Teignbridge housing strategy conference 2012

Teignbridge housing strategy conference 2012 - welcome and opening remarks by Philip Vogel Executive Member for Housing and Planning:


Colleagues

May I welcome you to the 2012 Teignbridge Housing Annual Conference and Housing Strategy Event.

We in Teignbridge live in interesting times.

This Council has placed housing and employment at the top of its agenda.

In Teignbridge we have some small areas of low income and job deprivation, and because of our rural nature, many of our residents are also seen as deprived, because its hard for them to access services

- the Council’s response in the Council Plan 2011-2015, will be to promote projects to address deprivation, enable residents to access our services more easily, ensure that residents get the benefits they are entitled to, and strive to improve housing in deprived areas.

In Teignbridge we have a high number of older residents who are vulnerable to cold, slips, trips and falls, and increasing numbers of residents with dementia

- the Council’s response in the Council Plan 2011-2015, is that we will work to provide more, better quality, affordable homes, and through partnership with others, offer a range of healthier lifestyle choices to keep residents well. We will support older and disabled residents living in their own homes.

The draft ORS Housing Review shows that the largest single group within Teignbridge in coming years will be single 65+s, and that the largest inward migration will be of residents aged between 45 and 65+ moving in to retire. This will have a profound affect on the services we and our partners are going to have to offer.

In the Council Plan 2011-2015 we have committed to continuing our efforts to:

- reduce the number of empty homes - (and we were very successful at this in the year ended 4th October 2011 -  383 successful, and special thanks to the Housing Team for this);

- encourage landlords to accept rents residents can afford;

- work with local communities to help find suitable Gypsy and Traveller sites -(and again thank you to Teign Housing for their commitment to our vision);

- make sure as many new homes as possible are affordable for local people;

- put in place long term plans to meet housing needs now and in the future - this through the emerging Local Plan that we have so successfully been consulting on over recent weeks, receiving 7000 responses;

- find new ways to ensure local residents, have priority access to new social and affordable housing;

- look at specific proposals for housing types suitable for older residents;

look at the types of letting tenancies most appropriate for Teignbridge;

- And finally to become a beacon district for custom-build: Local Homes, Built by Local People, for Local People;

This Council is prepared to back its Council Plan aspirations, with a £1m revolving infrastructure fund using its New Homes Bonus in the first instance, to make things happen - and my challenge to you all today is,

can you, our partners, keep up with us, be resourceful, innovative, and present cutting edge solutions, to help us achieve these aspirations, and improve the quality of life for our residents here in Teignbridge.

Teignbridge is open for business - enjoy your day

Thank you