Westonzoyland Parish Housing Need Assessment 2016 Final Report
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Westonzoyland Parish Housing Need Assessment 2016 Final Report APRIL 2016 Westonzoyland Parish Housing Need Assessment (2015-16) Draft Report MARCH 2016 Final Report APRIL 2016 Author Duncan Harvey, Affordable Housing Policy and Development Manager Direct: +44 (0)1278 436440 Email: [email protected] Affordable Housing Esther Carter, Housing Project Development Officer Project Lead from Direct: +44 (0)1278 435599 SDC Housing Devpt Team Email: [email protected] Organisation Sedgemoor District Council Affordable Housing Development Unit Address Strategy and Business Services, Bridgwater House, King Square, Bridgwater, Somerset TA6 3AR Telephone 0845 408 2540 Email [email protected] The Sedgemoor District Council Affordable Housing Development Team (AFHDT) is Sedgemoor a small dedicated team with specific responsibility to oversee the delivery of new Affordable Housing affordable housing. The team are part of the wider SDC Strategy and Development Development Unit Service. This service is responsible for developing and implementing many of the Council's key strategies and policies. Building upon a successful track-record of delivering affordable-homes in rural communities, the AFHDT provides support and advice to parish councils, landowners, developers and registered providers with the aim of developing new affordable-housing. The AFHDT has developed its own housing need assessment processes which provide publically available independent and robust evidence for future housing growth in rural communities. The 2015-16 Westonzoyland Housing Need Assessment Sedgemoor District Council’s Affordable Housing Development Unit (“AFHDU”) undertook a housing survey (“HNA”) in Westonzoyland in late 2015. A letter was sent to every household living in the parish of Westonzoyland. The letter, along with a stage-one Expression of Interest Survey Form (“EOI”) invited people to community housing consultation in the village hall on 26th August 2015. The Westonzoyland HNA set out to investigate what level of unmet housing need existed from people with a connection with the parish. The HNA used a two stage assessment process. As described above, STAGE-ONE saw a short housing questionnaire posted to every household in the parish of Westonzoyland which incorporated an invite to a housing consultation held in the village hall on 26th August 2015. This simply asked respondents to indicate whether they felt they had some form of unmet housing need and invited them to come along to the consultation event. This exercise provided an initial insight into what unmet housing need might exist locally. This exercise resulted in 29 separate local households come forward claiming to have some form of unmet housing need in Westonzoyland. A detailed housing assessment of each of the 29 respondents from stage-one took place at STAGE-TWO. This stage asked people to complete a longer and more in depth housing survey questionnaire (“HNA”). HNA forms were also sent to a further 38 families (expressly looking for a home in Westonzoyland or were looking for a home elsewhere, yet had a connection with Westonzoyland) who were already registered with the authority on the homefindersomerset CBL register. The CBL register is commonly referred to as the housing waiting list. People living outside Westonzoyland would not have received a HNA form. Nevertheless people living elsewhere were free to submit a HNA form if they were aware of that the survey was taking place. Assessment of Affordable Housing Need in Westonzoyland = 24 Homes 20 x Affordable Rented 4 x Affordable Homeownership 8 x 1-bed flat/house for rent 2 x 1-bed flat /house for affordable-homeownership 6 x 2-bed house for rent 1 x 2-bed house for affordable-homeownership 4 x 3-bed house for rent 1 x 3-bed house for affordable-homeownership 2 x 4-bed house for rent As with any housing survey, the exercise is not an exact science. Nevertheless, the conclusions of this report do offer a snap-shot in time into the possible levels of affordable housing need in Westonzoyland from local people. As at September 2015, there were a total of 38 families expressly looking for an affordable home in Westonzoyland or were looking for a home elsewhere, but had a connection with Westonzoyland registered with the authority on the homefindersomerset CBL register. Whilst the CBL information is a useful indication of possible unmet need, the range of data held on the CBL system did not allow us to accurately assess true housing need in Westonzoyland. It should be noted that housing applicant’s seeking a home via the homefindersomerset CBL system are only able to select one preferred location for housing. However, all housing applicants can bid for vacant affordable homes in locations outside their preferred choice. Whilst speculation on my part, the numbers of CBL housing applicant’s with a potential interest in an affordable home in Westonzoyland