Following approval from last night’s full council meeting, East Cambridgeshire District Council will look to commence the first stage of creating its own housing association.

The green light from East Cambs councillors means that the council will set up East Cambridgeshire Housing Association; a company limited by guarantee. They will then apply for stage one consent to the Social Housing Regulator to become a not-for-profit registered provider of affordable housing.

This move comes after a change in central government’s National Planning Policy Framework earlier this year, which means the provision of affordable housing for rent must be supplied by registered providers.

Tonight’s approval to create East Cambridgeshire Housing Association, is the first step in helping the council to continue to support mixed tenure affordable housing through Community Land Trusts across the district. If the council’s bid to become a registered provider is accepted, the newly formed housing association will work alongside East Cambs Trading Company (the council’s commercial arm) which delivers new homes for the district, to provide their sites’ affordable housing for rent.
 

Councillor Charles Roberts, Leader of East Cambridgeshire District Council, said: “This is a great step in the right direction for the council. If our full application is accepted, it will allow us to make our mark in providing our district the mixed tenure housing stock it needs.
“Whilst this is early stages, I am very excited for what’s potentially to come and the difference we could make for our district to provide local houses for local people.”