Ministers call on councils to review plans for increasing supply of council homes

The call came in a letter this week from Angela Rayner, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and Matthew Pennycook, Minister of State for Housing and Planning, following the announcement of the first £10 billion in funding through the Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP).

The letter urges each local authority to “examine its ambition and go further”.

Rayner and Pennycook also ask councils to:

• examine their financial position and make use of Right to Buy receipts;
• engage with the new Section 106 affordable housing engagement guidance and respond to the consultation on a new standard template for medium sites;
• bring forward “ambitious” bids for the remaining SAHP funding; and,
• tell the Government what barriers are preventing councils from building ambitiously and quickly.

In the letter Rayner tells leaders to “stretch every pound and every site” to build council homes. “I recognise that councils are starting from different positions, but I expect every council to scale up now.”

Included in the letter is information on a consultation on:

1. plans for new council homes;
2. use of Right to Buy receipts and developer contributions;
3. available land; and,
4. further support or flexibilities needed.

The answers received will directly inform the Government’s thinking ahead of the Autumn Budget and help target support where councils believe it can make the greatest difference, the ministers said.

The first wave of £9.58 billion in the Social and Affordable Homes Programme is being allocated to 33 strategic partners outside of London, including housing associations and other providers.

It is hoped that this will support the delivery of 73,600 new social and affordable homes across England over the next ten years.

For the first time, three councils have been awarded strategic partnership status with Homes England: Cambridge City Council, Eastleigh Borough Council and Newcastle City Council.

Harry Rodd