Arbroath Local Lettings Plan 2014/15 - Angus Council

15 Pages·2014·0.34 MB·English

by  Angus Council

Angus Common Housing Register (ACHR)
Angus Council, Blackwood Homes, Caledonia Housing
Association and Hillcrest Housing Association.

Arbroath Local Lettings Plan 2014/15

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Contents

Section 1
1.1 Introduction

1.2 What is a Local Letting Plan?

Section 2
Supply and Demand analysis for the properties

2.1 ACHR Properties

2.2 ACHR Sheltered Properties

2.3 New-build properties

2.4 Private Sector and other Housing Options

2.5 Turnover of Properties

2.6 Demand for Housing

2.7 Applicant Profile

2.8 Urgent Need Applicants

Section 3
3.1 Tenant Profiles

Section 4
4.1 Lettings targets 2014/15

Section 5
5.1 Local lettings initiatives

Section 6
6.1 Monitoring performance

Contact details
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Section 1

1.1 Introduction

Arbroath has a population of 23,902 (Census, 2011) compared with 22,785 in
the 2001 census.

Arbroath’s history as a town begins with the founding of Arbroath Abbey in
1178
It lies on the North Sea’s coast, around 16 miles (27.5 km) from Dundee and 45
miles (72.4 km) from Aberdeen.
The town is notable as the home of the Declaration of Arbroath, as well as the
Arbroath Smokie and its football team Arbroath F.C. holding the world record
for the highest number of goals in a professional football match. Arbroath
were the victors in a match against Aberdeen Bon Accord in the Scottish Cup
in 1885 winning 36-0.

Arbroath is represented within Angus Council by the Arbroath West and
Letham ward, from which four councillors are elected. The members elected
from this ward are, David Fairweather (Independent), Alex King (Scottish
National Party), David Lumgair (Scottish Conservative) and Ewan Smith
(Independent). Arbroath is also represented in the Arbroath East and Lunan
ward, from which four councillors are elected. The members elected from this
ward are, Martyn Geddes (Scottish Conservative), Donald Morrison (Scottish
National Party), Robert Spink (Independent) and Sheena Welsh (Scottish
National Party).

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1.2 What is a local letting plan?
A Local Letting Plans (LLP) is based on housing supply and demand analysis
and takes account local needs and circumstances.

Each year the LLP sets out –
• The target of lets to each housing category to meet the Common
Allocation Policy objectives of Angus Common Housing Register (ACHR)
partners - Angus Council, Blackwood Homes, Caledonia Housing
Association and Hillcrest Housing Association.
• Any local letting initiatives

Section 2
Supply and Demand analysis for the properties

2.1 ACHR Properties
Table 1
Arbroath ACHR stock by bedroom size and letting area
ANGUS COUNCIL
Flat Studio 1bed 2 3 4 6 Total
bed bed bed bed
Cairnie 6 74 17 97
Central 31 143 193 124 3 1 495
Cliffburn 4 78 28 110
Elms 20 20
Hayshead 58 71 4 133
Landward 7 1 8
Timmergreens 125 11 136
Warddykes 54 18 72
37 485 389 156 3 1 1071

House 1bed 2 bed 3 bed 4 bed 5 bed 7 bed Total
Cairnie 6 29 12 47
Central 55 59 33 18 2 1 168
Cliffburn 40 26 64 130
Elms 27 32 4 63
Hayshead 6 12 15 33
Kirkton 14 13 15 2 44
Landward 36 19 19 74
Timmergreens 50 35 22 107
Warddykes 54 39 23 3 119
288 264 207 23 2 1 785

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Maisonette Studio 1bed 2 bed 3 bed 4 bed Total
Cairnie 2 3 5
Central 73 15 88
Landward 4 4 8
Timmergreens 104 32 7 143
Warddykes 107 107
290 54 7 351

BLACKWOOD HOMES
Flat 1 bed 2 bed 3 bed
Kirkton Road 1 5 3
Hill Place 3 2
House
Kirkton Road 1 2

