Affordable Homes Policy and Stock

The request was partially successful.

Hi [Authority name],

1)
Please share your council’s affordable housing planning policy.

Please also clarify the different affordable housing options offered by your council alone, which may include MMR, social rent, shared ownership, etc.

2)

a)

Please specify how many affordable homes offered by your council alone have been built from 1 March 2016 until 1 March 2019.

Please break down this number by year and by tenure type (MMR, social rent, shared ownership, etc.).

b)

If the council has comparable local data on RSL activity in regards to the above, please supply this information.

3)

a)

Please specify how many were demolished, sold or were made otherwise unavailable as affordable homes from 1 March 2016 until March 2019.

Please break down this number of affordable houses by year and by tenure type (MMR, social rent, shared ownership, etc.).

b)

If the council has comparable local data on RSL activity in regards to the above, please supply this information.

4)

a)

Please detail how much your council has made from sales of affordable housing stock each year, over last five years.

b)

Please provide the addresses of sold properties and specify how much each one was sold for.

5)

a)

Please outline the council’s projections for the number of affordable homes to be added to its housing stock from 1 March 2019 until 1 March 2021. (Including any which may have been added from March 1- to the date this FoI was received).

Please break down this number by year and by tenure type (MMR, social rent, shared ownership, etc.).

b)

Can you also specify the number of affordable houses which are ring fenced and guaranteed to remain affordable over the same time period?

c)

If the council has comparable data on RSL activity in the council area, please supply this information.

6)

a)

Please specify how affordable homes are projected to be demolished, sold or made otherwise unavailable as affordable homes from 1 March 2019 until 01 March 2021 (Including any which may have been demolished, sold or made otherwise unavailable as affordable homes from March 1 to the date this FoI was received).

Please break down this number of affordable houses by year and by tenure type (MMR, social rent, shared ownership, etc.).

b)

If the council has comparable local data on RSL activity in regards to the above, please supply this information.

7)

a)

Please clarify whether plans are put in place to replace demolished affordable homes.

I.e. Are demolished affordable homes guaranteed to be replaced? If so, will the affordable homes be in the same category? (MMR, social rent, shared ownership, etc.)

b)

If the council has comparable information in regards to RSL activity in the council area, please supply this information.

Thanks for your help,

Jamie

Kirkpatrick Angelene, North Lanarkshire Council

Dear Mr Mann

I acknowledge receipt of your request which is receiving attention.

I shall contact you again when I am in a position to respond more fully to your request.

Yours sincerely

Angelene Kirkpatrick
For Freedom of Information Co-ordinator
North Lanarkshire Council
Civic Centre
Windmillhill Street
Motherwell
ML1 1AB

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Keachie Jacqueline, North Lanarkshire Council

Dear
Mr.
Mann

I refer to your e‑mail of 8 March 2019 seeking information in relation to
the Council's affordable homes and stock.

 

Having investigated my response to your questions 1 to 7 are as follows:-

 

(1)                The Council's Affordable Housing Planning Policy is publicly
available on the Council's website and as you may know Section 25 of the Freedom
of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 provides an absolute exemption for
information that is already accessible.  For ease of reference the link to the
information can be found below:-

 

[1]https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/CHtt...

 

The Council currently offers the following affordable housing options
through its stock – social rented housing.

 

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|(2)(a) | | Affordable Homes Built from |
| |NLC | |
| | | 1 March 2016 to 1 March 2019 |
|---------+-----------------+--------------------------------------------|
|  |Year | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
|---------+-----------------+-----------+----------+----------+----------|
|  |Social Rented |89 |66 |186 |0 |
|---------+-----------------+-----------+----------+----------+----------|
|  |  |  |  |  |  |
|---------+-----------------+--------------------------------------------|
|(2)(b) | | Affordable Homes Built from |
| |RSLs | |
| | | 1 March 2016 to 1 March 2019 |
|---------+-----------------+--------------------------------------------|
|  |Year | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
|---------+-----------------+-----------+----------+----------+----------|
|  |Social Rented |47 |67 |166 |16 |
|---------+-----------------+-----------+----------+----------+----------|
|  |Shared Equity |6 |15 |24 |0 |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|(3)(a)|NLC (All Social|Affordable Homes Made Unavailable from 1 March|
| |Rented) | 2016 to 1 March 2019 |
|------+------------------+----------------------------------------------|
|  |Year | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 |
|------+------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------|
|  |Demolished |0 |0 |23 |* |
|------+------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------|
|  |Taken Out of|22 |0 |0 |* |
| |Housing Use | | | | |
|------+------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------|
|  |Sold |168 |262 |363 |7 |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

*   Figures to end of December 2018.  Demolitions data for remainder of
2018-19 is not yet available.

 

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|(4)(a)| | Amount Received from Sales of |
| |NLC | |
| | | Affordable Housing Stock |
|------+------+-----------------------------------------------------------|
|  |Year | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 |2018/19 |
|------+------+---------+---------+---------+---------+----------+--------|
|  |  | £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | £ |
|------+------+---------+---------+---------+---------+----------+--------|
|  |Amount|3,970,688|4,529,358|5,828,980|9,747,420|11,802,744|215,120*|
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

*   Figures to end of December 2018.  Sales data for remainder of 2018-19
is not yet available.

