To consider the report to 13 November Cabinet on Community Land Trusts and the means by which they might help the Council deliver its Local Plan. . Report to follow and will be published as a supplement.

Councillor Mike Rowley, Dave Scholes (Housing and Strategy Needs Manager) and Charlie Fisher (Transition by Design) will be available to present the report and answer any questions.

The Cabinet Member for Affordable Housing, Councillor Mike Rowley, introduced the report. It was explained to the Panel that the report sought to do two things: to provide an update on the progress made against the actions recommended in a previously commissioned report on how Community Led Housing could be delivered in Oxford, and to consider a land disposal by way of a long lease of a plot containing seven garages and a forecourt at Champion Way in Littlemore.

Regarding the actions recommended to support the delivery of Community Led Housing it was noted that the majority of major actions had already been taken forward. The one area which had not progressed was the suggestion that s.106 agreements be used to require provision of community led housing sites on larger developments. The rationale behind the decision not to progress this was due to the negative implications on scheme viability and therefore the overall number of social housing projects developed.

Charlie Fisher of Transition by Design, one of the authors of the previously commissioned report on how Community Led Housing could be delivered in Oxford, presented to the Panel regarding the definition of Community Led Housing, which covered multiple models but all had in common a shared and communal approach regarding finance, risk and management of a scheme.  The progress made by the Council against the recommended actions of the previous report were commended, and four key issues were identified as particularly important in continuing to drive the delivery of Community Led Housing forward:

a.    Continued political support

b.    Continued officer support, particularly with regards to the upcoming application for funding from the Oxfordshire Growth Deal in March 2020, but also in the development and contribution to the work of the Community Led Housing regional hub and its work of ensuring a pipeline of land  for projects, and matchmaking suitable stakeholders to projects.

c.    Developing a mechanism for shortlisting suitable prospective tenants from the housing register who actively wished to be involved in a housing environment with a cooperative element to it.

d.    Ensuring that land values included the social and environmental factors of potential developments. Bristol was held up as an exemplar in this regard.

The challenges of the proposed disposal site were explained to the Panel: its small size, proximity to the ring road, difficult access arrangements and protected trees. It was suggested that in the absence of any other developers wishing to work on the site, it would offer the opportunity to demonstrate proof of concept should it prove possible to develop through Community Led Housing.

The Panel sought reassurance on the degree of community involvement there had been to date in the design of the site. It was explained that the site was a very unusual site in that it was fairly isolated from other housing due to its position by the ring road and its proximity to the Oxford Academy. As such, no consultation had been undertaken to date. On other prospective garage sites, which were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 211