Paper HSTF 5 - 1
Report of HSTF Seminar - Glasgow and Clyde Valley
Glasgow on Friday 8 February 2008
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Introduction
The seminar took place between 09.00 and 13.00 and was attended by a wide range of representatives from organisations with an interest in housing supply in the Glasgow area. A list of attendees is attached as Appendix 1.
Background
The seminar was opened by Stewart Maxwell MSP, Minister for Communities and Sport. He briefly described the origins and work programme of the HSTF and set out the rationale behind the geographic and thematic studies. The Minister explained that the main focus of the HSTF was to identify actions that could have an impact in the short term on the blockages inhibiting an enhanced supply of housing across all tenures in the Glasgow and Clyde Valley area.
The Minister then handed over to HSTF member Brian Gegan who chaired the event. Brian described the format for the morning which would seek, firstly, to identify the principal blockages to increased supply and, subsequently, possible actions to address them. It was recognised that some of the issues discussed were likely to require longer term solutions but attendees were encouraged to identify wherever possible actions that could be undertaken immediately, and actions that could be taken by organisations represented at the seminar.
He highlighted that a recurring them of the two previous seminars held in the Lothians and Aviemore was the delay between land being identified as available for housing and developments being completed. Brian suggested that the seminar might wish to give particular consideration to whether this was also an issue in the Glasgow and Clyde Valley area.
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Issues/Blockages
From the syndicate groups, the following themes emerged as the main blockages to housing supply:
Land - Although it was agreed that while there was an adequate land supply in the GCV area as a whole, there were local areas facing significant shortages. The nature of the land supply was an issue with large amounts of vacant or derelict land (brownfield sites) requiring expensive remediation costs. A lot of the contaminated land sites where remedial work had been carried out and houses had subsequently been built on them were the easier ones in terms of carrying out the remediation. The ones which remain may be the more difficult and therefore this could be reflected in higher costs being incurred in remediation. The cost of carrying out this work was not always matched by funding Political attitudes to greenbelt release were a feature in some areas. In some areas with a healthy supply of effective land, the completion rate was static - suggesting that there was an element of speculation taking place by those owning the land. Land prices made it difficult for the affordable housing sector to compete, and in some instances landowners appeared to hold land in the hope of a private interest at some point in the future rather than dealing with RSLs. Even with public sector land there were suggestions that some departments/public authorities sometimes held out for the highest receipt rather than securing (arguably) better public value by releasing it for affordable housing development.
The delay between land being identified and completed developments was raised as an issue in some areas. Discussion recognised the challenges involved in land assembly, issues of land banking and consents that are not being acted upon. It was suggested that the delay in completions was due in part to resources within planning departments. A view was expressed that historic debt should be written off before authorities could be expected to invest in new house building.
Infrastructure - Water and sewerage capacity were seen as significant issues in the area, causing delay and financial pressure. Scottish Water had made great progress in its proactive engagement with developers. Poor information flow remained a problem, however, with 50% of applications to Scottish Water having to be sent back because of incomplete provision of information.
There were similar issues surrounded the capacity of transport & road networks. Flood prevention measures were also viewed as increasingly problematic. Some systemic issues which discouraged infrastructure investment by allowing other users to 'capture' the capacity at the expense of the provider were also reported (i.e. W&S infrastructure being supplied with a specific end-user in mind but other developers accessing it before the original development could build out).
Overall there was considered to be a lack of investment and poor co-ordination of funding. At the level of individual development applications, section 75 negotiations were perceived to be cumbersome and introduced delays. More generally there were concerns about public authorities' consideration of proposed development (planning consents, environmental consents, infrastructure decisions) happening in series rather than parallel with consequent delay. A tendency for some architects to design schemes which would never comply with planning and building regulations was also mentioned.
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Mix/Type - There was a general recognition that there was a need for good quality, well-designed developments that responded to the aspirations of local communities. There was a desire to ensure that social rented housing should not be seen as accommodation of last resort. Homes were needed which reflect the needs of the population, particularly an ageing population.
Developments which alienated local communities could be detrimental to achieving the necessary consents. However, there was also a need to recognise the commercial pressures on the building industry itself and achieve suitable balances between them and other factors. In addition it should be recognised that the planning system is overloaded and there were concerns about its and the construction industry's capacity to respond to demand.
More emphasis needs to be given to the ability of the existing housing supply to meet housing requirements
Communities - In many areas there was resistance to development. Account needed to be taken of the scale of proposed developments. There needed to be adequate links to schools, healthcare and existing communities so that residents in both old and new developments had (or retained) a sense of identity.
The event also identified funding as an overarching theme which raised a number of issues with regard to the 4 themes discussed. The main issues discussed were: - the level of resources within planning departments across the country and also the need for effective prioritisation of existing resources.
Solutions
The second group sessions entailed identifying possible solutions to the blockages already identified and, where appropriate, identifying who could take forward these solutions. The solutions proposed were as follows:
Strategic drive and management
- Strong political leadership is needed to make clear that housing supply is a key driver of the Government's economic objectives. This would legitimise the need for strong investment in housing (and all the other housing supply goals).
