New executive director joins the NHC at crucial time for housing in the North

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Patrick Murray – Executive Director (Policy & Public Affairs), NHC

We’re pleased to welcome new Executive Director of Policy and Public Affairs, Patrick Murray.

Patrick joins the NHC from Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities where he most recently worked on the Public Bodies Review of Homes England. He previously worked on key housing policy areas in the Department including the Affordable Homes Programme. He has a broad range of leadership experience across the public and third sector. He has also worked for the Department of Health and Social Care and in the housing sector, and local Government where he was the Cabinet Member for Housing at a local authority.

He joins at a crucial time, with a general election fast approaching, and work on the NHC’s next corporate plan due to start soon.

Executive Director of Policy and Public Affairs Patrick Murray said:

“I’m delighted to join the fantastic team at the NHC. The Consortium has a great track record of supporting members to collaborate and influence on key priorities such as developing ways to meet the Net Zero challenge and making sure housing is at the heart of the Levelling Up agenda.

“I’m keen to build upon and take forward this work. This year will likely see a critical general election for housing and the North. This presents an enormous opportunity for the housing sector, and the communities we exist to serve. I am determined we grasp that opportunity with both hands.”

Northern Housing Consortium Chief Executive Tracy Harrison said:

“We’re pleased to welcome Patrick. He brings a wealth of experience and ideas and seemed the perfect fit with our values. He’s committed to working with colleagues, members and stakeholders to make a positive difference. With a general election fast approaching, he’ll play a big part in making sure housing and communities in the north are high up on the agenda of the new government.”

 

Over thirty years of friendship at the NHC for Lynda

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When Executive Assistant Lynda Redshaw joined the Northern Consortium Do the Bartman from the Simpsons was topping the charts and John Major had been Prime Minister for a matter of months. She joined as a part time secretary thirty-three years ago and was one of only three people who worked for the organisation.

Lynda has seen the NHC transform into what it is today and is a fountain of knowledge, she’s the ‘go to’ person if there’s something you’re not sure about!

Where did you start your career?

I started work at Lumley Castle working in the office and taking banquet bookings. I then went to the English Industrial Estates Partnership (now Homes England) followed by working at Chester Le Street District Council where I was a shorthand typist and secretary for the Chief Technical Officer. It wasn’t until I was at NHC that I started using a computer rather than a typewriter!

What was NHC like when you started?

It was a lot smaller than it is today, there were only three of us. Now the organisation is so much bigger and higher profile. When I joined the focus was mainly on group meetings, and we were just starting to branch out into training and had a small procurement offering.

What have been your career highlights at NHC?

I’ve been involved with so many different projects, I used to love organising the Hitex Housing and IT exhibition. It was really useful for members to come along and evaluate different software companies. I’ve become an expert in coordinating office moves, I’ve done it six times! I also love organising the bursary lunch – it’s aways a special occasion and a real highlight each year for me.

What’s kept you at the NHC?

I’ve made lifelong, special friends at the NHC, and have shared so much laughter. I’ve been a mother figure to the younger people in the office and have been known as ‘Work Mum’ (or the office dragon for my gatekeeping skills!).

NHC is a lovely company to work for and support from work friends has really kept me going during some tough times. This especially the case now I’m a carer for my husband.

I’ve celebrated my 40th, 50th and 60th birthdays at the NHC and am looking forward to celebrating my 70th here!

 

 

Lord Callanan meets NHC members ahead of SHDF Wave 3

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The Northern Housing Consortium (NHC) held a member’s roundtable with Lord Callanan, Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance, to discuss the proposals for the latest wave of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF). This was part of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s continued engagement with the sector about SHDF funding.

The Minister and department officials were joined by a wide representation of the NHC’s membership, from local authorities, housing associations and ALMOs. The North has been leading the way on improving social homes and is ambitious to do even more to make homes warmer, more energy efficient and more affordable to heat.

Wave 3 is set to be the biggest funding pot yet with around £1.2bn announced between 2025-2028. DESNZ outlined that key changes have been made based on sector feedback and lessons learnt. For Lord Callanan, flexibility was the key word of the meeting, giving recipients more control over how they apply for and access funds. The hope is that more flexibility on funding will lead to an increased scale of delivery and contribute to strengthening skills and supply chains. DESNZ officials will be closely monitoring to see if changes lead to added value through long term certainty, area-based delivery, and more low carbon heating.