is likely to be greater than 38. Despite writing to all 38 CBL applicants personally, a significant number of these failed to respond to the HNA survey. Quite why so many people, who have taken the time to register for housing on the CBL system failed to reply to the HNA is unclear at this time. Experience gained from working in other rural communities tells us that CBL applicant’s often assume that their CBL submission doubles up as a HNA. This assumption on the CBL applicant’s part is incorrect. Apathy and form-filling overload is often cited by the non-responding CBL applicant. Only responses to the HNA have been used to inform the conclusions of this report. Westonzoyland Data from the Census 2011 and other national statistic sources can be accessed down to ward and parish level via the National Statistics web site of the Office for National Statistics. Westonzoyland is a village (and civil parish) in Somerset. The village is situated on the Somerset Levels, 4 miles south east of the town of Bridgwater There were 736 households in Westonzoyland parish (Office of National Statistics, Census 2011) Owner Occupied Accommodation Homeownership is the overwhelming dominant housing tenure in Westonzoyland, equating to 82% all properties in the Parish (ONS data, updated April 2011). This is above the average for Sedgemoor (71%) and the average for England. Reviewing recent house sale values and current asking prices confirm that cost is a significant barrier for many looking to purchase a home. Despite a below average increase in house prices of £5,279 in Westonzoyland over the past year (increase of 2.4%) Zoopla, March 2016 Westonzoyland properties remain unaffordable and out of reach for a significant number of local people (who are already not on the housing ladder and on local incomes) looking for a home in Westonzoyland. Assessing the entry level price of housing is difficult in Westonzoyland. The average price paid for a home in Westonzoyland over the past year was £195,816 Zoopla, March 2016. The current average asking price of homes stands at a staggering £229,422 Zoopla, March 2016. The smallest property on the market at this time is a 3 bed unit at £249,950. The majority of homes sold or currently on the market tend to be larger homes, with very few smaller homes available for people looking to get a foot on the housing market (“first time buyer housing”). There have been no flats on the market for sale in Westonzoyland. Research has confirmed that the lowest recorded sale price for residential property (since 2013) has been in the region of £165,000 Zoopla, March 2016. Resale values for residential property in the Westonzoyland area are typically in excess of £250,000 Zoopla, March 2016. There have been no properties sold in Westonzoyland over the past 12 months which could be typically considered “first time buyer housing”. The majority of properties sold were 3 bed family homes, the smaller two bed properties sold tended to be bungalows which are typically not first time buyers properties. Assuming someone was looking for a small property priced at 165k. This would typically require a person to have a minimum deposit of 10% (£16.5k) in order to secure a mortgage of £148.5k. Notwithstanding the fact that many people do not have access to any form of deposit and by referring to the table later in this report (labelled “Detailed Assessment of Individual 2014/15 Westonzoyland HNA Respondents”); none of these households could even afford the cheapest, smallest property. Furthermore, local incomes are not keeping pace with this rate of house price inflation. Westonzoyland is becoming an increasing unaffordable place to live for many local people. The 2015-16 HNA exercise has not offered any obvious insight into the future scale and nature of market housing requirements for Westonzoyland. The Sedgemoor Core Strategy is the Local Plan relevant to Westonzoyland. Sedgemoor District Council adopted this plan in 2011. This sets out planning policy for the district over the period 2006-2027. This plan is currently being reviewed, with a new plan proposed by 2017. Policy S1 sets out the spatial strategy for Sedgemoor, identifying how much development should go where. This indicates that 70% of all new homes (2006 - 2027) are to be built in Bridgwater and 15% at Burnham-on-Sea and Highbridge. The remaining 15% (1,575 homes) are expected to be provided in smaller towns and villages. The majority of the 15% (12%) going to 17 identified Key Rural Settlements (KRS), of which Westonzoyland is one. Private Rented Accommodation The PRS sector accounts for approximately 9% of the total Westonzoyland housing stock (ONS data, Census 2011). This is below the average for Sedgemoor. PRS housing is in limited supply. Whilst only Anecdotal, research suggesting exceptional high levels of local demand as and when rare vacancies arise. Whilst this review is only a snapshot in time, there were no PRS vacancies being advertised at the time of this point-in-time.