Teignbridge to set up housing partnership

George Dawson
Authored by George Dawson
Posted Wednesday, November 2, 2016 - 9:15am

Teignbridge District Council’s Executive has agreed in invest £20million to help build new affordable homes across the district.

Tuesday's Executive agreed to set up a joint venture housing company to primarily develop rented homes, something that will help local people find an affordable home that suits their lifestyle and budget, but will also generate a financial return for Teignbridge over time.

The joint venture housing company will be between Teignbridge and registered provider partners. A management board with representatives from each partner will oversee the day-to-day running of the company with reports back to Overview and Scrutiny, Executive and Full Council.

Like many councils, Teignbridge has needed to respond to the pressure of reduced central funding and achieve a sustainable financial position in the future.

Teignbridge has a proven track record in meeting and delivering new and varied housing needs. Examples include reducing the number of empty homes annually, providing pitches for travellers, a temporary accommodation centre in Newton Abbot and working with Christow Community Land Trust, Teign Housing and Dartmoor National Park Authority to provide 18 new Passivhaus eco-homes in Christow.

With an up-to-date adopted Local Plan, Teignbridge has enough land identified to meet housing targets but the authority wants to take greater control of house building and deal with challenges around the supply of affordable, rented properties.

Cllr Humphrey Clemens, Teignbridge District Council’s Executive spokesman for Housing and Planning, said: “This is a very exciting project for Teignbridge.

“We are taking control and getting into the house-building business to help people remain living here in houses they can afford.

“This is really exciting for Teignbridge and our communities. We’ve done some great things to tackle the different types of housing need, but we know people are still struggling to find a home in the area where they want to live.

“Teignbridge has 1,900 applicants on its Housing Register and demand for homes to rent is high. A key project in our Council Strategy, ‘a roof over our heads’ makes a clear commitment to exploring options for developing affordable rented housing including setting up a housing company. We are delivering on that.

“We will continue to play an active role in housing delivery and shaping the local housing market to meet the wide and varied needs of our communities.”

The proposal was considered and supported by Overview and Scrutiny at its meeting on 19 October 2016 before the decision was made by Executive today (1 November 2016).

The agenda and report can be viewed here: www.teignbridge.gov.uk/article/22445/1-November-2016 

Work will now begin on establishing the company and will take approximately 12 months.

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