Planning policy change will lead to more social housing

Planning policy change will lead to more social housing

22 March 2023

A RADICAL overhaul of local planning policy is on the cards to help address the district’s major social housing crisis.

Newry, Mourne and Down Council’s new local development plan is being designed to provide the organisation with power to help deliver more affordable housing across as people struggle to find a home and remain stranded on the waiting list

Under the plan and in line with new legislation, developers will have to include social housing provision within new private homes schemes. A percentage of affordable schemes must be part and parcel of any new development.

Where a proposed private development meets the requirement for an element of social housing, the Housing Executive will determine the number of homes that need to be built.

Additionally, where development sites are artificially subdivided to avoid the requirement to build an element of social housing, planning permission will not be granted.

Last September, the Housing Executive warned that the huge number of people on the waiting list for social housing across the Newry, Mourne and Down area was showing no sign of decreasing.

Despite almost £5m being invested in new-build accommodation across the council area in 2021 and with construction work on 32 new homes underway and work on 105 homes completed, the waiting list figures remain high.

Waiting figures published by the housing body last autumn revealed there were 3,048 people in urgent need of a new home across Newry, Mourne and Down, with single, small families and older people accounting for 87% of this number.

During the previous financial year, 1,077 people presented as homeless, 749 of whom were awarded full homeless status and 386 homes allocated to waiting list applicants.

With waiting lists for social housing, as well as levels of homelessness rising significantly over recent years and showing little sign of falling and sustained levels of investment in new social housing across Northern Ireland, the gap between housing demand and supply continues to widen.

Politicians want the local authority to play its part to help address the social housing crisis and view the updated local development plan as a key weapon in the battle to achieve this goal.

In addition, they want council officials and planners to work closely with the Housing Executive and social housing providers.

It was confirmed at last week’s meeting of the council’s Enterprise, Regeneration and Tourism Committee that the new local development plan will bring forward an overarching housing strategy and planning policy to increase affordable social housing across the district.

Politicians have been told the housing strategy will seek to meet future housing need and use the Department for Infrastructure’s housing growth indicators to guide the development plan over the next 12 years.

Senior Newry, Mourne and Down Council officials say the requirement to provide an element of social housing as part of a private scheme represents a “sea change” in addressing the district’s social housing need.

They also insist that the proposed new planning policies will significantly increase opportunities to address affordable housing needs across the district, with the delivery of these schemes closely monitored ahead of potential policy changes in the future.

Downpatrick councillor Oonagh Hanlon is delighted that social housing provision will now be a key feature of the district’s local development plan.

She tabled a motion on the issue at the most recent meeting of the local authority’s Enterprise, Regeneration and Tourism Committee and said everyone should have access to an affordable, secure place to call home.

Cllr Hanlon said former Sinn Féin Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey delivered what she described as the biggest shake up of housing in over 50 years, committing to the delivery of over 100,000 social homes over the next 15 years.

She said Newry, Mourne and Down Council needs to play its part in the delivery of much-needed social housing provision across the entire district.

“Working with the local authority as a community planning partner to identify potential development sites, the Housing Executive can overcome barriers and deliver much-needed social and adorable homes where they are needed,” said Cllr Hanlon.

“I am delighted that my motion calling on the council to prioritise housing and commit to a housing-led regeneration plan was by the Enterprise, Regeneration and Tourism Committee.”

Cllr Hanlon said it was essential both the local authority, Housing Executive and all relevant agencies work to deliver more social and affordable homes across Newry, Mourne and Down.