Item 9 - SHIP
West Dunbartonshire Council · 20 November 2024
Back to Housing & Communities Committee — 20 November 2024 and its agenda
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West Dunbartonshire Council Report by Chief Officer, Housing and Employability Housing and Communities Committee: 20 November 2024 Subject: More Homes West Dunbartonshire Strategic Housing Investment Plan 2025/26 – 2029/30 1. Purpose 1.1 This report seeks approval for the More Homes West Dunbartonshire Strategic Housing Investment Plan (SHIP) for 2025/26 – 2029/30 which requires to be submitted to the Scottish Government. 2. Recommendation 2.1 It is recommended that the Council: i) Agree the draft SHIP 2025/26 - 2029/30 as appended to this report, designed to continue the delivery of an ambitious programme of new affordable homes in compliance with the West Dunbartonshire Local Housing Strategy 2022 -2027 (Approved November 2021); ii) Note the impact of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme financial challenges and the mitigation measures being taken to maintain delivery of new affordable housing to meet identified need; and iii) Delegate authority to the Chief Officer, Housing and Employability to implement the Strategic Housing Investment Plan in partnership with relevant stakeholders. 3. Background 3.1 The Scottish Government requires local authorities to submit a Strategic Housing Investment Plan (SHIP) each year. The core purpose of the SHIP is to set out the strategic investment priorities for new affordable housing over a five-year period to achieve the outcomes contained in the Local Housing Strategy. 3.2 The SHIP focuses on the delivery of affordable housing by location, type and tenure and indicates how the programme will be resourced, particularly through the Scottish Government’s Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) funding and its Council House Building Programme component. ITEM 9
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3.3 The SHIP sets out the funding priorities for new affordable housing in West Dunbartonshire for the next five years, 2025/26 – 2029/30. It complements the West Dunbartonshire Local Housing Strategy 2022 - 2027 approved by Council and submitted to the Scottish Government in November 2021. 3.4 This SHIP 2025/26 – 2029/30 is presented in the context of a significant cut of % in funding to the Scottish Government’s Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) which provides grant support for projects in the plan. 3.5 The planned West Dunbartonshire Council Annual Resource Planning Assumption (RPA) from the Scottish Government to help deliver the SHIP, including the Council’s own new build programme, was originally set at £10.795m but this was revised downwards £8.477m, a reduction of 21.5%. A reduction of this scale is a significant departure from our experience in recent years where we have been successful in increasing our RPA outturn by picking up unspent monies from other local authority areas. Ove the last five years this has equated to around £15m in additional funding to West Dunbartonshire. 3.6 Despite the impact of the budget cuts and ongoing inflationary pressure, this SHIP sets out proposals for a continuation of the high levels of new affordable housing delivery achieved in West Dunbartonshire over recent years. 3.7 Where details are not yet known, the project grant levels have been estimated based on current guidance with an estimated minimum £110K per unit being projected for both Council and Housing Association schemes. There remains a disparity between Council and Housing Association grant levels, but it is anticipated that a higher proportion of larger family homes in the Council programme attracting a higher level of grant will even out average grant levels across the providers. 3.8 The Scottish Government grant funding required to deliver the priority projects listed in the 5- year programme amounts to around £46m. The programme beyond the current financial year shows an over commitment of spend and will need to be the subject of a smoothing exercise. Despite this we remain confident that the programme outlined can be delivered, even if some projects may delay. Ongoing discussion will take place with the Scottish Government’s More Homes Division over resourcing this SHIP programme. 4. Main Issues 4.1 The purpose of the SHIP is to set out the strategic investment priorities for increasing provision of affordable housing through new build and buyback programmes in support of outcomes contained in the Local Housing Strategy. This SHIP sets out the planned housing investment programme for 5 years, covering the period 2025/26 – 2029/30.
