June 2010   Winchester City Council's new Portfolio Holder for Communities Following the recent election, the new Liberal Democrat administration has chosen Cllr Lucille Thompson as Portfolio Holder for Communities, with responsibility for all housing matters.  Cllr Thompson said, “I am very pleased to take on the housing portfolio. My immediate priorities are to improve security for all our sheltered tenants; to speed up the turnaround of our voids and improve the cleanliness of our estates. My longer-term strategic objective is to ensure the provision of more social housing and I will want to meet stakeholders to see how this can be achieved.” Homes and Communities Agency support for Willis Waye development Since the February edition, the HCA has given its support to the development of 29 affordable homes in Willis Waye, Kings Worthy, by awarding £1.61m of grant - more details. New Affordable homes at Hoe Road hailed as a success Winchester City Council, Radian and Mapledean Developments have successfully completed a project to provide 8 affordable homes in Bishops Waltham. The project, involving both Council owned and private land, demonstrates the positive results this collaboration between all the stakeholders can bring to housing development. More details can be found in the press release.    Winchester Housing Board sponsor projects At its last meeting the Winchester Housing Board decided to sponsor three projects to tackle themes that emerged at last year’s Housing Forum. The Alcohol Intervention Project will support the extremely valuable work that the working group has done in identifying the need for accommodation-based services in Winchester Town. The Village and Community Agent Project will explore opportunities to provide volunteer support to older people in urban and rural areas to help them access local services. A further project will explore the extent of under occupancy in local authority and registered social landlords’ properties in the District. Regular updates on progress will be provided on these projects on the Housing Board page of the WDSP website. Date for your diary: 2010 Winchester Housing Forum This will be held in The Guildhall, Winchester on the 30 November. Further details will follow in the next Newsletter.   A summary of workshops and proposed actions from the 2009 Forum can be found on the Winchester District Strategic Partnership website here. A report updating on progress will be posted in the summer. Hampshire Home Choice users give it a thumbs-up People on the Hampshire Home Choice register have had a chance to air their views about the new system of allocating social housing (more details). Home from Hospital service Winchester City Council has been working with Hampshire County Council Adult Services to introduce this service which will make the transition work more smoothly for older people who are in hospital and are then discharged home. People coming home from hospital may need someone to get a few groceries, put the heating on, clear up the post or pop in every day to check on their welfare - small activities that perhaps a relative would have carried out in the past but, with dispersed families, more and more people do not have family nearby to call on. For further information please contact Steve Tong, the Council’s Housing Services Manager, on 01962 848298. Young people in Swanmore plan for the future Young people in Swanmore have the opportunity to help shape the future of their community thanks to a pilot initiative to improve young people's involvement in community planning. Twenty pupils will be asked to help identify key issues for the future of the village and design a questionnaire to be completed by all their fellow pupils. Representatives from the Swanmore Village Plan Steering Group will be present on the day to help facilitate the work. For more details see the press release. Recent Planning Proposals Two planning applications have been received for sites at Bourne Fields in Twyford.  The first is 14 units, including 4 affordable homes (full details). The second is an alternative proposal including the same 14-unit site as market homes and an additional exception site of 15 affordable homes for local people (full details). Winchester City Council is a member of: Strategic Housing Winchester City Council City Offices Colebrook Street Winchester Hampshire SO23 9LJ Tel: 01962 848 504 Tel: 01962 848 251 _strategichousing@winchester.gov.uk       There are a variety of ways you can keep in touch with Winchester City Council             Twitter - http://twitter.com/winchestercity        Facebook - Winchester City Council All rights reserved. All content ©2009 Winchester Council.You may To unsubscribe or change your details click here, or visit your account page to change your subscription. Alternatively, you might want to forward this email to a friend if you think it may be of interest to them.