Draft Local Housing Strategy 2024 - 2029 - AHSCP Response

This internal questionnaire focuses on questions associated with the Draft Local Housing Strategy 2024 - 2029 and is being circulated in order to formulate an AHSCP response. In order to provide comments, you will first be required to review the relevant chapter in the document.

The Local Housing Strategy (LHS) sets out Aberdeenshire Council’s key priorities for the housing service over the next five years. It details the strategic direction, policies and plans over the lifetime of the LHS and prepare for longer term objectives of the Scottish Government’s Housing to 2040 policy. This will enable Aberdeenshire Council and its partners to deliver high quality housing and housing services to meet the needs of local people across all housing tenures. The LHS also provides important links and contributions to improving the health and wellbeing of residents, creating sustainable places, working towards Net Zero and reducing fuel poverty while supporting economic growth.

This version of the LHS builds on the progress against the actions of the 2018 – 2023 document and will look to build on these in line with new targets and aspirations.

The LHS has been developed with the backdrop of the Covid19 pandemic, the UK exit from the European Union, war in Ukraine, as well as construction costs, rising inflation, and cost of living crisis. These factors have and will continue to have significant impacts on the economy and local communities of Aberdeenshire. The Local Housing Strategy therefore comes at a crucial time and aims to support to improve housing outcomes by tackling inequalities and child poverty and increasing the energy efficiency of our housing stock where possible, new and old.

Evidence from the Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Housing Needs and Demand Assessment 2023 -2028(External link) has been used to inform the strategy alongside working with local partners to enable the supply of housing across all tenures and types of housing provision. The strategy aligns with national housing priorities and policies to look at maximising investment opportunities in the Aberdeenshire area.

The purpose of the strategy is to provide a clear strategic direction for the priorities and actions detailed below. It will also ensure that actions and targets are monitored regularly to establish that these are being achieved in line with the vision of the LHS.

Comments received during this consultation will be fed back to Housing colleagues and be incorporated into the final document which is due to be presented to Communities Committee in September 2024 for approval.