An uncertain economic climate for housebuilders could mean Harrogate Borough Council will buy more social housing like its unprecedented £4.5m spend on 52 homes on Whinney Lane.

HBC's cabinet gave the green light for 36 of the homes to be made available for social rent with 16 transferred to HBC’s housing company, Bracewell Homes, to be sold under shared ownership.

The developer Stonebridge would not tell the Stray Ferret why it is selling the homes to HBC, but there have been signs locally that housebuilders are expressing caution in a market that has been thrown up in the air by coronavirus.

HBC's planned purchase at Whinney Lane has been called its biggest investment into social housing in over a decade and could open the door to similar investments that will help people living in the district pay rent at a genuinely affordable price.

Waiting lists

The council has 1,523 households on its waiting list  — but in Harrogate, less than one in ten applicants are likely to be allocated a property each year.

This waiting list has swelled as Right to Buy sales have depleted HBC of its housing stock.

Introduced by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, Right to Buy gives council tenants the option to buy the property they live in for a discounted rate.

But critics say it has trapped people into expensive and often poor quality private rented accommodation and has stripped councils like Harrogate of a vital revenue stream.

Affordable housing

HBC says that to create socially diverse communities, every large development in the district must include 40% "affordable" housing, which means homes sold at 80% of the market rate.

However, in a high-value town like Harrogate, an "affordable" home still costs over £300,000.

HBC's own Draft Housing Strategy 2019-24 concedes that the town is one of the most unaffordable places to live in England, with average house prices around 11 times the median annual income of people who work in the town.

This means people earning a modest salary will never be able to get on Harrogate's unforgiving housing ladder and could be trapped paying high rents forever, unable to save for a deposit.

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Liberal Democrat county councillor Geoff Webber told the Stray Ferret that he's "ecstatic" HBC looks set to make the Whinney Lane purchase, and hopes there will be more to come.

He called on the council to usher in a "comprehensive programme of council house building", where the homes are protected from Right to Buy and are available in perpetuity at a social rent.

Winds of change

Council estates have at times gained a reputation for bad behaviour which Mr Webber blamed on austerity and the closure of local housing offices.

Planners have avoided placing large concentrations of social housing together over fears of creating so-called "ghettos".

But where once social housing was seen as politically difficult, it's now firmly on the agenda. In each of the major political parties' manifestos there were commitments on building more social housing.

After the second world war, the UK rebuilt itself with a massive programme of social housing and it's been suggested that we should do the same to recover from coronavirus and deal with the housing crisis.

Locally, the mood music is also positive and at the cabinet meeting both council leader Richard Cooper and cabinet member for housing Mike Chambers enthusiastically backed the Whinney Lane purchase.

While the 32 homes at Whinney Lane will only represent a small dent into the council's waiting list, Geoff Webber said building more social housing is a win-win for Harrogate.

He said: