Tag: Homes and Communities Agency

Reasons to be upbeat after Homes England launch

So, after months and months of preparation, Homes England has arrived.

The Government announced today that the body formerly known as the Homes and Communities Agency has changed and will play a key role in delivering the 300,000 homes a year it has promised.

The change was trailed by the HCA over many months and was planned for last year after it was announced in the White Paper. The housing sector appeared to welcome it, judging by the use of the #WeAreHomesEngland hashtag on Twitter this morning.

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Three thoughts from the #housingwhitepaper roadshow

“I am a man desperately in need of allies to help build the homes that we can agree are desperately needed in this country.”

Gavin Barwell, Housing Minister, 2 March 2017

I was in Taunton this week to see the housing minister’s white paper roadshow.

Gavin Barwell is at least the eighth housing minister I’ve seen in action since 2004. Five of those were on similar visits to the South West when I worked at the HCA.

To say that he’s inherited a tough gig is an understatement. The Housing White Paper has had a mixed response, which isn’t surprising for a sector with so many interested parties.

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Bristol Arena: now the hard work really starts

Councillors’ approval of Bristol’s flagship arena project is a welcome twist in a story that goes back two decades.

Bringing a big city arena to Bristol has been a long-standing cultural ambition. A huge collective effort has been put into getting the vision for a gleaming 12,000-capacity venue and a redeveloped cultural and residential quarter beside Temple Meads to this stage.

The former Diesel Depot site which will host the facility has lain largely fallow for years since it earned its name for engine goods storage.  And there are many good reasons for the seemingly slow progress.

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Three reasons why I’ll champion the HCA’s work

Five years, one month and a day after joining the HCA, I departed last Thursday to take up a new job.

I’m returning to agency life at JBP, an extremely well-respected company which specialises in PR (in all its forms) consultation and public affairs. From tomorrow, I’ll be a senior account director in its Bristol office and I am hugely looking forward to the opportunity.

That’s not to say that it was an easy decision to leave the HCA. After all, I was able to influence discussion around a hugely important area of government work. I had a flexible and fair employer and I enjoyed what I did. In the end, I moved because it offers me an opportunity to progress my career in areas that are most important to me.

I will still champion the HCA though and there are many reasons for this. Three of them have stood out in recent conversations.

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Totnes tale brings home benefits of affordable housing

Totnes family at affordable home

Since joining the HCA, I am less involved in developing human stories which demonstrate the affordable housing’s positive impact than.

This is mainly because although we directly fund the delivery of tens of thousands of new homes, they are built and managed by organisations that have the direct links with tenants and first time buyers who benefit.

This leaves us reliant on social landlords and housing providers to uncover those occasional gems needed to bring a standard story to life.

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Cashes Green consultation puts localism into action

Cashes Green consultation

I returned from the Easter break today to the news that plans to transform the derelict Cashes Green Hospital in Stroud into new homes and community facilities are in.

I blogged in January about the impressive consultation that went into shaping the proposals submitted to Stroud District Council.

We engaged hundreds of people living near the site. They attended the regular consultation events, received newsletters and caught dozens of media articles on the plans in recent months.

In many ways the consultation led by Hab Oakus, a joint venture led by Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud and GreenSquare Group, was textbook stuff.

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