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Housing
Housing
Background
South Hampshire is already home to nearly one million people, which makes it the largest urbanised area in the South of England outside London. The pressure of demand for more housing is one factor, but not the driving force, for PUSH’s growth strategy. Growth provides the opportunity to raise the prosperity of South Hampshire, to invest in the skills of its workforce, to enhance its infrastructure and to tackle the housing needs of a growing population, including for affordable housing.
We need a sufficient supply of new homes to ensure that housing availability and affordability do not constrain the economic growth we need to match the rest of South East England. The South East England Regional Assemble (SEERA) has proposed that approximately 4,000 new homes per year should be provided in South Hampshire between 2006 and 2026, and commissioned the county and two unitary authorities to advise how those new homes should be apportioned among the 10 local authorities in South Hampshire. The authorities undertook this work under the aegis of PUSH, in order to consider housing growth in the context of its wider strategy for economic-led growth in the sub-region.
Further information on the advice to SEERA
How much new housing do we need?
PUSH is satisfied that planning for 80,000 new homes in the PUSH area between 2006 and 2026 is the right level to support the ambitions to achieve annual economic growth of 3.5 per cent by 2026, whilst respecting environmental constraints. But that level of new housing is only sustainable if it moves in step with the required economic growth, and is supported by the timely provision of transport and other infrastructure.
The proposed distribution of new housing is shown in policy SH12 of the South Hampshire sub-regional strategy (Section E1) in the draft South East Plan http://www.southeast-ra.gov.uk/southeastplan/plan/march_2006/core_document/015_seera_sep_e01.pdf.
Where will new housing go?
The location of new housing will reinforce PUSH’s “cities first” approach. About 60% of new housing will be on previously developed “brownfield” land, of which over 60% will be in the cities of Portsmouth and Southampton. More than a quarter of such housing will be on small sites of fewer than 10 houses. A little under 30,000 homes will be built on greenfield sites, about 13% of which are already committed in existing plans. Of the remainder, about 9,000 homes will be provided in new extensions to existing urban areas, and over 16,000 homes will be provided in two new Strategy Development Areas. More detail can be found in the section on Planning.
What else is PUSH doing on housing?
PUSH Housing Group
PUSH’s work on housing is led by a theme group of housing officers from the partner authorities together with representatives from the Housing Corporation and other key bodies. Its work is overseen by a Housing Members’ Panel comprising local councillors.
Follow link below to the Housing Corporation:
The PUSH Housing Officers Group has been tasked with looking at improving housing delivery across a range of housing initiatives in order to support and contribute to the wider economic, social and environmental objectives.
Housing Market Assessment
The PUSH Housing Group commissioned its first sub-regional Housing Market Assessment in 2005. This work was updated and refined in 2006 using resources allocated from GOSE to test Housing Market Guidance issued by the then ODPM (now succeeded by DCLG). The Assessment has both informed PUSH’s advice to SEERA and the work programme for the Housing Group.
Developing a Common Affordable Housing Framework
PUSH Housing and Planning Officers are currently developing a consistent policy approach for the delivery of affordable housing. The aim is to conclude this work in late summer of 2007. The policy documents will be available on this website in the near future.
Developing a Sub Regional Housing Strategy
The PUSH Housing Group is using information from the Housing Market Assessment to develop a Sub Regional Housing Strategy. A special stakeholder conference was held on 16th January 2007, where the 11 Local Authorities were joined by experienced housing consultants, Housing Associations, developers, SEEDA, SEERA, GOSE and the Housing Corporation. The objective was to discuss and agree the key housing issues that the PUSH sub-region faces. The group agreed on four headlines, which remain under review:
- To support economic growth by increasing the supply of housing to deliver a balanced housing market including family and affordable homes.
- To improve the condition and management and make better use of the existing housing stock.
- To drive long-term economic prosperity through the principles of sustainable development.
- To meet the needs of everyone including homeless and vulnerable groups.
This work was completed in the summer of 2007 and the strategy was approved by the PUSH Leaders’ and Chief Executives’ Panel at its meeting in September 2007. The strategy was formally launched at a special conference on 16th January 2008. The Sub-Regional Housing Strategy document can be viewed online (749 Kb) 
. You can also access a summary of the Strategy