Adur & Worthing: 1,400 Affordable Homes On The Way In Four Years?

A pair of local authorities in West Sussex plan to get 1,400 'affordable' homes built by the year 2025.

Worthing Borough and Adur District councils jointly made the commitment in a statement this morning (April 6).

Internal council documents show Worthing should see 450 council-enabled residences constructed, while the figure rises to 950 in Adur.

The announcement came as the 'Joint Strategic Committee' of the two councils, who share their administration, adopted the Developing Pathways to Affordable Homes scheme, which they said will form part of the Housing Strategy for 2020-2023.

Of those 1,400 affordable homes to be built by 2025, the councils pledged to deliver directly a minimum of 250, with others built by partners in home construction.

The government's definition of 'affordable' for planning purposes generally means that the rent or price of a home is 80% or below of the local market rate.

This definition is found in the current National Policy Planning Framework.

In making the move, the two authorities said it was part of their ambition to provide "a more diverse, affordable tenure type, with an emphasis on creating multiple routes to home ownership - from shared ownership through to rent to save schemes."

It comes as internal council documents show Worthing's house prices, even four years ago, were more than 11 times median earnings.

The statement continued:

"Both Adur District Council and Worthing Borough Council believe the delivery of homes should help communities thrive, further work on sustainability and deliver new skills and jobs, as modern methods of construction are adopted."

As for obtaining the land required for 1,400 new homes given the limited supply of suitable locations in the two council areas, the authorities said:

"The goals will be achieved using Council-owned sites, while continuing to support and expand support for developers and local housing providers, to bring forward suitable housing schemes of their own."

As a delivery plan, ‘Developing Pathways to Affordable Homes’ will run for four years, and will help to inform the next stage of the Housing Strategy due in 2023-2024.

The Councils claimed they will also be developing more extensive relationships with the private rental sector through the Opening Doors scheme (the councils' own letting schemes for private property), to make it easier for a wider range of people to access secure and affordable rental accommodation.

As the COVID pandemic has changed the way residents live and work, the strategy also set out an ambition to undertake a detailed community mapping exercise, which will inform the design of new homes, amenities and spaces that are fit for the future.

Already, the councils said they were intervening in the local housing market.

This includes developing some of the first Council housing in Adur for more than 30 years, such as the plans for Albion Street in Southwick, and working with delivery partners to deliver on major sites such as Union Place and Teville Gate in Worthing.