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4.2 The funding for the projects will be from two principal sources: the allocation from the Scottish Government’s Affordable Housing Supply Programme using financial reserves or borrowing from the developing organisation’s own lending resources through the Housing Revenue Account. 4.3 The SHIP contains tables detailing the projects included in the proposed programme. It should be stressed that inclusion in the SHIP does not guarantee scheme approval, as each proposal will require to go through a further detailed project and financial appraisal before funding is committed. 4.4 All homes built through the SHIP will require to meet high quality requirements including the Council’s Design Standard for Affordable Housing, which was updated in November 2023, and which applies to all projects commencing after April 2024. 4.5 Feedback from the Scottish Government on the previous SHIP (2024 – 2029) was received in July 2024. The feedback highlighted the importance the Scottish Government attaches to the SHIP as the expression of the Council’s housing investment priorities. The comments made were in the main very positive. In summary, the key comments were: The SHIP had a good fit in contributing towards meeting Local Housing Strategy objectives. The Scottish Government welcomed the emphasis given in both the open market purchase scheme and our new build programme to provision of larger family homes. It was acknowledged that our housing priorities were consistent with the delivery of our Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan The Scottish Government welcomed the Council’s ongoing ability to deliver a robust, balanced new build programme, whilst contributing to the national ambition The Council’s 10% quota requirement for wheelchair provision in new social housing was welcomed and the work being done to improve the Dennystoun Forge Gypsy Traveller was noted. While noting the collaborative work being done with the Health and Social Care Partnership to address particular housing needs, the Scottish Government has requested more of a narrative around how this engagement has helped to inform the SHIP. We recognise the need to better understand the detailed specialist housing needs across different client groups and work is being developed in partnership with the HSCP to achieve this.
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4.6 SHIP 2025/26 – 2029/30 Priority Projects The priority projects for this period including those currently on site, are as shown in table 1 below. All units are social rented unless otherwise stated and unit numbers are draft in some cases. Table 1: SHIP 2025/6- 2029/30: Priority Projects by Developer Site/Developer Number of West Dunbartonshire Council Clydebank East (ex Multi Storey Flat site) 88 Pappert 26 Willox Park 17 Mount Pleasant, Old Kilpatrick 19 West Thomson Street/Clydebank Health Cen. 38 Dennystoun Forge 20 Bank St, Alexandria 22 Bonhill Gap Sites 34 Gilmour Avenue 2 Queen Mary Avenue 16 Buy backs 300 582 units Dunbritton Housing Association Golfhill Drive, Dalmonach 7 7 units Caledonia Housing Association Bellsmyre Regeneration Phase 1 27 Dalquhurn, Renton Phase 4, 5,6 75 (inc 25 SE) Bellsmyre Regeneration Phase 2 33 135 units Knowes Housing Association Abbeylands Road, Faifley (ex-bowling club) 27 Buybacks 32 59 units Dalmuir Park Housing Association Buybacks 12 12 units TOTAL PRIORITY PROJECTS 795 4.7 In total, the SHIP shows the development of around 795 new affordable homes over the 5-year plan period. This level of development continues the ambitious new affordable house building programme in West Dunbartonshire. The delivery
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of this ambitious plan will depend upon the support of our developing housing association partners, an increase in funding from the Scottish Government and continued Housing Revenue Account capital investment. 4.8 The SHIP will also provide support funding from the Affordable Housing Supply Programme to assist the popular Buyback programme of ex- local authority and Registered Social Landlord housing stock, as well as acquisitions from the private sector including of-the-shelf homes from house builders. It is proposed that around 300 units are acquired by the Council over the five years of the plan. 4.9 The funding estimated to deliver the Strategic Housing Investment Plan is an approximate £46m. However, the resource planning assumption for this same period is only around £40m. To meet the requirements of the plan additional Affordable Housing Supply Funding Programme funding is required to be invested in West Dunbartonshire over the period of the plan. The first indication of additional funding to support the deliver of social homes will be contained within the forthcoming Scottish Government budget announcements. 4.10 Due to uncertainties over details of some of the proposed projects in the SHIP and the availability of funding, the SHIP will require to demonstrate flexibility and will be subject to continual monitoring and evaluation. The SHIP lists a series of future projects which we hope will feature in the programme as it progresses. Monitoring of progress will be carried out through the Council’s performance management system and through key structures such as the Housing Providers Forum, More Homes Project Board and programme review meetings with the Scottish Government. 4.11 The Council has carried out an analysis of potential projects against an objective Prioritisation Scoring Matrix and scored them accordingly. A number of factors are considered including availability of land, type of housing being proposed, compliance with Local Housing Strategy objectives, deliverability, and value for money. Where a project proposes an element of particular needs /specialist provision, engagement takes place with the West Dunbartonshire Health and Social Care Partnership. 5. People Implications 5.1 While there are no direct people implications. 6. Financial Implications 6.1 The programme of projects shown in the SHIP can only take place if both its two principal funding streams, prudential borrowing through the Housing Revenue Account and Scottish Government Affordable Housing Supply Programme grant, are able to provide the required ongoing financial support. It is estimated that the total grant ask of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme would be around £46m, requiring an annual allocation of more than £9m, more than this year’s RPA award of only £8.477m.
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6.2 In respect of the Council House Build element, financial modelling demonstrates that the new council house building programme is beneficial to the Housing Revenue Account. However, care requires to be taken to ensure that the prudential borrowing required is financially sustainable especially given rising unit costs. We recognise the high cost of delivering large family homes and those constructed to passivhaus/net zero standard to meet need. 6.3 There is a risk that future resource allocation would suffer if the SHIP failed to deliver on the programme contained in this SHIP, this is particularly alarming for an area such as West Dunbartonshire that experiences high levels of poverty impacting on homeless presentations which were key contributors to the Housing Emergency declaration. 6.4 To mitigate the impact of rising costs, the Council is continuing to lobby for increased grant levels from the Scottish Government and where appropriate will apply for above benchmark awards on a project-by-project basis particularly when we are developing larger homes to meet an acute identified need within West Dunbartonshire. 6.5 There are no specific procurement implications connected with this report. 7. Risk Analysis 7.1 Inevitably, with such a varied programme of projects there are risks that the ambitious outputs set out in the SHIP will not be met. A number of the projects are at an early stage with site investigations not having been carried out or infrastructural constraints fully known. 7.2 There is a risk that Affordable Housing Supply Programme funding will be reallocated to other Council areas if the Council is unable to spend within any financial year. Housing Development staff will liaise regularly with Scottish Government More Homes colleagues to address any concerns of this nature, to maximise spend within West Dunbartonshire. 7.3 Monitoring of progress will be carried out through key structures such as the Strategic Housing Providers Forum, More Homes Project Board and programme review meetings with the Scottish Government. A new SHIP will be submitted annually to the Scottish Government each October and will be the subject of a report to the Housing and Communities Committee. 8 Environmental Sustainability 8.1 The delivery of new homes is within the approved More Homes zero carbon approach. Our current and future approach to strategic housing asset management will continue to prioritise a ‘zero carbon’ approach to decision
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making and deliverability and this will be done the aims of the Housing Asset Management Strategy and the Council’s Climate Change Strategy. 9. Equalities Impact Assessment 9.1 An Equalities Impact Assessment has been carried out which predicted that the strategy would have an overwhelmingly positive impact and is an appendix to this report. 9.2 All new housing supported through the programme will be compliant with the West Dunbartonshire Design Standard and will meet the Housing for Varying Needs requirements. The West Dunbartonshire Design Standard requires developers in the programme to provide higher standards than those required by statute and are of particular benefit to those with mobility issues. The SHIP supports the delivery of specialist housing provision and generally allows for a 10% element in each project. 10. Consultation 10.1 The SHIP was drawn up in consultation with potential housing association partners and the Scottish Government More Homes Division. Where an interest has been shown, detailed discussions have taken place with the prospective developer on how the project could be accommodated in the programme. 10.2 The West Dunbartonshire Tenants and Residents Organisation (WDTRO) received a presentation on the proposed SHIP in October 2024 and feedback has been positive and tenant representatives are strongly supportive of the Council and partners new build plans. 10.3 The preparation of the SHIP has been a corporate task, involving all relevant departments of the Council and has been carried out in collaboration with colleagues in the Scottish Government More Homes Division. The Health and Social Care Partnership was an active partner in preparing the plans where there was a significant element of specialist accommodation involved and a number of projects were significantly amended as a result. A particular example is at WDC’s Clydebank Health Centre Project were plans have been redrawn to include for the reprovisioning of the nearby Young Street sheltered housing project. 11. Strategic Assessment 11.1 This Strategic Housing Investment Plan presents the priorities for affordable and deliverable housing development for the next five years as set out in the Local Housing Strategy. Having considered the Council's strategic priorities, this report contributes significantly to all strategic priorities.
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Peter Barry, Strategic Lead, Housing and Employability Date: 6 November 2024 Person to Contact: Jamie Dockery – Housing Development and Homelessness Manager, Housing Development and Homelessness Team, Housing and Employability, telephone: 07793717981, email: john.kerr@west-dunbarton.gov.uk Jamie Dockery – Senior Housing Development Officer, Housing Development and Homelessness Team, Housing and Employability, email: Jamie.dockery@west- dunbarton.gov.uk Appendices: Appendix 1: Strategic Housing Investment Plan 2025/26 - 2029/30 Appendix 2: Equalities Impact Assessment October 2024 Background Papers: West Dunbartonshire Council’s Local Housing Strategy 2022- 2027 Wards Affected: All