1. Present: Chairman (Mr A.Bowditch), plus the five Councillors of the grouped parishes, plus four parishioners plus Councillor N.Whiteley (TVBC) and D.Lyon (Clerk).
2. Rural Housing (Gordon Richardson, Rural Housing Enabler, Community Action Hampshire)
At the invitation of the Parish Council Gordon Richardson spoke on the housing problems of the rural areas of the county and his role as Housing Enabler. Quoting the Southern Evening Echo he said that while the average wage in Hampshire was £21,000, the average house price in November 2002 was £171,000. This needed an income of £46,000, plus a deposit of £1 0,000, to obtain a mortgage.
In the villages houses of average price are now rare, so people have to leave to find accommodation in lower cost areas in the towns. Rented properties are in short supply and expensive, while second homes and holiday lets further reduce the supply in rural areas. The only options were council houses and Housing Association schemes, but 91000 council houses had been sold, and only 21000 housing association homes built representing a permanent net loss of 60000 low cost homes.
The Rural Housing Enabler was funded 50:25:25 respectively by the Countryside Agency, the Housing Corporation, and three District Councils (TVBC, New Forest DC, and Winchester City Council). Mr Richardson had been in post for nine months during which time he had spoken to 55 local councils, had been involved with eight housing needs surveys and was currently involved with another four. His role was to help villages assess their housing needs, to offer specialist expertise, and to work with local communities and councils to develop affordable housing. He could help in identifying suitable sites and could provide evidence of need to planning officers. The Housing Corporation has doubled the grants it makes available for affordable housing over the next four years.
Mr Richardson concluded by saying that should the Parish Council decide to carry out a housing needs survey he could help at no cost to the Council.
A discussion session followed Mr Richardson's talk, during which he answered questions. Some of the main points to emerge were as follows:
Priority - it was sometimes the case that local residents might suddenly require accommodation - a farm worker losing a tied house for example - and this could cause difficulties for the local council. Especially if there was already a queue. GR said that planning permission would only be given if the accommodation met the needs of local people (Exceptional Policy Land), and a strong local connection of an applicant would have to be demonstrated. The local council could nominate the order of priority for people in a queue.
It was pointed out tint, because of the absence of employment opportunities in Villages, younger people often did not want to live locally if it involved commuting. However there was a demand from older people who wished to return to their home villages later in life.
GR said that TVBC carries out its own housing needs surveys and planners required information from this source before approving proposals. It was suggested that planners were inherently opposed to new housing villages. Social change had resulted in a change in the type of person requiring low cost housing - formerly it may have been agricultural workers - now it was as likely to be new graduates.
GR said that there were two options for affordable housing a) houses for rent and b) shared ownership wherein the occupant paid rent on the part of the house he did not own (in villages the occupant could own only up to a maximum of 80 per cent).
The situation at Defence Munitions, Dean Hill, was discussed. There was concern that the MOD houses on the site, eleven of which were currently empty, would be sold on the open market. The question was whether they could be reserved for social housing. GR thought this was unlikely as The Treasury would insist that they were sold for the best price. However affordable housing always needs a grant, so if grants were available it might be possible for these houses to be bought at market prices from MOD. The fact that the site was split between two county councils might add to problems. There were precedents for Housing Associations to buy on the open market - indeed in the past the Government had encouraged this.
It was pointed out that the MOD have still not told residents of the occupied houses on the site about their future. GR agreed MOD could be difficult.
TVBC did a housing needs survey fairly recently but not at the level of detail required by planners. A survey takes 6 weeks, to set up (to print and deliver questionnaires), 4 weeks to return these, and another 2 weeks for computer analysis, giving a total of about 3 months.
In response to a question as to what counts as “local” in determining eligibility for housing in a village GR said anyone living or working full time within the boundary of a village or on its electoral roll. New Forest had a set of criteria which included residence of a 2,5 or 10 years depending on circumstances, or having parents/grandparents/sister or brother living in the village. The geographical shape of a village night lead to anomalies, but GR said that applicants could always go to the next village in these circumstances.
People on housing lists should inform their parish council, which could negotiate access to District Council lists.
Affordable housing schemes normally contained a maximum of twelve units, although in villages like West Tytherley the maximum was more likely to be five or six. The problem was acquiring the necessary land. In the past local landowners often gave land for local housing - this no longer happens. Currently land for affordable housing is likely to cost £8000 to £10,000 per plot.
3. Other Matters
Mrs Sara (Gruzelier (a parishioner and also Chairman of WestDean Parish Council) said that her Council had asked their Clerk to liaise more closely with West Tytherley & Frenchmoor Parish Council. She said that the footbridge over the River Dun in the centre of the village was in need of refurbishment and asked the parish council to consider a contribution to the costs.
4. AOB
There being no other business the Chairman closed the Parish Meetings at 1955h
Minutes of the combined Annual Meetings of the two Parishes held on 12 May 2003 at 1920h at King Edward's Hall, West Tytherley