NOTES S2 Q1: Hart have provided us with a table of accommodation rented as social or shletered housing in Yateley. The total is about 400 dwellings, that is about 5% of the housing stock. This table will be added to this website in due course.

 

This question requires considerable research to determine the ratios of freehold, to leasehold, to rented in the private sector.

ANSWER S2 Q2: There is no new housing sites allocated by the adopted Hart Local Plan, in Yateley, or its immediate hinterland. The Local Development Framework is at an early stage but it is doubtful whether there will be any large scale new housing development in the LDF proposed for the Civil Parish of Yateley. Under current advice from English Nature, implementing the European Habitats Directive and the Wild Birds Directives, there can be no new residential development withing 400 metres of the boundary of the Special Protection Area for Wild Birds, and any application for residential development within the second band (400-2,000 metres) must be accompanied by legally enforceable proposals to provide 16 hectares of new public open space per 1,000 new population to act as an area attractive enough that dog-walkers use the new open space rather than the SPA. Policy details still have to be worked out for each LPA's new LDF: such as what might constitute the minimum area which might enable small developments; whether there might be a de minimis case for single developments, or even house extensions; locations where new public open space is feasible; how financial arrangements might be worked out across several developers and developments, etc. Until answers to such questions and others are worked out all new development is being refused which does not strictly accord with the English Nature guidelines.

 

Major developments south of Fleet are caught up in these new guidelines.

 

This situation also means that no new affordable housing is being planned in Yateley.

ANSWER S2 Q3:

(a) The following information regarding the cost of renting local property is taken from the Hart Housing Needs Survey Update 2005:

Approximate social rent per week:

1 bedroom	£56
2 bedrooms	£80
3 bedrooms	£86
4 bedrooms	£95

(b) The ability of a household to satisfy its own housing requirement is discussed in full in Section 3 of the Hart Housing Needs Survey Update 2005 Housing Cost & Income(page 15). Section 3 firstly asseses family income levels necessary to enter the housing market. Table 3-1 states the family income levels needed to enter the market in 2005 in the main settlements in the District. Yateley/Blackwater/Hawley was by far the cheapest area in each category: 1 bedroom flat (£38,400) , 2 bedroom flat (£41,300), 2 bedroom terrace (£44,700), and therefore the easiest for lower income families ti find a house of flat to buy. In contrast the income required to to purchase a 2 bedroom terrace in Hartley Wintney, and Odiham/NorthWarnborough was above £61,000.

 

Based on the assumption that rent should be not more than 25% of gross income, the Survey then calculates the income thresholds required to enter the private rental market for each property type at the entry level. In this case the family income required in Yateley/Blackwater/Hawley is considerably higher than for Fleet to rent private flats. The income in Yateley needed to rent a 2 bedroom terraced house (£31,200) is equal to income required in Fleet and in Hart's Rural Area, all in second place to Odiham/South Warnborough.

Local income levels are difficult to obtain at local level. Hart have used the 2004 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) which showed an average income in 2004 of £33,429 for Hart District. Income distribution data in ASHE is based on the person's place of work and not their resident. Because of this Hart have used county-wide income data as more appropriate in certain instances. Hart have also commissioned confidential surveys of the District to find 'concealed households'. These are households, living within other households, which are those which the government aspire to find accommodation so these 'concealed households' can live separately. It is therefore the income distribution of 'concealed households' which determines their marginal ability to rent their own accommodation.

 

The Hart Housing Needs Survey Update 2005 in para 3.6.6 concludes that it is extremely difficult for lower income families to purchase accommodation in Hart:

 

Similarly para 3.6.7 concludes it is difficult for low income families to find rental accommodation:

Warnborough. 82.0% of concealed households are excluded from the cheapest 2-bed terraced houses in Hook, whilst 91.9% cannot afford to rent in Odiham / North Warnborough."93.1% of concealed households are unable to buy a 1-bed flat in Yateley/Blackwater/Hawley. 95.1% of the concealed households were unable to buy a 2-bed flat in the rural areas, a 2-bed terraced house in Yateley/Blackwater/Hawley or a 3 bed terraced house in Hartley Wintney."

 

(c) In the 1950s, 60s and 70s Yateley was primarily built as a small town of starter homes. So the answer to this question should be that YATELEY provides a supply of starter homes. Housing prices in Yateley are still relatively cheaper than elsewhere in Hart (see above). However existing homes have been extended as residents decide to expand rather move; Yateley's convenient location to access the M4; near to Heathrow; and within the expanding 'western couridor' of new technology companies; good schools; relatively low density housing by today's standards; and its semi-rural environment, have all made Yateley an attractive place to live, probably lifted a large proportion of home out of the 'starter home' category. Elvetham Heath is a new development of some 2,000 houses just to the south of Yateley. Farther afield there is new development everywhere from Basingstoke to Reading to Bracknell.

 

The answer to question S2 Q3(b) is therefore that almost all local low income families cannot afford to either buy or rent their own accommodation. Nevertheless houses do not fail to be sold or rented (see S2 Q10 below). Anecdotal evidence would indicate that young people move away from this area, probably seeking cheaper accommodation more convenient to their employment.

 

Hart has provided us with an answer to question S2 Q3(d) concerning whether supply meets demand that Hart's registers show the following unsatisfied need for rented accommodation in Yateley:

1 bedroom	533
2 bedroom	367
3 bedroom	234
4 bedroom	12

Unless I (PJT) have completely misunderstood this answer from Hart, these numbers have been calculated from the OPDM Basic Needs Assessment Model, and that they are unsatisfied demand from which Hart calculates that there is a shortfall of 426 affordable houses in the whole District. The OPDM calculation starts from the addition of assessments of households in unsuitable accommodation plus new household formation, and then subtracts the supply of affordable housing units. It is not clear at which stage of this OPDM calculation the above numbers for Yateley arise.

