At the latest full meeting of Durham County Council, held on Wednesday 17 July, members discussed the cabinet's proposed new housing strategy. Following a lengthy debate the policy was voted down by Labour members who raised concerns about how effective it would be in fulfilling its potential.
There were a number of reasons for rejecting the strategy in its current form, amongst them the almost entire absence of a plan to tackle the growing problem of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) in the pit villages of East Durham and other parts of the county.
The housing strategy under consideration on Wednesday morning had been previously discussed on three separate occasions by the economy and enterprise overview and scrutiny committee, yet when the policy was introduced at the full council meeting for endorsement it was found that many comments from scrutiny committee members had either been diluted or disregarded entirely. In short, the strategy did not fully reflect the views expressed by scrutiny members.
These issues included considerable confusion about the actual number of new houses built by the local authority and a call by scrutiny members to recognise the importance of Targeted Delivery Plans (TDPs) as a way to address housing and regeneration matters in our villages.
In addition there was barely a mention of the emerging issue of HMOs. Although this has been a problem in Durham city centre where there has been a proliferation of HMOs it is recognised that in changing times there are growing concerns expressed by our residents in villages like Blackhall Colliery that HMOs could have a regressive impact in their neighbourhoods too, primarily in terms of anti social behaviour and over-crowding.
Clearly there is a need to nip this issue in the bud, and the only realistic way to do that is to take an overview of all the evidence, alongside the facts and figures, to develop a policy that prohibits, or at least limits, the establishment of HMOs across a defined area. It’s possible that this can be done by using existing Selective Licensing criteria, and perhaps those areas already covered by TDPs, as a template to issue pre-emptive Article 4 Directives which would essentially ban HMOs in a particular area before they become a problem. I'm sure most people would agree that prevention is better than cure.
On a separate but equally important matter, several members of the thematic scrutiny committees expressed their concerns that the cabinet appeared to have disregarded their concerns about a number of issues they’d raised in scrutiny committee meetings in the consultation phase of policy development. As chairman of the council’s Overview & Scrutiny Management Board I see this as a particularly concerning issue, not least because if the executive function (cabinet) feels comfortable in dismissing the views of scrutiny members the likely outcome is bad policy. This benefits nobody, in particular the residents of County Durham who deserve strong and effective council policies to address their concerns.
For the reasons set out above the Labour group members on the council proposed a motion without notice that the policy be referred back to scrutiny for further consideration. The resolution was passed by 48 members to 45, with every single member of the Labour group voting in favour. On the other hand, almost every member of the Conservative/Liberal Democrat/Independent coalition running the council voted against it. So at least we know where they stand on this issue.
To be clear, the Tory/Lib Dem/Independent coalition members in control of the council voted against seeking a way to introduce effective measures to address emerging issues around HMOs in our villages - and ultimately they voted against a way of coming up with better, more effective housing policy decisions that can have a real impact in our communities in East Durham and beyond.
A named result of the vote was requested, so if you’re interested in how your local councillor voted on tackling HMOs head-on and introducing more effective housing policy look out for the published list of which way members voted.
If you want to watch the full debate at yesterday’s council meeting you’ll find a full video recording of the live coverage here: https://democracy.durham.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=153&MId=15643
