More plans for affordable homes for key workers in Swanage were revealed as Dorset Council renewed its efforts to tackle the housing crisis and launched a housing advice advertising campaign.
Dorset’s new cabinet member for housing, Gill Taylor, said it was time to bite the bullet on housing provision if the county – and especially Purbeck – was not to become a retirement hub.
Dorset Council’s new advertising campaign was launched at the Purbeck waste depot in Wareham, aimed at lowering the number of housing evictions in the county
Attempt to reduce housing waiting lists
The news came as Dorset Council unveiled its latest campaign in conjunction with Shelter and Citizens Advice to tackle and prevent homelessness in Dorset.
The focus of the campaign, launched at the Purbeck waste depot in Wareham, is to keep people in their homes and help those who are worried about their housing costs.
Advertising banners on waste collection lorries across the county will promote a single helpline for free and confidential help to assist tenants, mortgage holders, landlords or letting agents who may be struggling.
Whether people are being served no-fault eviction notices, struggling with repayments because of the cost of living crisis, or falling out with their landlord, friends and family, one or more of the services can usually intervene before it gets out of hand.
And the new ruling party at the helm of Dorset Council says affordable housing is being pushed towards the top of its agenda in an attempt to bring down the county’s housing waiting list of 6,000 families – some 200 in Swanage alone.
Building could begin on site at the corner of Washpond Lane and Ulwell Road by early 2026
Two Swanage sites marked for low cost homes
One way forward is for Dorset Council to partner with community land trusts (CLTs), gifting council owned land for affordable housing schemes to bring down the price of building low cost homes for local people.
Chair of Swanage’s CLT called Swanage Community Housing is Robin Sutcliffe. He welcomed the new focus on housing and revealed that there are now two schemes in Swanage where affordable rental properties could be built in the near future for key workers in the town.
Plans are well advanced for seven to ten affordable properties on a plot of land in Swanage owned by Dorset Council, on the corner of Ulwell Road and Washpond Lane, where building work could begin by early 2026.
Now a second site has been identified where up to another 20 homes could be built, with land surveys to assess the suitability of the site soon to start.
Swanage Community Housing held a well attended consultation in January 2024 to discuss the need for local affordable housing
“There is a will in Dorset to make it happen”
Robin Sutcliffe said:
“A lot of people would say that the Washpond Lane scheme has been terribly slow to date, which is true, but it is moving very steadily forward and we are getting a lot of cooperation from Dorset Council, and it is very positive.
“Washpond Lane is at the moment in a pre-planning stage, we are still negotiating the final legalities of transferring the site to us, which I am convinced will happen because there is a will in Dorset to make it happen.
“That is exciting, and we are also starting to talk about a second site. Washpond Lane will probably take another 18 months before we start building by the time planning and public consultation has happened, so we need to get a second site moving into the pipeline.
“I am not saying publicly where the second site is yet, as there are still commercial tenants to talk to, and it will be a complex site, but it is one that can be done, I am sure, and Dorset Council is again very much supporting us.”
Hastoe Housing Association, here with a completed project in Essex, has been appointed to develop the first Swanage site
Aim to provide homes for key workers
Robin Sutcliffe added:
“The other thing to talk about is our aspiration to provide houses for key workers, especially in Swanage which really suffers, as does all of Purbeck.
“We have been negotiating with Dorset Council to try to ensure that the people we are going to house are the people that Swanage really needs to be housed, which is a very important platform.
“We have a very strong board which is making progress month by month, progressing legal documents on the first site and planning surveys on the second site.
“We have appointed Hastoe Housing Association to develop the first site and everything is going in the right direction.
“Given the commitment that the new government is now giving to community housing, I think that we are here at the right time.”
Gill Taylor, Dorset’s cabinet member for housing, wants to get moving with affordable housing in the county
“Carers struggle to live in Dorset”
At the housing initiative launch in Wareham, Dorset Council cabinet member for health and housing, Gill Taylor said:
“We know there’s a huge housing problem in Dorset, it was something that was mentioned on the doorstep time and time again across the county during the election campaign.
“We need affordable housing, our economy is going to struggle to grow unless we can house the people who need to live here – for example, we know that people who work within the care industry, who are often lower paid, struggle to actually live in Dorset.
“Swanage Community Housing has been in touch with me and I’m very aware that there are people in Swanage who want to get building.
“Using Dorset Council land is ideal for that because quite often we can put the land in, which is otherwise a huge cost for developers.”
Dorset’s Green Belt extends around Wareham
“We have to bite the bullet”
Gill Taylor added:
“Within the new administration, we are really ambitious for housing. Dorset Council has a lot of assets that could potentially be used for housing and we want to increase the amount of housing stock we have.
“Money from second home taxes will be put into housing, we are conscious that we need all types of housing and at the moment there’s major work going on to see what the best way would be for Dorset Council to provide that.
“I think we have to take a pragmatic view on green belt development. We need houses and there is a lot of green belt land across Dorset that is probably not as high in quality as elsewhere.
“There’s also agricultural land that isn’t as high value as other agricultural land and I think we need a slightly more relaxed approach to be able to find places for houses.
“We have very few brownfield sites in Dorset, so I think we do have to bite the bullet at some time and decide what we want most – if we want our children to live here, if we want Dorset to thrive, then this is what we have to do.
“I don’t want to see Purbeck, or Dorset as a whole, become a retirement area, but the amount of people who object to housing does make it difficult.”
Sixteen banners have been put on to waste collection vehicles, here at the county’s Purbeck Depot, Wareham
Encourage people to reach out
Council waste collection lorries with the new campaign banners will be out on the streets of Dorset from Monday 12th August 2024.
The message is aimed at encouraging people to reach out as soon as they start to get into difficulties with financing their property.
Those who are under threat of eviction, or even struggling with mortgage repayments, may find there are ways that Dorset Council, Shelter or Citizens Advice can help.
Under the new Purbeck Plan, 40 percent of new build developments on green field sites should be classed as affordable housing – although at Compass Point in Swanage it’s 33 percent
“Help is out there”
Senior communications officer for Dorset Council, Donna Atkins, said:
“The important thing is that those in difficulty need to get in touch with us early, the earlier the better – as soon as they are starting to struggle, as soon as they are beginning to get into arrears or as soon as they get a Section 21 notice.
“Then we can do all sorts of things – we can support them, we can quite often work with landlords and sort out what the issues are and basically sustain them in their property.
“It is far, far better for people to stay in their property rather than go through all the trauma of being evicted with the stress and trauma that can cause to the whole family.
“Advertising on waste collection vehicles is one of the many methods we’re employing to get the message out that people don’t have to suffer alone and help is out there.”
Further information
- Dorset Council housing advice
- New hotline for help with housing 01305 221000
- More about Swanage’s community land trust, Swanage Community Housing
