A lack of affordable housing in the Scarborough borough is to be tackled over the coming years through a joint venture between the Borough Council and a commercial partner.
The council's cabinet yesterday approved plans to form a new joint venture company to deliver it's plans.
Councillors made the in principle decision in order to address the shortage of high-quality housing as part of its Better Homes project.
A business case has been prepared to consider the options, including the creation of a company which would be owned equally between the council and another organisation – a ‘joint venture’. This could be a housing association or another registered provider.
It would fund the construction of the new homes, sell them on completion and potentially buy suitable land from the open market.
The cabinet has now given the green light to the authority starting the process to find a partner for the joint venture.
Council Leader Steve Siddons says the scheme will benefit thousands of households in the borough.
The Better Homes project wants to build homes for the 2,000 plus households on the councils housing waiting list but the project has raised a number of concerns from people concerned over the suitability of the sites earmarked for development.
Council leader Steve Siddons says those views will be taken on board.
The borough is facing an affordable homes crisis and double the number currently being built need to be constructed between now and 2038 if demand is to be met. This means 3,300 are needed in a 16 year period.
The average salary of £27,000 in the borough means a first time buyer will need seven times their earnings to buy their own home.
Cllr Siddons said that suggestions from the authority’s scrutiny committee that the project should not go ahead due to the forthcoming Local Government Reorganisation (LGR), which would see Scarborough Council scrapped and replaced with a larger unitary authority, was not the right approach.
He said:
“My view is that whatever the successor authority to Scarborough is they should have the same desires at heart to see the residents of this area, however big that is, to be able to live in decent quality, affordable homes built to a reasonable space standard and to be able to live there for long periods of time, if they so wish to.
“It is a basic human right in my view and I think that this piece of work will go a long way towards delivering that.”
Director Richard Bradley said the joint venture would be “cost neutral” to the council and that it would be able to get back the approximate £800,000 costs of setting up the joint venture.
The cabinet unanimously backed the scheme.
The decision now must be voted upon when the full council meets next month.
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