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The Housing Market in Greater Cambridge

Meeting: 08/03/2016 - Housing Scrutiny Committee (Item 17)

17 The Housing Market in Greater Cambridge pdf icon PDF 150 KB

Report enclosed separately

Additional documents:

Minutes:

This item was chaired by Councillor Todd-Jones

 

Matter for Decision

     i.        Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire district together represented the important economic hub of Greater Cambridge. Housing was an essential contributor to supporting economic growth and the paper showed why this must include a mix of tenures including affordable housing and housing for social rent. The key characteristics of the housing market in Greater Cambridge and the impact of Government legislation were examined using local data and national studies. This supported the asks to Government in the final section of the paper. These asks would enable the City Council to continue to develop housing that is affordable to rent and buy across a range of tenures. This includes new council housing, to address a growing need as access to housing in the Greater Cambridge area moves rapidly out of the reach of many households.

 

    ii.        At the time of writing the paper legislation affecting housing was going through the final stages of the parliamentary process, namely the Welfare Reform and Work Bill and the Housing and Planning Bill. The details of how aspects of the Housing and Planning Bill would work in practice had yet to be finalised.  The terms of a potential devolution deal were also under discussion. The asks in this paper contributed to making the case for a better housing deal for Cambridge in our ongoing discussions with Government about the impact of legislation and devolution.

 

Decision of Executive Councillor for Housing

     i.        Agreed to adopt the statement as a summary of the Cambridge Housing Market and the impact of impending legislation.

 

    ii.        Agreed the asks in paragraph 3.5 as the foundations for negotiation with Government

 

Reason for the Decision

As set out in the Officer’s report.

 

Any Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

Not applicable.

 

Scrutiny Considerations

The Committee received a report from the Director of Customer and Community Services regarding the Housing Market in Greater Cambridgeshire.

 

The Committee made the following comments in response to the report:

     i.        Suggested that Cambridge was becoming less viable and increasingly unhealthy.

    ii.        Highlighted the work around Healthy Cities.

   iii.        Suggested that this report was unlikely to achieve its desired result but agreed that is was worthwhile.

  iv.        Suggested that some concessions had been made to the original proposals. For example, pay to stay taper rates had been agreed.

 

The Director of Customer and Community Services stated that the legislation was currently broad brush stroke and that there might be an opportunity to influence the details.

 

The Executive Councillor for Housing confirmed that he would continue to put pressure on central government and would endeavour to exert influence with the Housing Minister where possible. 

 

The Committee unanimously resolved to endorse the recommendations.

 

The Executive Councillor approved the recommendation.

 

Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Executive Councillor (and any Dispensations Granted)

 

No conflicts of interest were declared by the Executive Councillor.