Stockton-On-Tees Borough Council Housing Site Selection Topic Paper
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Appendix 3 Topic Papers Housing Need and Demand Topic Paper Housing Site Selection Topic Paper Yarm and Kirklevington Topic Paper Wynyard Topic Paper Health and Safety Constraints Topic Paper Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council Housing Need and Demand Topic Paper February 2015 Responses to comments relating to housing need and demand 1 Contents Introduction................................................................................................... 3 The Regional Context ................................................................................... 4 The opportunity to determine housing targets locally ................................... 6 The Nathaniel Litchfield and Partners challenge to the robustness of the housing requirement ................................................................................... 15 Taking empty homes into account .............................................................. 20 Housing need and demand by area ........................................................... 25 Rural housing need and demand ............................................................... 30 Affordable Housing ..................................................................................... 35 The ageing population and addressing the needs of vulnerable people ..... 38 Executive Housing ...................................................................................... 40 Housing Delivery ........................................................................................ 47 Representations that this topic paper responded to ................................... 51 Appendix 1: The distribution of Council Tax bands ................................. 52 Appendix 2: The distribution of Council Tax band G & H properties ....... 53 Appendix 3: The distribution of Council Tax band E & F properties ........ 54 2 Introduction 1. A number of representations have been received relating to housing need and demand. This topic paper responds to those representations. Housing need and demand covers a broad area and this is reflected in the range of representations that have been received. 2. The local planning authority is not reviewing the housing requirement as part of the Core Strategy Review of housing options. It is only looking at the locations where housing sites will be allocated, that is to say the spatial distribution of housing sites. Nonetheless representations have been received relating to the overall housing requirement. These representations include both the contention that the overall housing requirement is too low and that it is too high. One section of this paper therefore sets out why the Council believes it is appropriate to retain the average annual housing requirement stated in the adopted Core Strategy and rolling this forward to 2030. 3. The issue of housing need and demand in the context of the different housing sub divisions has been raised by some respondees. Comments include that the housing need and demand for the Billingham sub division has not been met and that the housing allocation to the Yarm and Eaglescliffe area is excessive. It has also been contended that the approach to meeting rural housing need and demand is too restrictive and that the need rural affordable housing has not been adequately addressed. A section of this paper responds to those representations. 4. The affordable housing requirement has been the subject of some responses and this also forms a section of this paper. These include the contention that full annual affordable housing requirement identified in the 2012 Tees Valley Strategic Housing Market Assessment (2012 TVSHMA) should be planned for. This issue is addressed in the affordable housing section of this paper. 5. The needs of the ageing population and vulnerable groups are one very important aspect of housing need and demand. The evidence relating to this topic and the policy response are summarised. 6. The need and demand for executive housing is particularly relevant in the context of the Wynyard Village housing allocation. A section of this paper provides a definition of executive housing and discusses the evidence of a need and demand for executive housing in the Tees Valley and why Wynyard is considered to be a suitable location for this type of development. 7. Some respondees have commented on the housing delivery plans of the local planning authority for meeting housing need and demand. A section of this paper discusses the issues raised by these representations. These include whether only a minimum buffer of 5% should be added to the housing requirement or whether a 20% buffer should be added. 3 The Regional Context 8. The housing requirement for the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees has been determined through the process of producing the North East of England Plan: Regional Spatial Strategy to 2021 (referred to as the regional strategy for simplicity). The regional strategy was produced by the former North East Assembly. The regional strategy determined the Tees Valley requirement and the apportionment to the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. This was then incorporated in the Adopted Core Strategy (March 2010). In order to be adopted the Core Strategy, including the housing requirement, had first to be found ‘sound’ by an independent inspector. The evidence that supported the housing requirement for Stockton-on- Tees 9. The first point to emphasise is that the Regional Strategy housing target for Stockton (and the other Tees Valley authorities) was not imposed from the top but built up through working with all the authorities to reach a housing requirement target that all the Tees Valley authorities supported. This meant that a consistent approach could be taken at the Examination in Public for the Regional Strategy. It is clearly not possible to divorce the assumptions for housing made for Stockton without considering the wider Tees Valley context. It is also important to understand that the housing requirement was not trend- based; that is to say that although trend-based data was taken into account it also reflected the policy aspirations of the Tees Valley authorities. 10. Key assumptions behind the ‘Tees Valley’ housing requirement were as follows: • Net migration (the rate of people moving in less the rate of people moving out) rates for 2001 – 2005, indicated a strong case for an optimistic outlook on future migration rates • Grounds for optimism for faster economic growth reflected in work done by the Northern Way, City Region Development Programme and Tees Valley Vision • A locational strategy focussing future development in city regions • Major regeneration proposals in the pipeline and initiatives to re-structure the housing market • Providing more choice and variety of housing type and location 11. A number of trends in population and housing had been apparent since 1991: • Slowing rate of population decline • Between 1991-2001 there was an average net migration loss of 1500 per annum, but a much lower net loss of 700 per annum in the period since 1998/99 • Higher rate in household numbers • Increase in number of net dwellings 12. The policy based housing projection submitted to the Panel for the Examination in Public of the Regional Strategy (as opposed to a trend based projection) included key economic factors such as: • A strong manufacturing based centred on the steel and chemical sectors contributing to national exports 4 • Strong growth of jobs in the service sector to replace those lost in manufacturing. 13. Economic growth was complemented by much lower net migration losses – the lowest at that time in the last 30-40 years. The economic case was built up around a number of sources of evidence including: • The Northern Way Growth Strategy • Centre for Economics and Business Research report ”The implications of a Prosperous North East for the RSS” that indicated even under a no change structural change model there was potential for 24,000 more jobs to be created in the Tees Valley to 2021 and an improved annual growth rate in GVA of 2.87% from 2004-2021 • New developments in the chemical and processing sectors • The Role of Teesport and its expansion • The role of Durham Tees Valley Airport • Tees Valley regeneration projects • Growth in university/education sector 14. The assumptions for housing at Tees Valley level were as follows: • Net migration is zero • Birth and death rates follow national trends but retaining local differentials • Household formation rates were the same as those used in central government forecasts 15. The distribution of the Tees Valley housing requirement between the local authorities (particularly in the first two periods of the Regional Strategy 2004- 2011 and 2011-16) needed to reflect the scale of existing commitments, and allow positive intervention in the housing market including support for the housing element of major regeneration and flagship projects and re- structuring within a number of areas and communities. In Stockton, key factors included the Riverside providing a focus for further office development, employment uses, housing and the expansion of Durham University’s Queens Campus on the North Shore site. Commentary 16. The economic case referred to a projected annual growth rate in GVA of 2.87% (see 2nd bullet point, paragraph 13). The CPRE have commented ‘That growth has not occurred in recent years and there is no evidence to suggest that it will be achieved in the future, at least in the short term’ and the continued validity of this assumption has also been questioned in some representations