RUAL AFFAIRS AND ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE RURAL HOUSING INQUIRY SUBMISSION FROM SOUTH LANARKSHIRE COUNCIL Rural Housing Inquiry – South Lanarkshire Rural Geography South Lanarkshire is a large authority, with a population of around 307,500 spread across a diverse area stretching from the populated urban areas of East Kilbride and Cambuslang in the north, to the rural villages of Elvanfoot and Abington in the south. The authority area is shown in Appendix 1. It is also the fourth biggest landlord in Scotland with 26,700 tenants at March 2007. The Local Housing Strategy 2004 – 2009, defines four Housing Market Areas (HMA) in South Lanarkshire - East Kilbride, Cambuslang/Rutherglen, Clydesdale and Hamilton. Clydesdale HMA covers the small towns of Lanark and Carluke and smaller rural settlements as detailed in the map outlined in Appendix 2. There are a few other relatively small landward settlements in South Lanarkshire, for example, Drumclog, Quarter, Netherburn, Stonehouse and Strathaven. However, within South Lanarkshire, these form part of the wider Hamilton and East Kilbride HMAs. Robust housing needs data is not available at these lower levels for these settlements. Accordingly, we have defined the South Lanarkshire rural area as the Clydesdale HMA for the purposes of this paper. Tenure Profile At 31 March 2007, almost a fifth (19.3%) of South Lanarkshire households were resident in Clydesdale HMA, accounting for 26,939 homes. Table 1 sets out the tenure breakdown by HMA. As can be seen in Table 1, owner occupation is the principal tenure in Clydesdale, accounting for 70.1%. A quarter (25.1%) of households are in the social rented sector and 4.7%, the highest in South Lanarkshire, rent privately. Table 1: Tenure Breakdown by HMA at 31 March 2007 Local RSL Private Owner Authority Rented Occupation Total No. % No. % No. % No. % Hamilton 10461 21.6% 1955 4.0% 1462 3.0% 34636 71.4% 48514 East Kilbride 5508 14.7% 592 1.6% 1226 3.3% 30038 80.4% 37364 Clydesdale 5347 19.8% 1425 5.3% 1273 4.7% 18894 70.1% 26939 Cambuslang/Rutherglen 5405 20.3% 1607 6.0% 754 2.8% 18902 70.9% 26668 South Lanarkshire 26721 19.2% 5579 4.0% 4715 3.4% 102470 73.5% 139485 Source: South Lanarkshire Council Figure 1 sets out tenure change (%) in Clydesdale since 1991. Owner occupation has grown steadily over the period, rising from 52.4% share of tenure in 1991 to 70.1% in 2007. There has been a Figure 1: Tenure Change in Clydesdale HMA 1991 - 2007 80.0 70.0 60.0 Owner/Occupation 50.0 Local Auth 40.0 RSL 30.0 All Social Rented 20.0 Private Rented 10.0 0.0 1991 2001 2007 Source: Census 1991, 2001: South Lanarkshire Council 2007 modest growth in the RSL sector but this small growth has been overshadowed by the sharp decline in local authority housing and all social rented overall. The growth in owner occupation can partly be accounted for by the high level of Right to Buy sales. Over the period 1980 to 31 March 2007, 4,308 local authority homes were sold to sitting tenants, representing 44.4% of the housing stock. These changes in tenure pattern are similar to other areas of South Lanarkshire. Housing Need – Quantity and Quality Issues South Lanarkshire Council carried out its first Affordable Housing Needs Assessment (AHNA) in 2004, and, given changes in the housing market, commissioned an update in 2006 which reported in August 2007. Conducted by Newhaven Research, the Assessment determined that over a ten year period, the Clydesdale HMA was essentially in balance and that no further new supply was required. The Newhaven study, however, established that there is currently a backlog need of 1,824 affordable homes in the Clydesdale HMA, although it is anticipated that lettings supply should essentially meet this and new need over the ten year period. (Table 3). Housing need, insofar as it exists, is predominately for affordable rent. Newhaven found little scope for low cost home ownership (LCHO) as prices in the lower quartile were considered relatively affordable, being generally less expensive than new build LCHO options. Table 3: 10 Year Needs Estimates for Clydesdale 2007- 2016 Clydesdale South Lanarkshire Backlog 1,824 11,666 New needs 2007- 2016 5,000 25,098 Total need 6,824 36,764 Lettings 2007- 2016 6,545 24,782 Shortfall 279 11,982 Annual shortfall 28 1,198 Source: Derived from Newhaven (2007): Table 33 In terms of household type the pattern of backlog need is similar in Clydesdale to that in South Lanarkshire overall. (See Table 4). The total proportion of single person households in need in Clydesdale (61.4%) is comparable to that of South Lanarkshire (62.1%), although the age profile differs. For example, single person households over the age of 59 years is 13.0% in Clydesdale Table 4: Backlog Housing Need by Household Type – 31 March 2006 SLC Housing Register Clydesdale South Lanarkshire No % No % Single < 24 344 23.9% 2,547 24.5% Single 24-59 353 24.5% 2,735 26.3% Single > 59 187 13.0% 1,175 11.3% Childless couple 195 13.5% 1,096 10.6% Household with children 344 