Draft Housing Strategy 2025-2030

We recently carried out an eight-week consultation on the draft Housing Strategy and asked for your views on this. Thank you to everyone who provided feedback to us – it is greatly appreciated.

We consulted with residents and stakeholders through an online survey on this site, focus groups, various meetings, and attending community events and spaces.

The online survey asked the following questions:

1. Overall, do you find the draft Housing Strategy clear and easy to understand?
2. Do you support the main aims of the draft Housing Strategy?
3. Is there anything you expected to see in the draft Housing Strategy which is not there?
4. Do you have any other comments about the draft Housing Strategy?

We received 74 responses through the online survey.

• 76% of respondents found the draft Housing Strategy clear and easy to understand
• 77% of respondents supported the main aims of the draft Strategy
• 54% of respondents expected to see something in the Strategy which was not there.

There were a wide range of themes raised during the consultation through the online survey and consultation events, which included:

• More detail on how the commitments will be delivered and turned into change, and how delivery of the Strategy will be reported
• How can the Council hold housing associations to account and help to improve standards for their tenants, including in relation to repairs and the condition of homes – and poor standards in the private rented sector should be addressed
• More social housing and affordable housing should be delivered, including though new developments, and green spaces on estates should be promoted
• The Council should prioritise housing for those waiting longest and local people, and ensure that those working in the borough have affordable housing
• There should be more homelessness support and help for households in temporary accommodation, including driving up safety and standards, reducing the use of hotels for families, and better supporting households living outside the borough
• The Council should ensure the maintenance and safety of existing housing stock, including in relation to damp, mould and repairs; the Council should prioritise tackling antisocial behaviour; and empty and second homes should be brought into use
• There should be a stronger focus on meeting the needs of families with children; and more meaningful resident engagement, including involving people with lived experience
• There was a preference for simpler language, summaries, easy read formats and visual guides.

The feedback from the consultation has helped us to finalise the new Housing Strategy, which you can find here. The changes made to the Strategy following the consultation feedback include:

• More detail provided on how the Strategy will be delivered, and how progress against the commitments will be measured and reported – in particular, through a yearly progress report, and related plans, strategies and policies sitting underneath the Housing Strategy
• A separate commitment on housing associations, explaining that they are regulated by the Regulator of Social Housing, and the Council will work in partnership with housing associations to help improve standards for their 13,000 tenants in the borough
• Detail added to explain the percentage of community (affordable) housing that should be delivered on public and private land through new developments, and how much of this should be at social rent and intermediate housing, as set out in the Local Plan 2024
• Emphasis on helping local residents added to the wording of the first priority – this is complemented by the commitment to prioritise the housing needs of local residents where possible
• A commitment included to develop a new Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy, as many of the points made about homelessness and temporary accommodation will be addressed in greater detail through this Strategy
• Greater emphasis given to supporting families with children throughout the Strategy, including in relation to accessing suitable homes and supporting families in temporary accommodation
• A separate commitment included on driving up standards in the private rented sector, and explaining that Environmental Health will be required to enforce against poor standards under the forthcoming Renters’ Rights Act
• Specific reference made to involving people with lived experience and embedding the revised Charter for Public Participation
• Commitments made to promote digital inclusion, support residents to overcome barriers to accessing digital and online services, and do more to communicate with people in an accessible way, which aligns with the new Fairer Action Plan
• An addition made to explain that we address the number of empty homes in the borough through charging a council tax premium on empty properties
• We will produce a summary document and easy read version of the Strategy to promote accessibility amongst residents.