 

The above numbers for Yateley add up to 1,146 which, if satisfied as individual newly built houses, would represent about one in seven of the existing housing stock. This calculated unsatisfied need, if true, is surprising considering that Hart is the least 'deprived' district in England and most of Yateley's 13 neighbourhoods figure at the very top of the favourable numbers in the index.

 

Two questions spring to mind:

1. Have I completely misunderstod Hart's answer to section (d)?

2. If I haven't misunderstood it, is the much banded-round housing needs figure for the South East based on the same calculations?

ANSWER S2 Q4:

(a) 21 people are homeless as at 31 May 2006.

(b) All of these 12 are formally counted as homeless by the Local Authority

(c) please see below

Sentinel Housing Association run Heathlands Court Cricket Hill Yateley. There are 23 units for the temporary accommodation for homeless people. There is a resident warden on site. There is a waiting list.

ANSWER S2 Q5:

(a) YES Hart does give priority to local people in assessing the need for affordable housing.

(b) Hart's leaflet Applying for a Home describes the points system used in allocating vacant housing association homes in the district. Ten points out of a possible total 204 points are given to an applicant with a local connection, as defined by the Local Authority Homelessness Legislation

(c) Rural Housing Schemes, for those who have a local connection with the village in which the scheme is located have been developed for some of Hart's rural parishes. This does not apply to Yateley or Eversley. For all other vacancies in rural areas Hart gives preference to applicants with a local connection, where applicants are assessed as having similar housing needs.

ANSWER S2 Q6:

There are 3 older peoples residential units in Yateley Town, Fiske Court, Hanover Court and Hedgecroft.Hanover Housing Association run both Fiske Court and Hanover Court. Hanover Close has 14 x 1 bedroom units, 4 x 2 beds unit, 18 Bungalows and general needs unit. Fiske Court has 50 x 1 bed and 12 x 2 bed units. This is sheltered accommadtion run by charity for which the residents pay rent.The waiting list is approximately 2 years.Sentinel Housing Association run Hedgecroft in Yateley and Paul's Field in Eversley. Hedgecroft is sheltered accommodation comprising of 37 flats with a warden on site from 9-5 and an emergency helpline at other times. There is a waiting list. Paul's field is general sheltered accommodation for persons over 60. There are 7 bungalows, 1 x 2 bed flat and 7 x 1 bedroom flat. There is a warden on site 9 - 12.

Sentinel say that systems will need to be upgraded at Paul's Field. Current hardwired emergency systems could be changed to radio systems. Care needs are changing with a greater requirement for "extra care" units. Sentinel are considering whether to upgrade Hedgecroft to such a unit.

In the hinterland, Abercorn House, Fernhill Road Hawley is a care home with nursing facilities with 96 rooms. Clients are mainly drawn from the local area. There are no waiting lists by the nature of the care required. Randell House is a residential home run by the same charity with 39 beds. The nature of care there is changing from independent clients to high dependency. 60% of clients are either funded by charity or local authorities. Waiting lists are mainly controlled by the ability to find funding.For disabled housing please see Q8.

ANSWER S2 Q7:

The vast majority of postwar housing estates in Yateley were built as 'starter homes' so there is ample opportunity for those older people who want to move to smaller/more manageable homes in Yateley. In fact the recent trend in housing development has been to demolish Yateley's surviving larger homes in larger gardens and replace them with a development of one or two bedroom flats. In the 1980s the problem in Yateley was the dearth of housing available to enable Yateley residents to trade-up from starter home to larger homes to enable them to remain living in Yateley. As a result of strong representations from the Yateley Society at public inquiries a mix of starter home with some larger home were built on VigoII, Kelowna Farm on Monteagle Farm.

Migration from the surrounding villages to Yateley is possible although the postwar trend has, to some extent, been for some of Yateley's indigenous population to move to Eversley and further points westward in the countryside.

ANSWER S2 Q8: Hart gives support to the elderly and disabled by means of a disabled facilities grant. For a modest rental Hart operates its own Careline system. This is a pendant emergency call button and base unit operated throughout the district to enable people to continue living at home for as long as they want.

Yateley has a long established charity for disabled people; Yateley Industries for the Disabled Ltd which has bungaloid living accommodation on site.

ANSWER S2 Q9: NO most housing in Yateley is available for purchase or rent by local people. There used to be housing available only to US Military personnel working at Greenham Common, but this housing (Churchill Crescent) has been demolished and redeveloped. Yateley is not a conventional touristal area, so there are no holiday lets or second homes (as far as we know). We are not aware of local companies purchasing homes for temporary personnel. Yateley Industries for the Disabled Limited is a registered charity which provides bungalow accommmodation to disabled persons, but these people become locals just as anyone else who moves into this area from elsewhere.

ANSWER S2 10:

NO to question (a): there is not a high level of vacancy or empty houses in Hart. There is currently only 150 houses which are long-term vacant in the whole of Hart District.

(c) and (d): Hart Housing Services is preparing a report looking into these possibilities, with publication date scheduled for March 2007

ANSWER S2 Q11:The condition of existing local housing is pretty good since it was mostly built in the 1960's or later.We have not been able to access this information from the District Council and as far as we are aware no Housing Condition Survey has ever been produced.

ANSWER S2 Q12: Little or no poor quality housing has been identified through street surveys. Many of the town's older council estates have been sold into private ownership. The houses that under still in public ownership are improved by the local housing associations (eg double glazing in Hearsay Gardens).

ANSWER S2 Q13: There are no areas of poor quality private housing although there are individual housing that would benfit from cosmetic improvements.