 

(4)(b)     With regards to this part of your request, I regret to advise
you that I am unable to provide you with the information sought as
disclosure of this level of detail constitutes personal data of
individuals who could be identified from this data.  Accordingly I must
advise that the release of this information would contravene the data
protection principles and that this constitutes a ground of exemption in
terms of Section 38 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

 

+----------------------------+
|(5)(a)| | Affordable |
| | | Homes |
| | | Projected to |
| |NLC |be Built from |
| | | |
| | | 1 March 2019 |
| | | to 1 March |
| | | 2021 |
|------+------+--------------|
|  |Year |2019|2020|2021|
|------+------+----+----+----|
|  |Social|110 |217 |77 |
| |Rented| | | |
+----------------------------+

 

(5)(b)     100% of the above noted new affordable homes are guaranteed to
remain affordable over the same time period.

 

+-----------------------------------+
|(5)(c)| | Affordable |
| | | Homes |
| | | Projected to |
| |RSLs |be Built from |
| | | |
| | | 1 March 2019 |
| | | to 1 March |
| | | 2021 |
|------+-------------+--------------|
|  |Year |2019|2020|2021|
|------+-------------+----+----+----|
|  |Social | | | |
| |Rented/Shared|297 |319 |233 |
| |Equity/MMR | | | |
+-----------------------------------+

 

(6)(a)     Affordable homes projected to become unavailable from 1 March
2019 to 1 March 2021 is 97.

 

(7)(a)     Plans are currently in place as part of the Council's
reprovisioning strategy to replace 1,750 homes with 664 new social rented
homes as part of the Council's wider programme to deliver 5,000 new homes
by 2035.

 

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|(3)(b)|The Council does not hold the information sought in these parts |
| |of your request and in terms of Section 17 of the Freedom of |
|(6)(b)|Information (Scotland) Act 2002 I must inform you of this. |
| | |
|(7)(b)| |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

I can advise that North Lanarkshire Council, having regard to the
provisions of Section 21 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act
2002, has established a procedure whereby any person who has requested
information and is in any way dissatisfied with the decision on that
request, can within forty working days require a review of that decision
by writing to the Head of Legal and Democratic Solutions, Civic Centre,
Windmillhill Street, Motherwell ML1 1AB.  Accordingly, if you are
dissatisfied with this decision and seek such review please write to the
Head of Legal and Democratic Solutions.

I would advise, also, that in terms of Section 47 of the Act a person who
is dissatisfied with a notice given by the local authority under Section
21 of the Act - ie. a notice following a review of a decision by a local
authority, or by the failure of a local authority to give such a notice -
may make application to the Scottish Information Commissioner for a
decision as to whether, in any respect specified in that application, the
request for information to which the requirement relates has been dealt
with in accordance with the Act.  Such an application must be made within
six months of the review decision and be in writing or in another form
which, by reason of it having some permanency is capable of being used for
subsequent reference. The application must state the name of the
applicant, and provide an address for correspondence. The application must
also specify the request for information to which the requirement for
review relates, the matter which gave rise to the applicant’s
dissatisfaction with the original decision of the local authority and the
matter which gives rise to the applicant’s dissatisfaction with the
decision on review by the local authority or the failure of the local
authority to issue such a decision.  The Scottish Information Commissioner
can be contacted as follows:-

 

Scottish Information Commissioner

Kinburn Castle

Doubledykes Road

St. Andrews

KY16  9DS

email: [2][email address]

 

Appeals to the Scottish Information Commissioner can also be made online
via the following link: -

 

[3]www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal

 

I hope this information is sufficient for your purpose.  If, however, you
require further information – or I can assist in any other way – please
let me know.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

 

Jacqueline Keachie

for Freedom of Information Co-ordinator

North Lanarkshire Council

Civic Centre

Motherwell

ML1 1AB

01698 302232

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Hi Jacqueline,

Many thanks for your response.

Please can I request an internal review into the council's refusal to share details of the houses sold to me? Almost all other councils I have requested this information from so far have deemed it to be in the public interest and have supplied it to me.

Please can you include all the information you have provided in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet? It is difficult to interpret in the current format.

Thanks for your help,

Jamie Mann

Keachie Jacqueline, North Lanarkshire Council

Dear Mr Mann

I acknowledge receipt of your undernoted email seeking a review of my response, dated 4 April 2019 to your freedom of information request.

Your request for a review is being processed and a response will be sent to you in due course.

Yours sincerely

Jacqueline Keachie
for Freedom of Information Co-ordinator
North Lanarkshire Council
Civic Centre
Motherwell
ML1 1AB
01698 302232

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Hi Jacqueline,

Please can you give me an update on the above?

Yours sincerely,

Jamie Mann

Keachie Jacqueline, North Lanarkshire Council

Dear Mr Mann

I refer to your undernoted email and can advise that your review is being actively progressed. The statutory response date is 24 May and I hope to be in a positon to provide a response by that date.

