Last night (26 April) Nottingham City Council were named Outstanding Strategic Local Authority of the Year at The UK Housing Awards.
The awards, organised by the Chartered Institute of Housing and Inside Housing, recognise the ingenuity, creativity, passion and hard work of housing organisations across the UK.
The judging panel considers the strategic role of councils as crucial in delivering housing that can make a real difference to local areas. The Outstanding Strategic Local Authority of the Year category focused on the contribution councils make to delivering affordable homes in their area, and their wider approach to tackling housing issues such as homelessness and housing conditions.
The City Council’s submission focused on how working in partnership with housing associations, the health sector, voluntary and private sector organisations has helped provide high quality housing for Nottingham’s people. The City Council’s strategic housing team leads the work and delivery is through a large range of partners, including Nottingham City Homes and organisations such as Framework.
Councillor Jane Urquhart, Portfolio Holder for Planning and Housing at Nottingham City Council, said: “The UK Housing Awards are some of the most prestigious in the industry and so we are delighted and very proud to have been named as ‘Outstanding Strategic Local Authority of the Year.’
“This award recognises the hard work and dedication of the team, who have worked closely with our partners to provide leadership and to drive forward a committed approach to meeting our local housing needs.
“Housing is vital to the overall wellbeing of our citizens and this award is great recognition of the work we do to help change and improve people’s lives.”
The city aims to build 2,500 quality homes affordable for Nottingham people to rent or buy by 2019 and encourages well designed, good quality and affordable house building throughout Nottingham. The city also has an Additional Licencing Scheme for HMOs and is currently consulting on a Selective Licencing Scheme to help improve the standard of homes in the private rented sector, so that residents have access to a high standard of accommodation, whether renting or buying, which helps to create communities where people want to live.
Significant regeneration activity is underway across Nottingham to develop the local transport infrastructure and open up key development sites. Creating good quality housing which people can afford, is key to regenerating Nottingham, as it helps to drive growth, attract inward investment and increase local employment opportunities.
The City Council’s entry was one of over 400 across 14 categories at the awards, which took place at the Lancaster London Hotel on Wednesday 26 April.