Despite currently having no representation in the local council, Horsham Labour Party has been active in keeping the issue of affordable housing near the top of the political agenda, and has been working constructively with other parties to find solutions.In March Horsham Labour arranged a meeting between the Government housing minister and Horsham District Council to discuss the topic.
This was reported in the West Sussex County Times thus:
'It was a big ask' for Horsham District Council to provide 822 affordable homes a year, said housing minister Ian Wright.
A delegation from the district went to meet the Labour Government minister at the House of Commons last week and discussed how the council could ensure increasing demand from people in need of affordable housing could be met.
At the meeting were David Hide, chair of Horsham Labour Party, Carol Hayton the Labour Party campaign co-ordinator, who organised the meeting, Andrew Baldwin (Con, Holbrook East), HDC's cabinet member for housing and community support, Carolyn Antill, head of housing services, Andrew Smith, housing development and strategy manager, and Chris Woolfe, from the Government Office of the South East.
Mr Hide spoke of the local Labour Party's concerns the district council was failing to deliver sufficient levels of affordable housing to meet ever increasing demand.
The concern was heightened by recent news that developers are suggesting they will not be able to deliver the 40 per cent affordable component on the two significant sites due to be developed west of Horsham.
He also pointed out that while the Government had offered a range of incentives to local councils to encourage them to increase provision, the council's response had been they were not appropriate for Horsham.
The meeting had been arranged with agreement from all parties to discuss a way forward that could ensure the district's housing needs were met.
Mr Wright recognised 'it was a big ask' of the council to achieve the figure of 822 homes, this being the number of affordable homes that should be built on an annual basis to meet housing need as quoted in the Housing Strategy document.
He recommended four approaches to ensuring homes could be delivered at an appropriate rate.
Firstly, he urged the council to negotiate hard with the two developers on the West of Horsham scheme, to achieve the best possible level of affordable housing.
He suggested working with the Homes and Communities Agencies for support in raising additional funds that may alleviate the developers' concerns about affordability.
Closer work with West Sussex County Council to negotiate the release of land was urged.
The council should build partnerships with housing associations to develop strategies for development.
Lastly, the council should take up the opportunities and funding made available by the Government for councils to build the homes themselves.
While he recognised Horsham did not currently own any housing stock, he felt there was no reason why if the will was there, that the the council could not become a developer of homes in its own right.
He cited the example of his own council in Hartlepool, which like Horsham had transferred its stock some time in the past , but was enthusiastic about the opportunity to start building homes again.
Carolyn Anthill suggested that she would be interested in learning more about their model behind this strategy.
"Let's hope this has done the trick," said Mr Hide. "Ian Wright outlined a number of avenues that our council can now pursue, so that rather than find excuses as to why they can't deliver more affordable homes for local people, I hope they will now recognise that they can do so much more.
"Horsham Labour Party is passionate about the need to deliver homes for all, right across our district, and we hope that with this meeting we just might have unblocked the log-jam to delivering the affordable homes we so desperately need."
Liz Kitchen (Con, Rusper and Colgate), leader of HDC, said: "Horsham District Council is totally committed and is working hard to provide as many affordable homes as we can.
"Whilst we have a target of 40 per cent of affordable homes in developments of over 14 houses, the minister accepted that in the present recession, where many developments are no longer viable, we should try to secure as many affordable houses as possible. This Horsham District Council is actively doing.
"At the meeting, the minister suggested ways of possibly helping to provide more affordable houses and we are looking into these to see if there is any merit in them.
"Our initial enquiries suggest they are unlikely to work for us. We are continuing to work with the county council and others to see if any land can be brought forward for development."