Hucknall: Three councils including Ashfield failed to meet housing target in three years

The impacts of Brexit, the pandemic and the surging costs of materials are hampering some Nottinghamshire councils in delivering on their housing targets.

This is according to two council leaders, who say developers are also sitting on land or not building homes despite planning permission being granted by the councils.

Local authorities calculate their housing targets based on methods set out by the Government and are expected to deliver on the figure or face the risk of financial punishment.

And Government data shows Ashfield, Broxtowe and Gedling councils failed to meet their targets between 2018 and 2021, with Ashfield delivering the smallest percentage of the three.

The council was required to build 1,257 homes in this three-year period, but the figures reveal 829 properties were delivered during this time.

This amounts to roughly two-thirds of the expected figure and comes at a time when the authority is drafting its upcoming local housing plan.

Both Broxtowe and Gedling reached 85 per cent of their overall targets during the same period, with Broxtowe delivering 803 of the 948 homes and Gedling delivering 978 out of 1,147 homes during this period.

Councillor John Clarke (Lab), leader of Gedling Borough Council, says a lot of the borough's difficulties are down to issues with the construction market and developers either not being able to or choosing not to build homes.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "A lot of it is significantly the result of getting materials, some caused by Brexit, lorry drivers, the pandemic – it's all contributing to the delay. If you've got staff off you can't build.

"You try and procure some of these goods – it's so difficult and expensive at the minute and I doubt companies building them are making much off it.

"I think developers also look at housing continuing to show gains and they're wanting to keep their options open. If they keep some land, it's going to be worth a damn sight more in two years' time and they'll make more gain.

"For us it's about getting rooves over peoples' heads, but for the big companies, a lot of it is profit."

And Cllr Jason Zadrozny (Ash Ind), leader of Ashfield District Council, believes a lot of the district's issues centre around developers "rotating" where they build homes and not developing too much within one area.

"This target means the number of houses built, which isn't the council and is the developers," he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"We've got something like 3,500 granted permissions and the developers just haven't been able to build.

"We were very good in the three years before 2018 and I think developers saw that, and they often like to spread out where they're building homes so it's not all in one area.

"They have looked at other areas outside Ashfield to rotate it around, and there's very little the council can do about this."

Ashfield District Council is currently drafting its local housing document and Cllr Zadrozny has been vocal about issues with Government housing targets in the past.

The document will outline where 8,226 homes can be built between 2020 and 2038, but has led to backlash from residents in areas like Hucknall and Sutton where thousands of homes are proposed.

Housing Secretary Michael Gove said last year the Government could reform the way it calculates housing targets, describing the current system as "outdated".

If reform was announced, it could change the level of housing built within communities – with the Government prioritising building on brownfield sites.