CALEDONIA HOUSING ASSOCIATION
Address Property 1 bed 2 bed 3 bed
Type
Barbers Amenity 12 2
Croft flat
General 2
needs
house
Convent St Amenity 1
cottage
Amenity 11 2
flats
Stuart St Amenity 2
flat
Amenity 1
cottage
General 2
needs
house
Herald Amenity 22
Building flats
Total 49 4 4

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HILLCREST HOUSING ASSOCIATION
Flat Studio 1 2 3 Total
Central 3 170 63 8 244
Cliffburn 8 20 28
Hayshead 7 3 8 18
Timmergreens 5 17 60 11 93
8 202 146 27 383
House Studio 1 2 3
Cairnie 7 6 13
Central 8 44 22 1 75
Cliffburn 17 35 52
Hayshead 70 98 168
Kirkton 7 2 3 12
Timmergreens 24 17 41
Total 8 51 142 160 361

2.3 ACHR SHELTERED PROPERTIES
Table 2 Sheltered/supported properties at 31 March 2013
ANGUS COUNCIL
Flat House
Studio 1 2 1 2
Central Adam 1 21 3
Cargill
Court
Ponderlaw 12
Lane
Wesley 8 14
Gardens
Cliffburn Andy 38 1
Stewart
Court

2.4 New-build properties
ANGUS COUNCIL
Noran Avenue – Phase 2
• 4 x 1 bed flats
• 1 x 3 bed house (disabled)
• 1 x 2 bed house (disabled)
• 1 x 1 bed house (disabled)

Millgate Loan
• 6 x 1 bed flats

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HILLCREST HOUSING ASSOCIATION
Sherriff Stein Place Arbroath, built in 2012.
26 General needs housing
• 16 x 4 apartment/5 person semi detached houses
• 6x 3 apartment/4 person semi detached houses
• 4 x 2 apartment/2 person flats
These properties are now let.

2.6 Private Sector and other Housing Options
Private Sector
In Angus there are 3.180 landlords and over 5,000 properties in the Private
Landlord Register.
There are 1,495 private landlords in the Arbroath area.
There are various options when someone is searching for a new home. Our
Housing Options application is available at www.angus.gov.uk/wizard that
helps to identify what housing options meet the needs of individuals. This can
be accessed at ACCESS Offices and Libraries throughout Angus.

2.7 Tenure Profile
Social housing comprises over 10,000 dwellings of which 7,817 are Council
owned and 3,049 are Housing Association stock.
Around 71% of Angus households are owner occupied and 9% are private
rented.

Angus East - Arbroath
• Social Rented 28%
• Private Rented 8%
• Owner Occupied 64%

2.8 Turnover of ACHR properties
Guide to Categories
A(i) Homeless
A(ii) Medical/Support need
Short Short term tenancy/lodger
Inadequate Does not meet housing needs
No Housing Need Adequately housed

Table 3
Council lets by category and area between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2013
Category Central Elms Cliffburn Hays Kirkton Land North Timmer Ward Total
head ward greens dykes
A(i) 60 2 6 14 1 4 11 31 20 149
A(ii) 23 3 4 1 1 1 1 5 4 43
Short 6 0 3 0 1 1 2 7 6 26
Inadequate 15 1 2 3 0 0 0 3 6 30
No Housing 6 0 2 1 0 1 0 3 1 14
Need
Total 110 6 17 19 3 7 14 49 37 262

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Table 4
Council lets by size and area between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2013
Central Elms Cliffburn Hays Kirkton Land North Timmer Ward Total
head ward greens dykes
Bedsit 5 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 8
1 38 4 5 10 2 6 8 28 14 115
2 42 1 7 9 1 1 3 18 22 104
3 17 1 5 0 0 0 0 3 0 26
4 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 9
Total 110 6 17 19 3 7 14 49 37 262

