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 more squarely situated within an existing community there would be, backed by existing funding, far greater consultation than simply that required by virtue of going through the planning process.

In response to questions by the Panel on what practical support was required from the Council, officer participation in planning and submitting a bid to the Oxfordshire Growth Deal in March was identified as the near-term need, but that further into the future officer support would be needed in engaging with the work of the community-led housing regional hub and its work of creating a pipeline of opportunities and matchmaking groups interested in bringing a community-led housing development forward. Further development sites, particularly former garage sites, would also be welcomed. The Panel welcomed the repurposing of garage sites.

The other major area of discussion by the Panel concerned how the Champion Way project and other community-led housing projects would be publicised, how they would attract those outside the traditional ‘co-operative demographic’ and the practicalities of choosing suitable people to participate whilst also fitting within the Council’s wider responsibilities and infrastructure as a housing authority. It was recognised that community-led housing projects did face a challenge in engaging wider demographics in the opportunities and benefits of community-led housing, but that Oxfordshire Community Land Trust had been awarded £15k of Cohesive Communities funding and were starting the process of recruiting a worker whose role would include greater publicity amongst target demographics. Whilst co-operative housing did tend to be popular amongst particular demographic types, experience from Oxfordshire Community Land Trust at Dean Court and other projects suggested that the benefits were equally viable for all, but that it was fundamental that whoever joined was of the mindset of wanting to live within a community setting. How the Council might identify people interested in living in such a way and involving them at an early stage was a key issue, with concern being raised that people may be steered towards such housing purely because it was ‘housing’. This was explained not to be the case - community led housing availability was to provide more options to those on the waiting list; it would not act as a replacement for other provision, those who did not want to live communally would not be pressured into doing so, nor would they be penalised for not doing so. In light of Oxfordshire Community Land Trust’s experience in identifying tenants suited to community led housing projects it was suggested that the Council should draw on their experience to identify tenants who would flourish in a community led housing scheme.

It was AGREED that the Panel would refer the following two recommendations to the Scrutiny Committee for consideration whether to refer to the December meeting of Cabinet:

Recommendation 1: That the Council will, when publicising and raising awareness of Community Led Housing, take steps to ensure that the barriers to demographic groups with less exposure to the concepts of communal living (particularly social housing tenants) are identified and addressed, and to ensure that these groups are equally equipped to understand the benefits of and to participate in the opportunities afforded by Community Led Housing.

Recommendation 2: That the Council will, in identifying tenants with the values, skills and motivations suited to community living, give the Oxfordshire Community Land Trust a formal role in the selection process.