Agenda item

The Committee heard again from the Homes, Health and Wellbeing Team Manager with a report seeking to provide an update on the First Homes Guidance Note and consider the evidence around Key Workers criteria in the District. It was explained that First Homes was brought in by Ministerial Statement in June 2022. This required all Major housing developments with an affordable housing contribution to include 25% First Homes as part of that contribution. All First Homes required a Section 106 agreement to secure the necessary restrictions on the use and sale of the properties, and a legal restriction on the title of the properties to ensure that these restrictions be applied to the properties at each future sale, guaranteeing perpetuity.

Members were reminded that in May 2022, the Prosperous Communities Committee had tasked officers with understanding the evidence base for Key Workers in West Lindsey to provide an assessment as to whether a Key Worker priority was necessary in West Lindsey. Subsequent research had found there was no standard definition of Key Worker, with a number of definitions being considered - from the ONS, the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and the Key Worker Living programme. Common to these was the focus on public sector workers.

Analysis of the First Homes purchasers to date within West Lindsey had shown that they came from a broad cross-section of occupations including public sector roles, but also sectors key to supporting the local economy such as agriculture, manufacturing and retail. Further analysis of their associated incomes had shown that those with public sector roles generally had higher incomes than those from other key sectors within West Lindsey.

Members heard that the purpose of the First Homes scheme was to support access to owner occupation for first-time buyers who otherwise would be unable to access the open market due to affordability issues. It was therefore considered that due to the below average house prices in West Lindsey, most public sector workers were already able to purchase a property on the open market unaided. Evidence had shown that applying a Key Worker priority was likely to significantly disadvantage other important employment sectors across the district, which the scheme in its current format had helped. If a Key Worker criteria were to be applied, it could shift the scheme’s focus away from helping support those important sectors of the economy in West Lindsey such as manufacturing, skilled trades or retail and effectively undermine the purpose of the scheme.

On the basis of the evidence contained in the report, Members of the Committee were requested to agree that a Key Worker definition and adopting a priority for Key Workers for the First Homes scheme were not currently required for West Lindsey.

Members of the Committee thanked the Homes, Health and Wellbeing Team Manager for a thorough and informative report and reiterated difficulties they were aware of for those unable to purchase their own property. In response to a question regarding young people having to move away from their home areas due to being unable to buy a home, it was confirmed that the local connections criteria, which gave priority to those who lived in the parish of the properties for sale, remained active for three months, giving that chance to those who might otherwise have to move away.

Having been moved and seconded, the Chairman took the vote and it was unanimously

            RESOLVED that

a)    The updated First Homes Guidance (as provided at Appendix 1 of the published report) be approved, to bring in line with Policy S22 of the Central Lincolnshire Local Plan; and

b)    the research and evidence set out in the paper be noted and agreed that a Key Worker definition and priority for Key Workers for purchasing a First Home is not currently required for West Lindsey; and

c)    future nonmaterial amendments to the First Homes Guidance (including the annual Price Cap revision) be delegated to the Director of Planning Regeneration and Communities following consultation with the Chairman of the Prosperous Communities Committee.