23.9% 2,700 26.0% Other 21 1.5% 129 1.2% Total 1,442 100% 10,381 100% Source: Derived from Newhaven (2007): Tables 7 and 37. Note: Total backlog need for Clydesdale from SLC housing register only – Total overall housing backlog need is 1,824 homes compared to 11.3% in South Lanarkshire, whereas there is lower proportion of single person households aged 24-59 years in Clydesdale (24.5%) compared to South Lanarkshire (26.3%). The proportion of childless couples in Clydesdale (13.5%) is also higher than in South Lanarkshire (10.6%) but the proportion of households with children is lower in Clydesdale (23.9%) compared to South Lanarkshire overall (26.0%). It should be stressed that because of data limitations and difficulties in projecting households at small area levels, the study did not explore below the HMA level. However, the Council believe that there is a need for additional new supply in some rural communities below this level (set against over supply in others) and is currently assessing information held on its housing registers. The Council has carried out a ‘pressure analysis’ which provides a measure of the strength of demand in established letting areas. Because some of the letting areas are very small, we have grouped a number of areas into geographical clusters to give us a better indication of the needs within our rural towns and settlements. This analysis established that there is high pressure, i.e. under supply, for social rented housing in particular settlements. The high pressure areas identified are: • Biggar Cluster1, Lanark • Braidwood Cluster2, Carluke • Carluke Town Cluster3, Carluke • Lanark Town Cluster4, Lanark • Other Small Rural Settlements Cluster, Carluke • Other Small Rural Settlements Cluster, Lanark. This analysis also highlights there are particular rural areas which are suffering from negative or low demand, i.e. over supply. The rural areas causing most concern are: • Carstairs Cluster5, Carluke • Douglas Valley Cluster6, Lanark • Forth Cluster7, Carluke • Law Letting Area, Carluke • Smyllum Letting Area, Lanark. In order to establish more clearly the future demand for affordable rented housing in these communities we are planning to commission a further study into our rural areas in summer 2008 to help inform both our Rural Strategy and our new Local Housing Strategy for 2009 – 2014. As well as addressing issues of over or under supply (quantity), we are also concerned to ensure housing of adequate quality. Although there is not a need for further new supply at the HMA level, it is recognised that some of the existing stock will require to be replaced in Clydesdale, to ensure that social housing landlords are able to meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) by 2015. This is particularly the case in terms of meeting the energy efficiency element of the SHQS as there are problems with obsolete and inefficient heating systems and ongoing issues about connecting homes to the main gas supply. Homelessness An analysis of homelessness trends is shown in Tables 5 and 6. During 2006/2007, 558 households in the Clydesdale area presented as homeless to South Lanarkshire Council. Of these presentations, 78.5% were determined to be homeless or potentially homeless. In the same year, 32% of lets in the Council’s stock was allocated to homeless households, slightly lower than the South Lanarkshire average of 38%. The number of lets to homeless households has grown significantly since 2003/2004 while the total number of 1 Includes Biggar, Biggarshiels, Candymill, Coulter, Symington and Thankerton letting areas 2 Includes Braidwood and Crossford letting areas 3 Includes Cairneymount, Crawforddyke East, Crawforddyke North, Crawforddyke West, Douglas Street, West, Whitehill West and Whitehill letting areas 4 Includes Bankhead, Castlegate, Corehouse, Kildare, Kirkfieldbank, The Marches, Wellgate, Wheatpark and Woodstock Rd letting areas 5 Includes Carstairs Junction, Carstairs Village and Cleghorn letting areas 6 Includes Coalburn, Coalburn Middlefield, Douglas, Douglas Water, Glespin and Rigside letting areas 7 Includes Forth East and Forth West letting areas available lets has decreased. The proportion of lets to homeless households in 2006/ 2007 (14%) has more than doubled since 2003/2004 (38%). However, the level of lets to homeless households in Clydesdale still falls short of the South Lanarkshire average. Table 5: Homelessness Presentations in Clydesdale Homeless or Neither Homeless Total Potentially or Potentially Presentations Homeless Homeless 2003/2004 285 168 453 2004/2005 289 161 450 2005/2006 369 154 523 2006/2007 438 120 558 Source: South Lanarkshire Council Table 6: Lets to Homeless Households in Clydesdale Lets to Total % Lets - % Lets – South Homeless Available Lets Clydesdale Lanarkshire Households 2003/2004 92 658 14% 18% 2004/2005 69 564 12% 19% 2005/2006 144 556 26% 30% 2006/2007 159 503 32% 38% Source: South Lanarkshire Council The AHNA reviewed applicants’ reasons for applying for housing in the Council’s housing register.