Housing Summit 2008

The annual Housing Summit took place on 3rd June 2008 at the East Sussex National Golf Resort and Spa. The event as in previous years was sponsored in partnership with our four Registered Social Landlord partners: Town & Country Housing Group, Home Group, Raglan Housing Association and Downland Housing Association.

The day focused around two key themes, understanding the culture of Gypsies and Travellers and unlocking housing delivery.

At a time when local authorities are looking at ensuring there is adequate housing provision for Gypsies and Travellers it was seen as critical that stakeholders were given the opportunity to learn about their culture. The mornings session was very educational and was presented by Joe Jones a Gypsy and Traveller representative and Councillor Candy Sheridan who is a North Norfolk District Councillor and an Irish Traveller.

The afternoon's session was focused on understanding how developers work in order to understand where the barriers to delivery were likely to be. At a time when delivery in general including much needed affordable housing is slow it was felt that stakeholders should be given the opportunity to understand and explore the barriers which were causing the lack of delivery in the District. The session was facilitated by Julie Cowans, Director of Placeteam. A copy of the Placeteam presentation (pdf 80kb) is available.

The event was attended by over 60 stakeholders, including Parish Councils, private developers/house builders, registered social landlords, consultants and architects and statutory agencies.

The notes from the discussion sessions (pdf 11kb) held on both themes and a copy of the agenda (pdf 19.5kb) .

If you would like more information about the Housing Summit please contact Nicola Levett on 01323 443384 or at nicola.levett@wealden.gov.uk