How can we provide leadership in the delivery of affordable rural housing?

1. How can we provide leadership in the delivery of affordable rural housing? Speaker: Councillor Elizabeth Cartwright, Chairman , Regional Housing and Regeneration Board

2. Outline • Why providing leadership on rural housing is important • Our starting point • Where we can make a difference • Working with others • Desired outcomes

3. Why providing leadership is important • 80% of the South East is classified as rural but most growth happens in urban areas • 8% is the target for rural affordable homes provided in the SE • But housing is vital to supporting the rural economy and keeping rural areas alive • So why do some local authorities manage to deliver more homes than others with the overall picture one of annual underperformance?

4. Our starting point • A report to the Regional Housing and Regeneration Board in December 2009 • - Outlined the key barriers to delivery and who was addressing these • - Considered areas where we could make a difference and agreed some actions to take this forward • - Agreed setting up of task and finish group to support this work.

5. Where we can make a difference • Creating more effective partnership working across the South East and focussing on the rural agenda. • Improving skills to support delivery • Working across borders • New South East England Strategy- to ensure that a rural dimension is included in all future plans and discussions on future funding.

6. Effective Partnership Working • It makes sense to improve partnership working across the South East • - Recent SE20 rural group analysis shows a wide range of different groups with an interest in rural housing with the possibility of duplication of work, competing priorities and a thinner spread for limited resources • - No collective voice to lead on housing • - Our starting point is a rural summit.

7. Improving skills • The ARHC and Audit Commission identified skills as an additional barrier to delivery with support needed to improve the skills of planning authorities operating in rural areas • Focus on parish and district councillors as key to success at local member level • The Board to also work with others such as the HCA and NHF to develop good practice

8. Working across borders • The Board will look at increasing cross border working identifying a common agenda and common interests • Opportunity to share good practice • Opportunity to use our combined voice to lobby central government for policy changes that assist delivery

9. The South East England Strategy • This is the new strategy for the next 20 years • Need to ensure that a rural dimension is included in all future plans and discussions on future funding. • Need to recognise that the strategy is only the framework with local decision making the focus but is also the opportunity for us to rationalise the other rural strategies into one document to guide the HCA and others.

10. Working with others • GOSE, HCA and NHF are keen to work with the Board to effect change. • To date through working with others we have highlighted • - The shortage of rural affordable housing and brought this high up the Agenda • - The shortage of suitable land • - The need for more development skills and understanding in local Authorities • A new task and finish group made up of members from RSL sector, RHE, GOSE, HCA has been set up to guide the work of the Board.

11. Desired outcomes • RHRB providing clear leadership as the focal point for discussion on rural affordable housing • One forum to address the issues in the South East • Better cross-border working learning from best practice • Greater focus on the rural perspective and encouraging improved delivery of affordable homes • Better understanding by public of the need