Consultation statement
Workshops with housing staff to discuss the proposed priorities and objectives of the Housing Strategy wereheld in September 2021. Member engagement workshops were held on 28 and 29 September 2021 and 7 October 2021 to discuss the draft vision, priorities and objectives of the Strategy.
The member engagement workshops were led by the Cabinet Member for Housing, Kim Tanner, and a total of 23 Members attended across the three workshops. Key matters highlighted included long term empty properties within Registered Provider housing stock, the importance of helping existing residents find homes local to them (for example, children being able to find a home of their own), importance of having strong relationships with Registered Providers and the delivery of services to their tenants, and interest in ways the
Council could take a more pro-active role in relation to housing delivery such as a Local Housing Company.
Public consultation
Summary of responses to the Housing Strategy consultation online questionnaire.
The consultation on the draft Housing Strategy 2022 – 2027 was open from 2 March to 13 April 2022. The consultation was available online and promoted on social media via the Council’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. Partner organisations and Stakeholders were invited to respond to the consultation by email on 2 March (list of stakeholders contacted is at the end of this summary.
29 responses were submitted, of which 24 were complete and 5 incomplete. Incomplete survey responses mean that not all questions were answered. Responses generally expressed support for the priorities of the draft Housing Strategy.
The action plan sets out various projects and areas of work for the first year of the Strategy (2022-2023).
Actions include a project to develop our approach to empty homes and enforcement, revision of the Housing Allocations Scheme, explore options to encourage downsizing and establishing engagement and monitoring with Registered Providers.
Some consultation comments related to the planning process and policies, while this strategy sets out our aims and objectives in relation to delivering additional homes in the Borough, including affordable housing for local people, any development will be subject to the planning process and policies. The Local Plan Regulation 18 consultation will take place in Autumn 2022.
Feedback referring to planning policy will be shared with the planning department for their consideration.
A summary of the responses to the consultation can be found in Appendix B to this Strategy.
Stakeholders contacted by email inviting them to respond to the consultation
The public consultation was open for responses from anyone who chose to complete the questionnaire.
Parish Councils, Landlords (via the list held for our Private Landlord Forum) and stakeholders, across the following organisations and companies were invited to respond to the consultation:
- Registered Providers with stock in the Borough
- Kent Housing Group
- Local authorities – Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells, Gravesham and Medway
- West Kent YMCA
- Porchlight
- Age UK
- Crosslight
- Lookahead
- KSAS
- RBLI
- Peabody
- Rural Kent Action with Communities and Kent Community Housing Hub
- Developers
- Public sector bodies and organisations such as NHS, Kent Fire and Rescue, Ministry of Justice and KCC
- Hadlow college