Developers East Sussex minutes: 10 September 2024
Meeting details
Date: 10 September 2024
Time: 3.30pm
Location: Grand Hotel, Eastbourne
See the list of attendees and apologies for this meeting.
1. Welcome and introductions
1.1 JB welcomed the attendees to the meeting.
2. Review of previous minutes, 9 July 2024
2.1 There were no actions from the previous meeting. The minutes were approved as an accurate record of the meeting.
3. Market conditions / open forum
3.1 Affordable Housing remains constrained by ‘market failure’. Market sale of homes has been relatively quiet over the summer period. Glimmers of hope from a finite number the Registered Providers (RPs) who have an appetite for new homes. Over the last 18-24 months there has been reduced positivity, confidence and resulting activity. The Land Market has seen an upturn in activity.
3.2 From a build perspective, the availability of materials and labour has levelled out alongside more normal levels of cost inflation.
3.3 The commercial market is relatively strong, building and bringing forward sites such as those in Bexhill. Some people may be cautious going forward as it is unknown what the government is going to do with tax. There is certainly more activity within some markets, such as in Crawley.
3.4 NF highlighted confidence as a key issue and that interest rates could have gone down faster.
3.5 Rentplus Homes has received Registered Provider status from the Regulator for Social Housing. There are no plans to take up Homes England’s grant, but it is valuable to pursue rent-to-buy models to create protection for tenants.
4. Section 106 – market failure
4.1 BH highlighted that Rentplus and Southern are the only RPs in the room today. We are in a dark place currently, and are hoping that the upcoming Autumn Statement on 30 October 2024 will bring some light to this. Market failure in terms of Section 106, as the 106 market is quite finite.
4.2 A further problem has arisen – new grant allocations are now no longer available through Continuous Market Engagement (CME) for the programme that ends March 2026. No new allocations will be made because all the funds have been committed. No new schemes until April 2026 without an extension to the current programme.
5. National policy changes
5.1 Policy focus is on accelerating housing delivery and increased numbers.
5.2 New method consulted on based on housing stock in areas. This is based on how out of step certain areas are. Target raised from 51,000 to 69,000. This means that for East Sussex and other places the target has gone up in places such as Rother, while Eastbourne’s target has gone down by 2%.
5.3 Authorities in West Sussex are seeing their numbers increasing, with Surrey also going up by 20%. Kent is mixed with places such as Thanet seeing their numbers falling. There is further support for previously developed land and there has been significant focus in green belt land. If one cannot meet needs in full then they must review their green belt boundaries. Clarification that in green belt locations that are failing to meet housing needs must be discussed.
5.4 2-3 years of challenges related to grey belt locations. Green field land makes limited contributions to green belt locations. If your site is grey belt, then you don’t need to highlight certain skills. Needs to meet golden skills and rules with there being new and improved public green spaces being provided. This can bring new sites which have been previously off the table.
5.5 There has been a reversal to the December 2023 changes, so we will be back to 5-year supply instead of 4-year supply. Requirement for delivering a certain percentage but a positive change is greater support for renewable energy. This is in effect now.
5.6 Publication expected by the end of this year and it will come into effect depending on some circumstances. If Regulation 19 is reached and you are meeting housing need then you may be able to meet new needs, but if not then there may be concerns.
5.7 Still talk about bringing national development management policies. This is yet to see the light of day. New town of 10,000 or more is something to keep a close eye on. Further set of changes coming forward in 2025. Possible national scheme of delegation. Long term plan for housing.
5.8 An issue not currently affecting East Sussex directly is around nitrate and water nutrients, which is pausing development and requires government intervention. Issues around surface water flooding which it was not expected that the rules would cover.
5.9 Need for more commercial sites to be allocated. Stated by JB.
6. East Sussex Housing Strategy
6.1 MC provided a progress update on the East Sussex Housing Partnership’s new strategy development, delivering a presentation with an overview of the vision, emerging themes and the impact of national policy. The vision for the strategy is to set a medium- and long-term structure for the sector locally, providing a framework for partnership working and complementing the individual strategies in each district and borough. The emerging strategy includes a priority to support sustainable development, alongside other key areas of work reflected in feedback from DES and the earlier strategy development workshop. DES colleagues are invited to continue submitting feedback and key areas of work directly to Michael Courts.
6.2 A draft strategy will be shared with DES later in the autumn, and a final draft is expected to be adopted by the East Sussex Housing Partnership by the end of the year.
7. Local Planning Authority (LPA) updates
7.1 Rother DC has just completed its Regulation 18 consultation and is now working through considerable comments. Going forward it is significantly impacted by the staffing situation, so there is a likelihood of the timetable being pushed back.
7.2 Wealden DC advised that there will be a timetable delay. Transport planning and transport modelling is an issue and the new timetable will be published shortly. The final revised version of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is needed.
8. Any other business (AOB)
8.1 JB expressed his gratitude to DE and the DES members for their continued support.
Summary of actions
None.
Attendees and apologies
Attendees
- AJ, Alex Jones, Stantec
- BH, Brian Horton, South East Housing & Development Group
- BL, Brandon Lewis, Horton Strategic
- BW, Ben Weller, Vistry Homes
- CBe, Chris Bending, Wealden DC
- CM, Chris Moore, Bellway Homes
- DG, Derek Godfrey, Westcotte Leach
- DP, David Plank, Wealden DC
- EG, Emma George, Rentplus
- ERS, Elizabeth Ross-Smith, Greymoor
- GM, Gilian Macinnes, Rother DC
- HF, Hayley Frankham, Wealden DC
- JB, Jonathan Buckwell, DHA Planning (Chair)
- JCm, James Clement, Stiles Harold Williams Partnership
- JCw, Janan Clatworthy, B.Yond Homes
- JS, John Stebbings, Thakeham
- JT, James Taylor, Greymoor
- MB, Mark Bewsey, DHA Planning
- MC, Michael Courts, East Sussex CC
- NF, Nick Fenton, Nick Fenton Associates
- NT, Neill Tickle, Counties and Capital Consulting
- RB, Rick Bhatia, Southern Housing
- RBW, Romey Buckley-Ward, Dandara
- RM, Rob Moore, Homes England
Apologies
- BB, Beverley Bayliss, East Sussex CC
- CBl, Colin Black, Mayer Brown
- CBr, Chris Broome, Sea Change Sussex
- CBu, Craige Burden, Barratt David Wilson Homes
- DE, Dave Evans, East Sussex CC
- DMh, David Maher, Dandara
- DMr, David Martin, Stiles Harold Williams Partnership
- GB, Grace Ballantyne, Chartway
- GH, Gary Hall, Eastbourne BC / Lewes DC
- JL, James Lench, Akehurst Homes
- JP, Joe Powell, Rother DC
- MM, Mark McFadden, Stiles Harold Williams Partnership
- PT, Paul Thomas, Development Land Services
- RJ, Richard Jones, East Sussex CC
- RT, Ryan Trodden, MHCLG
- SC, Sarah Cross, Stantec
- SD, Sam Debney, Dandara