Yours sincerely

Jacqueline Keachie
North Lanarkshire Council
Civic Centre
Motherwell
ML1 1AB
01698 302232

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McKay Neil, North Lanarkshire Council

4 Attachments

*****    Sent On Behalf of Gerard Gardiner, Legal Manager    *****

 

 

Dear Mr Mann,

 

I refer to your email dated 25^th April 2019 addressed to the Council’s
Freedom of Information Co-ordinator.

 

In that email you request a review of the Council’s response to your
request for information relating to a number of affordable housing
matters.

 

Your request for information was dated 8^th March 2019, with the Council’s
response dated 4^th April 2019.

 

I understand that you remain dis-satisfied only with the Council’s
response to your question 4(b), which sought detail of houses sold by the
Council for financial years 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19.

 

I note that the Freedom of Information Commissioner exempted this
information from release to you, relying on the exemption at Section
38(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (“FOISA”),
insofar as providing you with this information would involve release of
personal data for the purposes of Section 3(2) of the Data Protection Act
2018 (“DPA 2018”), and its disclosure would breach one of the data
protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection
Regulation.

 

I am satisfied that release to you of the addresses of properties sold as
Council Houses would constitute processing of personal data for the
purposes of Section 3(2) of the DPA 2018. Information on persons who have
purchased heritable property in Scotland is contained in one of two public
registers, the Land Register and/or the Register of Sasines.

 

Providing you with the addresses of those properties sold by North
Lanarkshire Council would enable you to identify that individuals who are
contained on those public registers in respect of certain addresses were
at one time Council tenants or were otherwise qualified to purchase a
Council home at one stage in the past. Therefore providing you with these
addresses would permit you visibility into the private affairs of data
subjects.

 

I am satisfied that processing personal data of those data subjects would
be contrary to the data protection principles. As provided in Article 5(1)
of the GDPR, in order for processing to be compatible with the privacy
rights of individuals it must be simultaneously fair and lawful. In order
to be lawful, its processing must be necessary for one of a specified list
of purposes in the GDPR, read together with the DPA 2018. I am not
satisfied that any such condition of processing exists in relation to your
request.

 

I have, however, determined that some information held by the Council and
relating to your request is capable of release to you without release of
this information coming to constitute processing of personal date. I have
therefore provided a list of addresses by post code (down to 4 digits of
that post code) with figures redacted where the number of properties sold
in a particular post code is 5 or fewer.

 

In coming to my conclusion in respect of the level of detail which is
capable of being provided to you without personal data coming to be
processed thereby, I have had regard to the recent decision of the
Scottish Information Commissioner in the case of Mr D and NHS Greater
Glasgow and Clyde, linked below for your information:

 

[1]Mr D and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

 

I attach also, information contained in the Council’s initial response to
your request for information which you asked to be provided to you in
spreadsheet format.

 

I must advise you that, in terms of Section 47 of the Freedom of
Information (Scotland) Act 2002, a person who is dissatisfied with a
notice given by a Local Authority under Section 21 of the Act - i.e. a
notice following a review of a decision by a Local Authority - may within
six months, make application to the Scottish Information Commissioner for
a decision as to whether, in any respect specified in that application,
the request for information to which the requirement relates has been
dealt with in accordance with the Act.  This letter does constitute a
notice given by North Lanarkshire Council under Section 21 of the Act, and
the Scottish Information Commissioner can be contacted as follows:-

 

Scottish Information Commissioner

Kinburn Castle

Doubledykes Road

St. Andrews

Fife

KY16  9DS

email: [2][email address]

 

Appeals to the Scottish Information Commissioner can also be made online
via the following link: -

 

[3]www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal

 

I must advise also that Section 56 of the Freedom of Information
(Scotland) Act makes provision for an appeal, on point of law, to the
Court of Session against a decision made by the Scottish Information
Commissioner under sub-section 2 of Section 49 by the person who applied
for that decision - and against a decision by the Commissioner under
sub-section 3(b) of that Section by the person who applied for that
decision.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Gerard Gardiner

Legal Manager

Legal & Democratic Solutions

North Lanarkshire Council

Windmillhill Street

Motherwell

ML1 1AB

 

DX 571701 Motherwell 2

LP-3 Motherwell 2

 

T: 01698 302288

F: 01698 302211

M: 07951102831

E: [4][email address]

 

THIS EMAIL MAY CONTAIN PRIVILEGED LEGAL ADVICE AND SHOULD NOT BE FORWARDED
TO ANY THIRD PARTY WITHOUT THE EXPRESS CONSENT OF THE WRITER

 

***PLEASE NOTE***

My email address is changing.  If you currently send emails to me at
[5][email address] please update your records and send all
future emails to [6][email address].  My GCSX address will
shortly be deactivated.  Once that happens any emails sent to that address
will not be delivered.  Instead of using GCSX, we are now securing our
system in line with the following GOV.UK guidance in securing government
email:

 

[7]https://www.gov.uk/guidance/securing-gov...

 

 

*********************************************************************
North Lanarkshire Council's Web Site -
http://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/

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References

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