From the table above we see that:
• 3% of allocations were bedsits
• 44% of allocations were one bedroom
• 39% were two bedrooms
• 10% were three bedrooms
• 4% were four bedrooms

CALEDONIA HOUSING ASSOCIATION
Category Need Number of
Category lets
A (i) Amenity 2

HILLCREST HOUSING ASSOCIATION
Flat 1 bed 2 bed 3 bed
Category A(i) 6 12 2
Category A(ii) 4 6 1
Short 4 5 1
Inadequate 3 1
No Housing Need
Transfer 2

House 1 bed 2 bed 3 bed
Category A(i) 3 3
Category A(ii) 1 1 2
Short 1 1
Inadequate 1
No Housing Need 1
Transfer 1 4

2.9 Demand for Housing and Applicant Profile
There are on average 225 applications per month made to Angus Common
Housing Register.

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Table 5
**Applicants by category and bedroom requirements at 31 March 2013
1 2 3 4 5 6 Total
Category 76 6 1 1 1 85
A(i)
Category 63 16 16 0 2 0 97
A(ii)
Short 348 85 20 7 0 0 460
Inadequate 107 21 34 13 1 0 176
No Housing 245 147 56 10 1 0 459
Need
839 275 126 31 5 1 1277
** These figures are pro-rata based on the number of towns an applicant has listed on their
application. For example, if an applicant applies for housing in Montrose and Arbroath the
application will be counted as 0.5 of an application in each town.

2.10 Urgent need applicants
Applicants in our housing categories have a range of housing needs. Some
who have been assessed have an urgent need for housing, for example,
applicants who are homeless and to whom the Council has a legal duty to
secure a permanent home.

Table 6
Allocations to Homeless Applicants between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2013
Bedsit 1 2 3 4 Total
8 72 61 8 0 149

Demand for housing from those with urgent housing need is constantly
changing;
In 2012/13 there were 40% fewer allocations to homeless applicants across
Angus and 148 of these allocations were in Arbroath. The table above
indicates 38% less allocations in Arbroath to this group. This marked reduction
in allocations is largely due to the implementation of the Housing Options
approach to homelessness prevention.

Table 7
Registration dates between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2013
Homeless – Homeless – Threatened – Threatened –
Priority Priority Priority Priority
Intentional Unintentional Intentional Unintentional
Arbroath 33 258 7 31

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Table 8
**Section 30 Decisions between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2013
Area Office Count Percentage of total for
Angus
Arbroath 360 45.17%
** Section 30
Code Previous Description New Description
1 Homeless, priority need, Homeless, unintentional
unintentional
2 Homeless, priority need, Homeless, intentional
intentional
4 Threatened with Threatened with homelessness,
homelessness, priority need, unintentional
unintentional
5 Threatened with Threatened with homelessness,
homelessness, priority need, intentional
intentional
7 Neither homeless or Unchanged
threatened with
homelessness
8 Lost contact or withdrew Unchanged
before assessment decision
9 Homelessness resolved prior Unchanged
to assessment decision
10 Lost contact before Unchanged
assessment decision
11 Withdrew application before Unchanged
assessment
12 Ineligible for assistance Unchanged

Homelessness decisions are made under Section 30 of Part 11 of the Housing
(Scotland) Act 1987 as amended. The above changes are due to the
removal of the priority need test in Scotland.

Welfare Reform has already introduced changes for Private Sector tenants
introducing Benefit Caps of £500 per week for a couple and £350 for single
people.

Universal Credit will be introduced gradually from 2014 – 2017 and will replace
the following benefits:
• Housing benefit
• Income-based Job Seeker’s Allowance
• Income Support
• Child Tax Credits
• Working Tax Credits

New under-occupancy rules were introduced by the UK Government in the
social rented sector in April 2013. This introduced the rule that if you have one
additional bedroom, your housing benefit will fall by 14% and if you have two
or more your housing benefit will reduce by 25%.

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