Members were also interested in practicalities of how funding requirements will work with on the ground delivery. Applications for funding are expected to open this summer, with work expected to begin in February 2025. The department will look to extend the application windows and lead in times to give the sector ample time to carry out assessments and set out their plans. Since the roll out of SHDF, NHC has set out how greater long-term certainty from Government is needed. Longer term funding commitments will allow the sector to increase delivery and build the much-needed supply chains required to decarbonise the country’s housing stock.

Many thanks to Lord Callanan and his team for engaging with Northern Housing Consortium members. We look forward to working with members as part of Wave 3.

Rent increases confirmed for 2024/25

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On 4th January, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) published new ‘rent limit guidance’ confirming the process by which social housing rent increases will be regulated for the 2024/25 financial year.

This means that social housing rents will be able to rise by the rate of Consumer Price Inflation (CPI), taken from the previous September, plus 1.0%. In September 2023, the CPI rate was 6.7% meaning that rent levels can increase by no more than 7.7% from April, unless an exemption is granted directly by the RSH to an individual Registered Provider.

This approach differs from that taken for the 2023/24 financial year when the government imposed a one-year rent cap, limiting any rental increases to 7.0%. This was part of a wider package of financial support to assist those with the rising cost of living.

The full rent limit guidance for 2024/25 can be found here.

DLUHC publishes updated National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)

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DLUHC published an updated National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) on 19 December 2023 following a consultation in December 2022. The update was announced during the Secretary of State’s speech about the government’s ambitions for housing and infrastructure, and the role of planning in helping achieve them. Further details about what was announced can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement.

Various reforms are introduced to housing delivery, effective immediately.

These are 10 of the key changes:

  1. Local Housing Need – Paragraph 60 of the NPPF, clarifies that the overall aim of local authorities, in the context of delivering homes, should be to “meet as much of an area’s identified housing need as possible”. Under paragraph 61, the revised NPPF states that the standard method for calculating housing need, to establish the number of homes required, is now considered as an “an advisory starting point”. This had not been specified previously. As a result, the status is clearer for local authorities to have greater flexibility to plan for fewer or higher number of homes than the standard method indicates, and where there are specific local circumstances that justify an alternative approach to assessing housing need, that is now explicitly supported.
  1. Green Belt – New paragraph 145 of the revised NPPF provides that local authorities may choose to (but are not required to) review and alter Green Belt boundaries (in the event that they consider that they cannot meet housing need).
  1. Higher Densities – New paragraph 130 of the revised NPPF provides that a significant increase in the average density of residential development in an existing urban area may be inappropriate if it will result in developments which are “wholly out of character with the existing area.” The effect of this change is to enable authorities to describe “out of character” circumstances in the process of preparing design codes and plan-making.
  1. Five year housing land supply – The changes remove the requirement to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply on an annual basis, where an up to date (less than five years old) local plan is in place which contained a deliverable five-year supply of land at its examination. The change provides an incentive to local planning authorities to keep Local Plans up to date so that they do not continually need to demonstrate a five year land supply.
  1. Buffer – Under the previous version of the NPPF, all local planning authorities were required to build a buffer of 5% (by default), 10% or 20% into their calculations on five-year housing land supply. In the updated NPPF, the 5% and 10% buffers have been removed but the 20% buffer has been retained, where delivery falls below 85% of the requirement over the previous three years. In addition, historic oversupply can be accounted for in the five-year housing land supply calculation and further guidance on this will follow. The expectation is that the removal of 5% and 10% will simplify the five-year land supply calculations for local authorities.
  1. Neighbourhood Plans – the changes increase the level of protection from the presumption afforded by neighbourhood plans from two to five years post adoption, provided they identify at least one housing site.
  2. Diversifies types of housing – additional support is given to the delivery of self-build, custom-build and community-led housing and encourages the delivery of older people’s housing, including retirement housing, housing-with-care and care homes.
  1. Role of beauty – The latest NPPF revisions mean that “beauty” is emphasised as a consideration in strategic policies.
  1. Agricultural land – greater protection is given to agricultural land through additional reference to the need to address food production, maintaining the emphasis on best and most versatile (BMV) land.
  1. Energy efficiency measures – New paragraph 164 in the NPPF requires local authorities, in determining planning applications, to give “significant weight” to the need to support “energy efficiency and low carbon heating improvements” through adaptation of buildings. When assessing applications for energy efficiency improvements, it is important that heritage protection is considered. Paragraph 164 in the revised NPPF provides for this by stating that where the proposals would affect conservation areas, listed buildings or other relevant designated heritage assets, local planning authorities should also apply the relevant policies, set out in detail in Chapter 16 of the NPPF.

