Inventing our future Collective action for a sustainable economy

Regional Social Strategy – the strategy to achieve social inclusion throughout the East of England
Case study 22
Re-development of the former De Havilland airfield
The redevelopment by a multi-agency partnership of the De Havilland airfield in Hertfordshire won an
award for excellence in delivering mixed communities.
The project, which is the largest brownfield development in the county, has now attracted a number of
multi-national and local businesses, together with proposals for 2,200 homes. Of these, approximately
a third will be available for rent and low cost ownership.
The project partners have also contributed towards a community development fund which has supported
a number of initiatives, including a very popular tree-planting day which saw the local community take
ownership of 100 trees and 300 metres of hedging. Funding has also been secured for a full-time
sustainable communities worker, who has been instrumental in helping to set up a thriving local
residents’ association.
A new community school and community hall are currently under construction and the project partners
have commissioned jointly with residents three major pieces of pubic art to celebrate the development
and create a sense of place for the newly forming community.
Promoting independence and housing choice, particularly for vulnerable groups, can prevent or delay the need for
costly intensive services as well as improve the quality of life and engagement with the community. The design of
homes is vital to promoting good health and wellbeing for all age groups but particularly in enabling older people
to live independently. It has been calculated (www.jrf.org.uk/housingandcare/lifetimehomes, JRF, 2007) that
building Lifetime Homes could save the country over £5 billion over sixty years. The idea is simple: build a
house that suits people at different stages in their life, thereby reducing the number of costly adaptations to
general needs housing and the need for people to move to residential care. Lifetime Homes are included in
the new Code for Sustainable Homes (2006). All new, affordable housing delivered through the Housing
Corporation’s National Affordable Housing Programme must meet Level 3 of the Code from April 2008.
To reflect the region’s higher than average proportion of the population living in rural locations, and a greater
than average rural population growth rate, EERA has recommended that a minimum of 1,000 affordable
homes are delivered in rural areas during 2008-11. 75% will be focused in settlements of below 3,000
population and 25% will be focused in settlements from 3,001 to 10,000 population.
In contrast to traditional housing allocation systems, choice-based lettings (CBL) schemes enable housing
applicants to choose between and apply for available to-let properties. The shift in emphasis towards
a customer-led service is supported by the Government’s 2010 target for all local authorities to have
introduced CBL schemes. The region is making good progress towards achieving the target, with
most local authorities choosing to adopt a sub-regional approach towards implementing schemes.
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