Housing officers 'confident' that hundreds of properties will be built to tackle Hartlepool new homes shortage

Hartlepool Borough Council officers noted as part of the area’s local plan there is an assessed need of 287 new houses per year.

This takes into account the predicted household projections up to 2031 along with a backlog from previous years and aspirations of the Tees Valley Combined Authority to create more jobs.

As part of the latest authorities monitoring report for Hartlepool, officers reported they fell short of this target for the past year, recording 254 new homes.

The report covers the period 2019-20 and had been delayed coming forward due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kieran Bostock, council assistant director for place management, told the latest meeting of the neighbourhood services committee: “This delivery falls short of our baseline of the assessed need of 287 and this has then ultimately pulled our net shortfall up from 85 in 2017-18 to 160 dwellings in this reporting period.

“It is anticipated that this shortfall will be addressed in the coming years by the ongoing build out of various construction sites.”

He added more sites were also granted planning permission this year and building on these sites is expected to commence early next year.

It was also reported there were no demolitions of permanent dwellings in the year, hence the net delivery of 254.

The 2019-20 period saw a total of 74 affordable homes being delivered, made up of 56 new houses and 18 bungalows.

This meant the council reached its target for providing new affordable housing for the year, which was also 74.

Officers said the council will continue to support the delivery of additional affordable housing through building on council-owned land, partnership working with registered providers and through securing affordable housing contributions as part of private residential developments.

Recent large scale housing developments which have been approved by council planning officers include proposals for 570 homes off Merlin Way, to the south of the A179, given the green light in February.

Meanwhile last year plans were approved for a 220 home residential development to be built off Elwick Road, known as Quarry Farm Phase 2, along with a 186 home development at Wynyard Park.

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