HOUSING crisis, what housing crisis?

Carlisle and Allerdale are among the best areas in Britain for the number of homes built, according to the latest figures.

A report for the News & Star and the BBC Local News Partnership looked into housing data from local councils across the UK, to see the best and worst areas.

Using statistics from 2016/17, it found that less than one in five of areas in England are building enough homes every year to meet the government’s medium to long-term housing need estimates.

It also shows a north-south divide, with many areas in the north building faster and in greater quantity than the south.

Unsurprisingly, London, in particular, is struggling to meet long-term demand.

Carlisle has seen a number of recent developments in recent months, with the latest to start Amberwood, off Dalston Road.

The figures show that Allerdale and Carlisle built the fifth and sixth most houses in the UK, as a percentage of government targets.

During the last 10 years, Allerdale built 199 per cent of its government target each year on average, while Carlisle built 185 per cent of its target on average.

Both Eden and Copeland also exceeded their targets each year, building 138 per cent and 306 per cent of their targets respectively.

For Carlisle, it is all about growth and cutting the red tape, says the corporate director of economic development at Carlisle City Council, Jane Meek.

She said: “These are really interesting stats because I know we are doing well as part of our strategy, but I hadn’t realised that it was as significant as that.

“The city council has an aspiration for growth, and that’s reflected in our corporate plan. That’s not just growth in terms of housing, it’s growth across the board .

“We need to attract more people to come and live in an area, so that’s first and foremost.”

It is a change in policy that has resulted in successful house building in the city, says the director.

“We put all the foundations in place to help growth, “she explains. “We have a local plan and it’s quite significant that we have a local plan rather than a local development framework, which is a separate piece of work.

“We went with the local plan, which basically puts all your policies in one document, so it speeds the process up.

“So we have an adopted local plan, which makes it very clear where our development is.

“It’s a local commitment. It is about planning for the future so we had a cross-party working group. That made the journey of the local plan informed, and it didn’t get caught up in politics.”

Local plans encompass all of the council’s vision for housing in one document, rather than a local development framework that would focus on one area of policy.

It is not as simple as just building houses, explains Mrs Meek.

“We have actually gone out and marketed Carlisle to developers to get developers here.

“Getting the developers to build the homes we are providing is always a challenge and I do challenge developers on it. We have a big local developer (Story Homes) who is based in Carlisle. They have a very good product and I’m always saying ‘do more, we need you to do more than the 30 or 40 a year on site’.”

Housing developers such as Story Homes and Persimmon have played their part.

A spokeswoman for Story Homes said: “We have a dedicated team who identify suitable and sustainable land to deliver housing in line with the need of local authorities.

“In Carlisle and Allerdale combined, we currently have seven live developments, all of which continue to sell very well.

“There is consistently a high demand for our homes across Carlisle and Allerdale and this has also been the case historically with our previous developments – for example in Houghton and Dalston.

“We continue to build in these areas because, to put it simply, these are the areas in which people want to live. Recent changes to national policy, which guides local planning policy, has the potential to significantly reduce the number of new homes required in Cumbria and the north of England.

“However, the changes reflect population trends and could create a north-south divide in housing delivery and subsequent economic growth.

“This is particularly clear in Allerdale and Carlisle whose housing requirement would reduce from 304 houses per year to 125 houses per year, and 552 houses per year to 211 houses per year respectively.

“The changes would not work for large parts of the north and would not address housing affordability, nor would it support economic growth aspirations.”

The building is necessary for the city to grow, says the portfolio holder for economy, enterprise and housing, at Carlisle City Council, Anne Glendinning.

She said: “Carlisle is a growing city and we are doing all we can to ensure that this is done in a managed way. We have put in place the building blocks for growth and are a business-friendly council that supports the local economy.

“Our local plan sets an ambitious target of delivering over 9,500 new homes between 2015 and 2030. We have marketed the city widely, targeting developers and setting out what the city has to offer.

“Developers will only build a certain number of homes a year on a site, so in order to deliver growth an area needs a number of developers on a variety of sites to increase the numbers.

“We continue to deliver managed growth through ambitious schemes such as St Cuthbert’s Garden Village.”