Alongside the revised NPPF, the Secretary of State set out his ambitions for planning performance grouped around four themes: Greater transparency, additional financial support, faster processes and direction action.

These themes included: reviewing the use of Extension of Time agreements in managing performance issues; emphasising the increase in planning fees and the establishment of the Planning Super Squad; establishing Accelerated Planning Services and intervening where local authorities fail to get a local plan in place.

DLUHC also published the results of the 2022 Housing Delivery Test at the end of December.

Consultation Launched on Awaab’s Law To Set Timescales For Repairs

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On 9th January, the government launched a consultation into Awaab’s Law: Consultation on timescales for repairs in the social rented sector.

The new rules will form part of a tenancy agreement, so that tenants can hold landlords to account by law if they fail to tackle hazards.

It is proposed that Awaab’s Law will consider the 29 health and safety hazards set out by the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. The consultation proposes that Awaab’s Law will define hazards as those that pose a significant risk to the health or safety of the resident of the dwelling. This means that a hazard does not have to be at category 1 level in order to fall within the scope of Awaab’s Law.

The consultation contains seven proposals:

Proposal 1. If a registered provider is made aware of a potential hazard in a social home, they must investigate within 14 calendar days to ascertain if there is a hazard.
Proposal 2.

 

 Within 14 calendar days of being made aware that there is a potential hazard in a social home, the registered provider must provide a written summary of findings to the resident that includes details of any hazard identified and (if applicable) next steps, including an anticipated timeline for repair and a schedule of works.
Proposal 3. If the investigation indicates that a reported hazard poses a significant risk to the health or safety of the resident, the registered provider must begin repair works within 7 calendar days of the written summary being issued.
Proposal 4: The registered provider must satisfactorily complete repair works within a reasonable time period. The resident should be informed of this time period and their needs should be considered.
Proposal 5. The registered provider must action emergency repairs as soon as practicable and, in any event, within 24 hours.
Proposal 6. In the event that the investigation finds a hazard that poses a significant, or a significant and imminent, risk of harm or danger, and the property cannot be made safe within the specified timescales for Awaab’s Law, the registered provider must offer to arrange for the occupant(s) to stay in suitable alternative accommodation until it is safe to return.
Proposal 7. The registered provider will be expected to keep clear records of all attempts to comply with the proposals, including records of all correspondence with the resident(s) and any contractors. If the registered provider makes all reasonable attempts to comply with the timescales but is unable to for reasons genuinely beyond their control, they will be expected to provide a record of the reasons that prevented them from doing so.

This is an important chance for the social housing sector to provide their input and ensure the timescales and requirements are effective in addressing issues of damp, mould and other health hazards. The consultation closes on 5 March 2024.

If you would like to contribute towards the NHC’s consultation submission, please submit your comments on the proposals by email to karen.brown@northern-consortium.org.uk by 16 February.

 

New Learning Report: Floor Coverings in Social Housing

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Landlords’ perspectives of the provision of floor coverings in social housing are explored in a new report by Altair and the Longleigh Foundation.

The report voices the views and experiences of social housing landlords. It follows on from earlier learning reports on the wider context and the tenant perspective of floor coverings. The report provides three case studies of organisations providing floor coverings at the point of let. It also shares a key regulatory update from Wales, where the new version of the Welsh Housing Quality Standard sets an expectation that social landlords provide floor coverings for their tenants at point of let.

You can read the learning report here.