HOUSING
A RETURN TO THE 1970S? Paul Belton, Partner at Carter Jonas (Cambridge), explores the potential for local authorities to deliver affordable housing.
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rom Lloyd George’s promise of “homes fit for heroes” and the 1919 Addison Act, to the current Government’s target of 300,000 new homes being built each year to relieve the housing crisis, housing has been at the forefront of British politics for over a century. Unfortunately, successive Governments have failed to meet ambitious targets and the last time that over 300,000 homes were delivered was in 1977, when 143,920 homes (45%) were built by the private sector, 25,120 (8%) by housing associations and 145,070 (46%) by local authorities. In 2019, 214,200 homes were built, of which 80% were delivered by the private sector, 18% by housing associations and under 2% by local authorities. So, can the public sector step up an incredible 60%, in order to meet the figures last achieved 45 years ago? There is no doubt that local authority housing and planning departments are under considerable strain, but despite this, innovative partnerships with the private sector are producing some very positive results. From Scarborough to West Sussex
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and Maidenhead to Cambridge, Carter Jonas is involved in innovative partnerships and pioneering developments. Carter Jonas is working with many local authorities as landowners on a variety of new housing-led projects. Often, an options testing process is undertaken which determines an appropriate housing development model from a spectrum. At one end of the scale, the local authority has minimum risk, but also minimum involvement: the site is sold, then planning consent is achieved and the scheme is built by a developer. Moving along the spectrum, the next option is for the council to put in place a development
agreement, which allows for a little more control over the masterplan and an agreement about the point at which financial returns are received. The spectrum then moves into the world of joint ventures. This might be a contractual or corporate arrangement with a private sector partner through which the council contributes the land and takes its returns at later stages in the development process. Finally, at the end of the spectrum, the council could set up its own wholly-owned development company taking on all risk, along with the financial uplift. Carter Jonas is currently conducting this decision-making process with Scarborough
Borough Council. The council owns 10 sites, which range in capacity from four to 600 homes. The work initially comprised a portfolio review which highlighted the constraints and opportunities for each site. A shortlist of the most viable sites was drawn up and, based on an overarching objective of the council to deliver affordable housing, we’re working towards selecting an appropriate partner. In Cambridge, Carter Jonas is working with the Cambridge Investment Partnership (CIP) whose aim is to deliver 1000 new council homes within Cambridge. CIP was established as a partnership between Cambridge City Council and local housebuilder Hill, in response to the ever-growing housing list which, bearing in mind local land prices, clearly wasn’t going to be solved by the private sector alone. The initial project completed with CIP was a site purchased through the open market which achieved policy-compliant levels of affordable housing, at 40%. Since then, several projects have focused on sites already owned by the council, many of which have been able to deliver 100% of the new homes as council homes.
