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About
Stansted Area Housing Partnership (SAHP) is a unique initiative between four local authorities, two housing associations, the Housing Corporation and BAA Stansted, which aims to provide a significant number of new affordable homes in the Stansted area over the next ten years.
The Partnership came about following the granting of planning permission to Stansted Airport for expansion by Uttlesford District Council, subject to a number of planning conditions, including a 'Section 106' obligation to establish a fund for the provision of an affordable housing scheme to provide social rented accommodation and assisted home ownership equity loans.
Despite the fact that the proposed development at the airport was not directly going to create any extra housing need, BAA Stansted recognised that the airport forms part of a wider community, and that housing costs in the area are well above the national average. This has led to an unmet demand for affordable housing, not just in the immediate environs of the airport itself, but across a wider area.
Thus the partnership was formed, to seek to maximise the benefits from the initial financial contribution of £2.2 million. By adopting a partnership model, very much in line with Government thinking on resolving the demand for affordable housing on a sub-regional rather than local level, SAHP has been able to adopt a bold plan which should lead to the provision of up to 5,000 new affordable homes during the next ten years.
Adopting such an approach has meant the need to re-examine the traditional method of allocating homes of this nature, and a ground-breaking system has been agreed between the partners so that 'cross-border nominations' are possible - that is, developments which have been funded or part-funded by the Partnership will be open to prospective residents from any of the four local authority areas.
This will provide much more flexibility in solving housing need across all four local authority areas, and is perhaps the best reflection of the new partnership approach.
The partners are:
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BAA Stansted is also a partner for the first phase (three years) of the initiative.
The project will be split over three phases. The first phase - years one to three - will see 650 affordable homes built, of which 373 are already on site or have start-on-site dates fixed. Of these, approximately two-thirds are destined for social renting, and one-third for shared-ownership schemes.
The second phase, during the fourth and fifth year, could potentially take this figure to 2,500 homes, with a target of 5,000 homes completed by the end of phase three in 2015.
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