genuinely affordable housing

Minutes of the 2^nd Housing meeting at 3 North Street, Lewes held on Tuesday 7^th November 2017 at 7.30 p.m.

Present: Annie Hailey, Jane Foot, Kath Kane, Caroline Pick, Rita Ellis, Debbie Twitchen, Penny Jones, Emily Clarke (Convenor), Maggie Symons (Minutes), Ruth O’Keefe.

Apologies: Tilly Grivell, Chris Smith, David Nicholson, Jennifer Chibnall

Proposed outcomes of this group

To campaign for social housing on all land as it becomes available across Lewes District.
To campaign to stop the sale of any further housing under the right to buy scheme, until housing stock has been restored to address the Lewes District waiting list.

Matters Arising: The minutes have been amended to read ‘the number of houses still in council hands is 50:50’

Reports back on action points agreed at last meeting:

Louis will forward the up-to-date info about CLT’s plans for St Anne’s to Emily.
The status of St Anne’s as a CAT (Community Asset Transfer) is still open and being discussed. Lin felt that the County Council hope that CAT status for St Anne’s does not remain so that they can sell the site at current market value and keep the money from the sale.
The result of the £20,000 consultant’s scrutiny was produced in June but has not been circulated, as promised, by September. Action – should everyone write to Kevin Foster asking to see the results of the report?
Neighbourhood Plan – 26 affordable houses have been allocated on the plan. It was advocated that they were available at Lewes affordable pricing to rent and purchase however the National Park has advised that this isn’t legal.
Ruth has asked to see the consultation document but not yet forthcoming. It has not produced anything new and she feels that it will say that there is a variety of things you could do with the site, need to be mindful of trees, bats etc. and act with due diligence etc
There may be a move to knock down some of the surrounding buildings because there have been children playing on the roof which is dangerous. If they are planning to demolish they will write to everyone in the surrounding area. There was some dispute at this point about how many people in the surrounding area would be notified.
Ruth thinks that the County Council will be ready to bring in developers given the history and we should be ready to act immediately. Any contact we as a group have with them should be very positive and exemplify that St Anne’s is a great opportunity etc.

Building of 200 homes on Malling Farm is starting – none of these properties is affordable and there are no properties to rent. Another example of how important it is to raise awareness of the need for social housing at the planning stage and get support for this from the community.

Emily wondered how we can get the message about the need for more social housing to the wider community and had several suggestions for doing this by building a website, using info from Chris Smith and starting production of videos for social media on 11^th.

Emily had had an email from Axe The Housing Act re. Homes For All Summit. This is a National cross party group campaigning for Council Housing, rent controls and stopping the sale of council housing. They are running a Housing Summit on 25^th November with workshops on Universal Credit and Benefit Cuts. Emily to attend with Debbie Twitcchen.

Day of Action on November 22^nd. To find out how much money is available for housing in the Budget. Emily to co -ordinate our action.

Discussion

What should our group call itself? One suggestion was Lewes Action for Social Housing please send Em ideas about our name to e.clarke1982@gmail.com

There was a general discussion on whether we should support Lewes CLT. Points in favour were:

it has National backing
it will provide a means for ESCC to build housing while keeping the land
new website, you can become a member of CLT
CLT has already got a working relationship with District Council.

Points against CLT:

Lewes CLT hasn’t built anything yet, despite having land at North Street for some time.

Action points

Emily to contact Kevin Foster to ask for results of consultation. Copy in Beck Shaw
Emily to contact Louis Blair for updated material from CLT and their bid for social housing at St Anne’s and to find out what is the lowest % of current value for a property which can be given to social housing legally.
Emily to start creating videos for social media campaign on 11^th
Emily to build a website to share info – this should include a description of who and what we are, minutes, where to find us, date of next meeting.
Ruth to bring any update’s to the next meeting.
Debbie to discuss with Emily potential tenants who might take par in videos
Emily to ensure that there will be someone from CLT at the next meeting.

Meeting closed at 8.45 p.m. Next meeting on Tuesday 12^th December at 3 North Street, Lewes at 7.30 p.m.