Council housebuilding

The council has built 288 new homes at a cost of £29 million over the last seven years. These are managed in-house within the HRA. With this programme completed, the future is under review. The housing proved relatively expensive to build, as some of the sites used were difficult and land values in rural and coastal areas often high.

A further strand of housebuilding is to support community organisations, parish councils, community land trusts and similar bodies to create new community-owned housing at the local level. In some cases the land or buildings are owned by parish councils or by the council. The council and partner organisations are also looking to enable this programme using Section 106 land or homes.

Funding

The council housebuilding programme was funded with £22 million in HRA funds plus £7 million in HRA borrowing, within the cap. The council has £4 million available within the cap and could potentially use HRA reserves, in conjunction with funding through Homes England, to develop a future build programme.

The council was awarded £1.3 million from the Community Housing Fund due to the high level of second home ownership and affordability problems in the county. This is used to support the delivery of community-led affordable housing across the county but with a particular focus on rural areas. This programme can also be supported by Homes England funding where a registered provider is involved in the delivery of community-led housing. 

Additional motivations

The council’s current dwelling stock is being reduced through right to buy (RTB) and, because of the history of the authority, it is concentrated in two districts of the county – Alnwick and Blyth Valley. New housebuilding both sustains the stock level and creates opportunities to provide homes in new areas. The council saw an opportunity to support communities and the local economy by using its new homes programme to increase the numbers of local people employed in building new homes and in ongoing maintenance programmes, including creating new apprenticeships.

Challenges

Northumberland is a very diverse county, with some areas of low-demand housing stock and the need for economic regeneration to support and sustain communities, while in other areas prosperity and attractiveness has brought unaffordability and high levels of second home ownership.

The housing need is therefore geographically spread and very varied. Finding land remains a difficulty. Northumberland has a community asset transfer policy that can sometimes provide sites or buildings for demolition, such as garages on estates. However, these sites are not necessarily in the right place to meet need, and opportunities may become exhausted. Communities CAN (NE) Ltd (see below) is also working with parish councils that own small pockets of land and exploring possibilities with a range of other landowners.

Benefits and opportunities

The programme to boost community-led housebuilding offers a range of opportunities and is one the council is keen to support. Through the community housing fund the council, in partnership with Community Action Northumberland (CAN), the rural community council, developed Communities CAN (NE) Ltd, a trading arm of CAN, the aim of which is to provide a full offer of support to parish councils, community land trusts and other small organisations wishing to develop community-led housing.

The council is seeking to maximise the community housing fund allocation it was awarded to support local communities to deliver much-needed affordable housing and create sustainable communities. This may include bringing empty homes back into use, refurbishing heritage assets, buying new homes ‘off the shelf’ delivered through planning obligations and building new homes. The programme has generated strong interest in local communities with around 20 potential schemes identified. Because it is capable of working at the micro-level, a single disused or outdated building can be turned into new affordable housing, for rent in perpetuity, as a community asset. This helps to overcome potential local opposition.

The partnership with Communities and CAN also offers the opportunity to develop affordable housing on Section 106 sites where housing associations are not in a position to step in. In such cases, CAN will facilitate and support community organisations or parish councils to take on a small number of affordable homes from a larger private development. Plans are in progress for a North of Tyne combined authority, with housing as a key element. This should help create greater resources for housing in the future.