‘Hugely ambitious’ plan for 500 new social homes in next five years

An “aspirational” plan for 500 social housing properties to be built or bought has been unveiled by a Devon council.

The bold plan – that could cost around £100 million – has been unveiled by East Devon District Council as part of its bid to create more affordable housing in the district.
Members of the council’s housing review board (Thursday 31 July) were told about the plan, and how it might be funded if it were to be pursued.
No decision on whether to progress was made at the meeting, but it was endorsed by the housing review board to be progressed to cabinet and full council.
“The report does contain some big numbers, but we are not seeking budget approval today,” said Liam Reading, assistant director for investment and development.
“Rather today is about setting out what is possible in headline terms and explaining the viability.
“It is an aspirational target and we are setting the bar very high, but it is important to be ambitious.”
East Devon has more than 4,100 social housing properties at present, meaning that if stock levels remained the same and 500 more were built or bought, it would be above 4,600.
That compares to around 3,000 in neighbouring Mid Devon.
Mr Reading expected around £60 million of the predicted £100 million would need to be borrowed, with hopes for the remainder coming from the likes of government grants from Homes England.
In spite of the potential additional borrowing, though, Mr Reading asserted that the increase in its housing stock would not negatively impact its housing finances.
The aim would be for the rent from the new properties to cover the payments on the borrowing it had used to build or buy them.
Councillor Dan Ledger (Independent, Seaton), the cabinet member for sustainable homes and communities, said the build and buy plan was part of “looking to the future”.
“If you look at every single plan for the council, it all points to building and buying social homes for our tenants that are secure, comfortable and easy to heat, and this ticks to many boxes,” he said.
“It is a long time coming, but it is great to see.”
Councillor Chris Burhop (Independent, Newton Poppleford and Harpford) said he had previously “ranted and raved about where the ambition was”.
“Well, here it is,” he said.
“Congratulations to the team on such an ambitious plan, something which we have heard for so many years we can’t do, but actually now we are showing a way forward where we can achieve things, and it will be fantastic for the community of East Devon if we can see this commenced and underway.”
Cllr Burhop added that he was actually concerned the finances being proposed could be “too small” given he had built a house and costs always exceeded expectations.
But Catrin Stark, director of housing and health, said the potential for higher levels of external funding and the economies of scale the council could achieve, were factors that could alter the cost per property to the council.
“I’m conscious, too, that we have got Cranbrook and the second new town coming, but what are we doing in the communities we currently serve,” she said.
“There are some areas that, in terms of regeneration, haven’t been forgotten but are a little left behind and so this is an opportunity to look at places with the most need and to serve communities that already exist rather than always concentrating on the shiny new places.”
The board heard that the majority of any new homes built or bought would be available under social rent, and that the council was not planning on creating its own development company.
Any new properties would also sit outside of Right To Buy legislation for 10 years, meaning they cannot be purchased under that scheme’s discounts until they are a decade old.