Agenda item

An opportunity for the Portfolio Holder’s to provide an update to the Panel on developments within their portfolio.

The Panel received updates from the Portfolio Holders.

The Portfolio Holder for Housing and Homelessness announced that on 7 April 2026, he and other local members, would attend theopening of a new development at the lower end of Salisbury Road, Totton.  This would provide twelve social rent flats and eight temporary accommodation maisonettes.  The development was adjacent to the shops and fronted the New Forest District Council owned car park.  The area was also served by a regular bus service and nearby train station which would make those new homes desirable.

Alongside the “Yellow Door” scheme in Totton, the Council had completed seventy-seven affordable homes in 2025/26.  This made a total of 452 new affordable housing properties being provided over the past eight years.  A further 196 Section 106 homes were in contract or under construction at New Milton, Everton, Bransgore/Sopley and Fordingbridge.  In Totton, the Council had a contract with Bloor Homes to purchase and deliver fifty-seven Section 106 affordable homes at the top end of Salisbury Road.  This would bring the total number of new affordable homes to 648 either delivered or in the pipeline.

The Housing target was stretched in 2018 to 600 new homes by 2026, although the Council hadn’t foreseen the supply chain shocks of the pandemic and other external factors.  However, the target had still been pretty much achieved, which was down to the commitment and determination of the excellent Housing team.

The Portfolio Holder for Housing and Homelessness introduced and welcomed Sophie Sajic, Strategic Director, Housing and Communities, who was in attendance at the meeting of the Panel.

The Portfolio Holder for Community, Safety and Wellbeing confirmed that the Food Safety team had completed the high-risk inspections prior to the end of the financial year, with one outstanding.  This required a visit to be made during operational hours.  Significant in-roads had also been made in reducing the number of medium risk inspections from 200 in December 2025 to less than seventy, which would be inspected in the new financial year.   The Food Team continued to prioritise their work, investigate complaints and ensured that the public were protected.  In the past couple of weeks, two food businesses had voluntarily closed following inspections by officers where pests had been found on the premises and there had been poor hygiene due to no hot water on site.   The Team was planning a health and safety project commencing in April 2026 regarding the safety of spa pools at holiday parks in the district, alongside health and safety requirements for cleaning staff.

Fees and charges for licencing had been agreed for the next financial year.  The Chairman of the New Forest Taxi Association had requested a review of the taxi tariff, at the recent meeting of the General Purposes and Licensing Committee.  The taxi trade would be consulted on the level of support for a review.

The draft Creative and Cultural Framework would be published for public consultation shortly.  The feedback survey would be available on the Council website and shared with the creative industries. 

The Council had worked with its health partners including the Integrated Care Board to deliver a health awareness event at Thorney Hill.  This provided the isolated community an opportunity to meet with health and wellbeing professionals which included a dentist, who saw twelve patients, one of which needed three tooth extractions.

A creative health workshop was delivered to local health colleagues in partnership with Culture in Common and had since supported the delivery of a number of creative health clubs across the district. 

Four additional story trails had been developed across the district which encouraged families to explore their local, open spaces.