To inform Cabinet of the outcome following the consultation on the draft Housing Strategy 2026-30 and to seek Cabinet’s approval of the final Housing Strategy 2026-30 for submission to Full Council.

 

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

 

(a)     notes the responses to the consultation on the draft Housing Strategy 2026-30;

 

(b)     agrees the final Housing Strategy 2026/30 and recommends it for adoption by Full Council at its meeting to be held on 27 January 2026; and

 

(c)     authorises the Portfolio Holder for Housing & Planning to make amendments to the final version of the strategy prior to its approval by Full Council in response to any recommendations made by the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 14 January 2026.

 

Cabinet considered a report of the Housing & Planning Portfolio Holder (A.4) which informed it of the outcome following the consultation on the draft Housing Strategy 2026-30 and which sought Cabinet’s approval of the final Housing Strategy 2026-30.

 

Cabinet recalled that, at its meeting held on 26 September 2025, it had approved a draft Housing Strategy 2026-30 for consultation. That consultation had been launched on 6 October 2025 with a questionnaire available on the Council’s website.

 

It was reported that 24 responses to the consultation had been received via the online survey form with 92% agreeing with the proposed length of the strategy and 92% agreeing with the four strategic priorities. Several comments had been received that were summarised within the Portfolio Holder’s report.

 

Members were advised that Essex County Council (ECC) had submitted a detailed response (as attached as Appendix B to the Portfolio Holder’s report) that in essence stated: “ECC welcomes the development of this Housing Strategy and the clear articulation of Tendring’s priorities. The document is well-structured and provides a strong narrative about the local context, including the challenges of deprivation, an ageing population, and housing affordability. We particularly value the emphasis on partnership working and the recognition of the role of Essex County Council in delivering shared objectives.”

 

Overall, the responses to the consultation had not required the draft strategy to be substantially altered. Reflecting the feedback received, some minor additions had been made. The proposed final version of the strategy set out notable achievements along with ambitions across four strategic priorities:-

 

1.   Maintain and improve our existing housing stock.

 

This focussed on the Council’s role as a landlord and the management of its homes ensuring compliance with its statutory obligations along with the Consumer Standards and Tenant Satisfaction Measures

 

2.   Preventing and reducing homelessness.

 

With homelessness having increased and most councils facing significant cost pressures this priority set out what the Council was doing to reduce expenditure and increase its prevention work.

 

3.   Delivering, with partners, high quality homes.

 

This priority focused on the delivery of affordable housing in the District.

 

4.   Supporting people in their homes and communities.

 

This priority was aimed at those living in the privately rented sector and those owning their own homes and set out what the Council was doing to ensure housing standards were maintained across all tenures.

 

The Housing and Planning Portfolio Holder read out the following statement:-

 

“Leader, I bring this report to Cabinet, asking it to approve that the Housing Strategy 2026-2030, shown at Appendix A, be presented to Council for adoption at the next full Council meeting on Tuesday 27^th January 2026.

 

Cabinet will recall that at our meeting in September, I had asked for that a draft Housing Strategy be approved for consultation, which was agreed. The consultation took place from 6^th October to 14^th November, with a questionnaire available to be completed on the Council’s website.

 

24 responses were received via the online form, of which 92% agreed with the length of the strategy and 92% agreeing with the four strategic priorities.

 

Braintree District Council responded via the online form, as did Colchester Borough Homes, while Essex County Council submitted a detailed response, which is attached to this report at Appendix B.

 

Members of the Council’s Tenants Panel also responded with their comments.

 

Overall, the responses received have not required the draft strategy to be substantially altered, where it has been they are shown in red on the document attached at Appendix A to this report, with the exception of minor typographical amendments.

 

Leader, if one looks at Pages 193 to 195, a more detailed explanation of the responses to the consultation can be found.

 

The draft strategy was also shared with the Resources and Services Overview Scrutiny Committee’s Task and Finish Group on Housing and Homelessness, who discussed it at a meeting in early November, and were largely supportive of it. That Task and Finish group has not had the opportunity yet to feed back to the main committee, which is expected to be at its next meeting in January.

 

As I stated at our September meeting, local authorities are not required by Government to have a formal housing strategy, but they are expected to adopt a strategic approach to housing in their local areas to deliver a thriving housing market and address local needs, with this council’s current Housing Strategy 2020-2025, being closely followed by this final strategy, running from 2026 to 2030.

 

This also ensures that there is a slight overlap into the tenure of the new Unitary authority, that will no doubt form its own views on its own strategy, as a result of LGR.

 

Alsoas a result of devolution the Mayor will have a greater voice on strategic housing and planning matters, albeit the timeline for that has now changed.

 

Apart from setting out the four main priorities for the next five years, which are:

 

1.   Maintain and improve our existing housing stock.

 

This focuses on the Councill’s role as a landlord and the management of its homes ensuring compliance with statutory obligations along with the Consumer Standards and Tenant Satisfaction Measures

 

2.   Preventing and reducing homelessness.

 

With homelessness having increased and the majority of councils facing significant cost pressures, this priority is setting out what the Council is doing to reduce expenditure and increase its prevention work.

 

3.   Delivering, with partners, high quality homes.

 

This priority focuses on the delivery of affordable housing in the district

 

4.   Supporting people in their homes and communities.

 

This priority is aimed at those living in the privately rented sector and those owning their own homes and sets out what the Council is doing to ensure housing standards are maintained across all tenures.

 

It also sets out those achievements of the previous strategy, as well as outlining some ambitions, which is intentional, rather than targets and do not have timescales associated with them.

 

Leader, the recommendations are shown on Page 192 of the Agenda, the third is included in order that amendments to the strategy prior to full council may be made, in response to any recommendations made by the Resources and Services O&S Committee.”

 

In relation to the following paragraph contained within the Portfolio Holder’s report and specifically the sentence highlighted in bold, the Leader of the Conservative Group asked how the Cabinet would take ownership of this:-

 

“A key point to emerge from the consultation is the absence of an action plan or specific targets associated with each priority. The strategy was originally drafted as a document that does not tie the Council to specific targets and as such sets out a series of ambitions under each priority area that the Council will seek to deliver during the period of time the strategy covers. This remains the case in the final version although once approved Officers will develop a document that captures each ambition and measures progress with each.”

 

The Housing and Planning Portfolio Holder responded that he would have ownership through his regular meetings with Officers and that he would work with them to achieve those ambitions as much as possible. He reiterated that they would be ambitions and not targets that would tie the Council too much to a timeline. The Portfolio Holder reminded the meeting that this Council would only remain in existence for a little over two years. Some of those might be achieved in that time and some might not and would be left for the new Unitary Authority.

 

In order to:-

 

(1) ensure that the new Housing Strategy was appropriately adopted, following consultation with the public, other relevant authorities and both internal and external stakeholders, in accordance with the Council’s Constitution; and

 

(2)   acknowledge appropriately that the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee had yet to review the proposed final version of the Housing Strategy, although a Task and Finish Working Group had discussed the draft strategy at a meeting on 3 November 2025 and had been largely supportive of it, and was due to report to the Committee on 14 January 2026:-

 

It was moved by Councillor Baker, seconded by Councillor Henderson and:-

 

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

 

(a)     notes the responses to the consultation on the draft Housing Strategy 2026-30;

 

(b)     agrees the final Housing Strategy 2026/30 and recommends it for adoption by Full Council at its meeting to be held on 27 January 2026; and

 

(c)     authorises the Portfolio Holder for Housing & Planning to make amendments to the final version of the strategy prior to its approval by Full Council in response to any recommendations made by the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 14 January 2026.