- There needed to be strong corporate commitment in local government to integrated local housing strategies and development plans, with buy-in and commitment from other public sector players.
- To make individual developments work best there needed to be strong co-ordination of the public interest
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Land
- Greater investment (both public and private) in bringing into use vacant and derelict land;
- Convey to local authorities that Best Value is not necessarily always best price;
- There is a need to somehow capture the value of the release of land to assist with delivery;
- Co-ordinated infrastructure provision;
- Private sector has a responsibility to develop brown field sites as well as greenfield sites;
- Accelerate the release of greenbelt land where there are land shortages (local authorities);
- Speed up time between available land being identified and developments being completed (perhaps set targets for delivery);
- Land audits - national monitoring of supply & completions is needed. Spatial guidance sought on where the 35,000 annual completions should be allocated;
- Streamline CPO powers to speed up process;
- Examine the possible role of time-limited planning consents to promote build-out;
- Identify forward programme of "surplus public land" available for social rented housing. (Updated annually through SHIP );
- Developers must submit more consistent development applications and they could undertake site investigations up front and that the costs could then reflected in the price of the land;
- Valuation of sites is a big issue - negotiations with the District Valuers Office are a drawn out and argumentative process;
- RSLs should be allowed to build for profits which could be reinvested in their programmes. RSL property is maintained through reinvestment
- Ensure that PAN 74 Affordable Housing Policies are put in place consistently, and reflect a realistic understanding of housing need and development economics.
Infrastructure
- More creative working required between all partners;
- Examine how to facilitate improvement in the quality of information in developers applications to prevent unnecessary delay.
- Identify requirement and resources for infrastructure prior to individual site planning;
- Greater allocation of resources for infrastructure;
- Divert Communities Scotland investment towards remediation projects;
- Establish a "multi agency" approach (e.g. one body) to oversee large developments and co-ordinate infrastructure requirements;
- Develop a rolling infrastructure fund;
- Examine whether the Scottish Future Trust could be used to fund infrastructure provision;
- Develop a strategic approach to delivery/procurement of new infrastructure to constrain costs.
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Mix/Type
- Greater provision of grant funding for affordable housing;
- House builders should take greater 'risks' with regard to the mix and type of housing built and offer more variety;
- Needs to be an acceptance and understanding of mixed needs/aspirations and assign land accordingly;
- Affordable housing element of developments must be enforced (planning authorities);
- Planning system needs to be more responsive to the issue of segmentation in that it must require the provision of houses to meet particular segments of the market;
- There is a need to recognise the contribution vacant existing stock could make to housing requirements by improving it to high standards rather than building new.
Communities
- Engage better with local communities. Could be done more effectively by development plan teams explaining better the impacts of new developments;
- May need to seek a better balance between encouraging community engagement and progressing applications;
- Developers and planners should work better together to promote developments in their areas and engage communities more actively;
- Develop "best practice" guidance on successful community engagement (HSTF)
With regard to the theme of funding, it was felt that;
- Consideration should be given to establishing a guarantee fund for funders to minimise risk;
- Government grants for decontamination of land should be established with a time limit of 3 years for completion;
- Develop mechanisms/models for collaborative funding (e.g. English Partnerships);
- Review funding framework to maximise leverage from public subsidies & realise asset value.
- Re-examine the CS land valuation methodology to ensure that it does not hinder progress
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Plenary session
There was positive feedback from a representative of developers on the level of understanding of the issues surrounding housing supply by local authorities, although disappointment was registered at the lack of representation from developers at the event.
With regard to suggestions for better co-ordination of infrastructure requirements and delivery, it was noted that any proposal for a new agency to be established to perform this function would not sit comfortably with the Government's policy towards agencies and quangos.
On the issue of public sector land, it was highlighted that identifying available public sector land for housing was not just a local authority issue but applied to all public sector bodies
Next steps for Housing Supply Task Force
There was no strong sense that major developments in the area are being held up to the detriment of overall housing supply. One of the syndicates did identify the 3 projects below as possibly meriting further examination but this was not seen as a priority.
- Inverclyde - construction of 1000 new homes could be jeopardised by blockages in delivery of infrastructure
- A82 Corridor - this constricted part of the strategic road network is influencing the capacity for development in West Dunbartonshire & Argyll and Bute.
- Ravenscraig - as a good example of the large-scale remediation of land for development.
Summing up, Brian Gegan noted that the seminar had identified a range of issues that, while sharing many similarities, did differ in some significant respects from the findings of the earlier seminars in other areas. The Glasgow and Clyde Valley area had some distinctive problems, particularly around the nature of the land supply and the industrial legacy of the area. The Task Force would consider the themes that had emerged and would consider how it intends to progress its examination of the housing supply issues in the West of Scotland. Attendees were thanked for their contribution to the success of the event.
February 2008
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