Minutes:
AMENDMENT MOVED AND SECONDED - Delete paragraph 2 and 3.
Insert after first paragraph –
“This Council Meeting notes that the Lib Dem and Tory Government has cut the budget for new affordable homes by 60% since taking office and housing starts have been lower in every quarter since the 2010 General Election.
This Council Meeting notes that Labour delivered 256,000 additional affordable homes in its last 5 years in office - over a third more new homes than this Government thus far has said it will provide in the next five years. In addition, thanks to the Labour Government’s Decent Homes Programme, the number of social rented homes in a poor condition fell by 75%.
Insert ‘Woodford’ in paragraph 5 after ‘with schemes in place in’.
Delete paragraph 6 and subsequent bullet points.
Insert after paragraph 5 –
“This Council notes with concern the decision by the Department for Communities and Local Government to prevent local councils from accessing the Homes and Communities Agency’s Affordable Homes Guarantee Programme. This Council further notes the damning comments of the Treasury Select Committee about the Government’s housing initiatives announced in the Budget.
Delete ‘these Government’ from final paragraph and replace with ‘all’ after ‘Urges the Council Executive to make use of’.”
For the amendment 21, against 37
AMENDMENT NOT CARRIED
FURTHER AMENDMENT MOVED AND SECONDED - Include the first paragraph: “This Council Meeting welcomes the cross-party support for the implementation of a Local Authority Mortgage Scheme in Stockport.”
Delete all after the first paragraph.
Insert the following text:
“This Council Meeting notes
· that the housing market is complex and that the current shortage of housing in the social sector is a result of the choices made by previous governments;
· the high priority the Executive gives to developing affordable housing which has resulted in Stockport consistently outperforming other local authorities in the North West, both in terms of funding gained and affordable housing delivered;
· that our affordable housing delivery has seen increased delivery over recent years but dipped slightly in 2012/13 due to factors outside the Council’s control, including a delay to a complex scheme and an arson attack on a major site;
· that a number of previously stalled sites are now coming forward and that recent Executive decisions are facilitating significant new delivery in Brinnington, Covent Garden Village and Offerton.
This Council Meeting
· welcomes the announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer of further monies to support housing development, but
· notes that the Executive would be unable to “make use” of the Build to Rent, Help to Buy and NewBuy guarantee schemes directly, as they all relate exclusively to private sector development; however
· notes that the Executive will continue to work with private sector developers and partner registered providers where possible to maximise the use of benefit of these schemes for Stockport.
This Council Meeting notes the success of our participation in the 2011-15 Affordable Homes Programme, through Stockport Homes, where we met all of our delivery targets and exceeded them in relation to the delivery of larger homes
This Council Meeting therefore regrets that the government has now chosen to specifically exclude Local Authorities and their Arms-Length Management Organisations from bidding for funds under the Affordable Homes Guarantees programme, making bids “only open to those classified to the private sector”, i.e. independent Housing Associations.
This Council Meeting
notes that responsibility for administering this scheme in London
rests with the Mayor and that, whilst he is generally expected to
apply criteria broadly in line with those applied elsewhere by the
Homes and Communities Agency, in this instance Boris Johnson is
allowing Local Authorities to continue to participate.
This Council meeting therefore resolves to ask the Chief Executive to write to:
· the Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and Mark Prisk MP, the Minister of State for Housing and Local Government, to seek removal of the restriction on Local Authorities’ participation in the Affordable Homes Guarantees programme; and
· the four local MPs, to seek their support in this respect.”
For the amendment 59
AMENDMENT CARRIED
The further amendment was then put as the substantive motion and it was
RESOLVED - (59 for) This Council Meeting welcomes the cross-party support for the implementation of a Local Authority Mortgage Scheme in Stockport.
This Council Meeting notes
· that the housing market is complex and that the current shortage of housing in the social sector is a result of the choices made by previous governments;
· the high priority the Executive gives to developing affordable housing which has resulted in Stockport consistently outperforming other local authorities in the North West, both in terms of funding gained and affordable housing delivered;
· that our affordable housing delivery has seen increased delivery over recent years but dipped slightly in 2012/13 due to factors outside the Council’s control, including a delay to a complex scheme and an arson attack on a major site;
· that a number of previously stalled sites are now coming forward and that recent Executive decisions are facilitating significant new delivery in Brinnington, Covent Garden Village and Offerton.
This Council Meeting
· welcomes the announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer of further monies to support housing development, but
· notes that the Executive would be unable to “make use” of the Build to Rent, Help to Buy and NewBuy guarantee schemes directly, as they all relate exclusively to private sector development; however
· notes that the Executive will continue to work with private sector developers and partner registered providers where possible to maximise the use of benefit of these schemes for Stockport.
This Council Meeting notes the success of our participation in the 2011-15 Affordable Homes Programme, through Stockport Homes, where we met all of our delivery targets and exceeded them in relation to the delivery of larger homes
This Council Meeting therefore regrets that the government has now chosen to specifically exclude Local Authorities and their Arms-Length Management Organisations from bidding for funds under the Affordable Homes Guarantees programme, making bids “only open to those classified to the private sector”, i.e. independent Housing Associations.
This Council Meeting
notes that responsibility for administering this scheme in London
rests with the Mayor and that, whilst he is generally expected to
apply criteria broadly in line with those applied elsewhere by the
Homes and Communities Agency, in this instance Boris Johnson is
allowing Local Authorities to continue to participate.
This Council meeting therefore resolves to ask the Chief Executive to write to:
· the Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and Mark Prisk MP, the Minister of State for Housing and Local Government, to seek removal of the restriction on Local Authorities’ participation in the Affordable Homes Guarantees programme; and
· the four local MPs, to seek their support in this respect.