Agenda item

Report number HS6 of the Cabinet Member for Communities     (Enclosure)

Decision:

Cabinet agrees:

1.    The adoption of the revised draft South Kesteven District Council Housing Strategy 2017 to 2021 (as attached at appendix 3 to report number HS6), with the final design to be approved by the Cabinet Member for Communities

2.    The proposed Year 1 (2018/19) Internal Delivery Plan and to note the progress made to date

3.    The Cabinet Member for Communities will regularly monitor progress against the ‘Action Plan’ and report after an initial period of 6-months, with a view to then making annual reports, to the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committees

Considerations:

1.    Report number HS6 of the Cabinet Member for Communities

2.    Feedback from Housing Summits and Member workshops

3.    Comments made by the Communities and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee during the development of the draft strategy and following consultation when it recommended the approval of the draft Strategy

4.    Results of consultation on the draft Housing Strategy 2017-2021 attached as appendix 1 to report HS6 and proposed amendments and comments attached as appendix 2

5.    The revised draft Housing Strategy 2017-2021 (Appendix 3 to report HS6)

6.    The proposed year 1 (2018/19) Internal Delivery Plan (Appendix 4 to report HS6)

7.    Stage 2 Equality Analysis (Appendix 5 to the report)

8.    The strategy supported the Corporate Plan priority for housing growth

Other options considered:

The Council’s current Housing Strategy runs from 2013 to 2018 and the Council could continue to deliver against this strategy until the end date. However, Members have already been apprised of the recent significant changes in housing policy which prompted the review and is necessary to ensure that the Council’s approach to strategic housing remains relevant and deliverable.

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Following a brief overview of the draft Strategy and the process that had been followed during its development, Members were given the opportunity to debate the item. A number of comments were made about the consultation exercise that had been conducted, with Members noting that there was limited feedback from certain groups. Suggestions were made about how all consultations undertaken by the Council could benefit from exploring wider use of different communication streams to target different groups. The specific example was given of using different types of social media to increase the response rate of 18 to 34 year olds, who had the lowest return rates for this consultation. There was also some concern that the response rate across different tenures was not representative. Reassurance was given about work that was ongoing to improve engagement across all tenures. Members were also advised that lessons learned from this initial consultation would be applied when further consultation was undertaken during the life of the strategy and the development of its action plans.

Recommendation 3 in report number HS6 had stated that the Cabinet Member for Communities would regularly monitor progress against the Action Plan and report annually to the relevant overview and scrutiny committees. During discussion Cabinet Members indicated that it may be beneficial to bring the first review forward so that it was carried out within 6-months to make sure implementation of the action plan was on track.

Cabinet Members agreed the recommendations in the report subject to bringing the initial review forward to 6-months with a view to moving to annual reviews thereafter.