Question 19

As a Council, we are committed to tackling the housing crisis locally and ensuring the delivery of much needed homes with a wide range of tenures to meet differing needs and affordability.

Since 2013, the Council has taken an active role in tackling barriers to delivery on development sites to ensure that we achieve a five year supply of housing.

We want to ensure that the development happens, but that it takes place responsibly. We want to ensure that:

• Necessary infrastructure such as transport links are secured upfront and do not follow development this will help tackle issues related to congestion BEFORE development takes place. This will include ensuring that we are enhancing and protecting local distinctiveness.
• The necessary enforcement is in place during development – we will ensure this happens by securing funding for enforcement officers from developers as part of the planning process.
• We are ensuring that houses are meeting local need in a number of ways: through partnerships with social housing providers (such as VIVID or Radian), via our local housing company, Aspect Building Communities or by the Council being land owner for some of the development sites, we are able to ensure that housing will meet local need. As landowner, the Council will be able to shape the development in terms of quantity, mix, tenure and price of the
  new homes.
• Supporting existing Local Plan policies on our countryside gaps and maintain the distinctiveness of our settlements.

We can already demonstrate that we are doing this on a number of sites across the Borough and will continue to ensure that this approach is applied, where appropriate, to all developments in the future. Here are some examples:

• The Council purchased land off Bursledon Road (former car boot sale site) so we can build a link road alongside the new homes, taking congestion off Hamble Lane and retaining open space for a new country park.
• Delivering 94 homes for market and affordable rent in partnership with a social housing provider at Woodside Avenue, Eastleigh.
• Providing 146 homes as a joint initiative with a social housing provider at Stoneham Park, Eastleigh to provide long term market rental properties in addition to 196 affordable homes.
  Delivering 98 homes for market and affordable rent and market sale in partnership with a social housing provider at Hatch Farm, West End.
• The Council has purchased an area of development land at Horton Heath with a view to developing around 1,400 new homes. As owner of the land the Council can shape the development in terms of quality mix and tenure of new homes.

Ensuring the right homes are in the right places

The Council has successfully refused applications for development on land across the Borough and defended its decisions at independent inquiries. Including land west of Hamble station, Mallards Road, Bursledon, Grange Road, Netley and land at Bubb Lane, Hedge End.

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