Bath & North East Somerset Council plans to turn all the council land and buildings it can into housing to tackle Bath’s affordability crisis.
The district is one of the most unaffordable places to live in the UK, with a typical terraced house unaffordable for three-quarters of first-time buyers and even a typical two-bedroom flat is unaffordable for half.
Councillor Matt McCabe (Bathavon South, Liberal Democrat) said: “We have a housing crisis in this country and also in our authority area. We also have an affordability crisis in the city of Bath.
“Despite having built more houses than required of us recently, we still have a housing waiting list of over 5,500, with just 500 or so properties becoming available each year.
“You may have seen recently that if you are waiting for a four-bed family home, your wait will be 200 years.”
Councillor McCabe, who is the council’s cabinet member for built environment, housing, and sustainable development, was speaking at a meeting on 13th February, where he presented the local authority’s new housing plan.
The five-pillar strategy sets out how the council plans to tackle its housing crisis, starting with turning unused authority buildings and land into housing.
The council now has its own registered housing provider, B&NES Homes. Using its wholly owned building company Aequus, the council turned a Victorian villa near the RUH which had previously been offices into its first new homes in a generation in 2023: seven one and two bedroom flats, offered to NHS workers as priority.
Meanwhile, work is currently under way to build a total of 18 new social rent flats at Argyle Works, a former council highways maintenance depot on the Lower Bristol Road in Bath, and at Danes Lane, some council-owned land opposite the big Tesco in Keynsham previously used for informal parking.
Another council development of 16 supported living homes, controversially located on the city’s “tufa field”, was granted planning permission in September 2024.
But there remains a shortage of larger social homes. 371 households in Bath and North East Somerset are currently waiting for a four-bedroom social home. But in the last three years, only 16 have become available.
Councillor McCabe warned that the council had lost its stock under the right to buy scheme. He said: “Four bedroom houses are very popular under right to buy — and of course councils have not been funded to replace them.
“So, we remain dependent on the market, which consistently fails to build enough houses — but we also rely on the market model. It is the profit from market sales that subsidises our affordable and social units that we build through our development company Aequus.
“We, in our manifesto, set our officers a challenge: to be building hundreds of council units every year — or to achieve 1,000 by 2033.
“It therefore becomes increasingly important that the council utilises its assets and delivers as much land or buildings to Aequus as it possibly can. We can then deliver more affordable and social rental units under our own banner of B&NES Homes.”
He said: “Each temporary unit that we can build is a life rescued; each supported unit is a life enhanced in often difficult circumstances; and each social unit is someone else off the housing waiting list and into their new home.”
The cabinet voted unanimously to approve the housing plan. As well as turning more council properties into social housing, it sets out objectives to develop housing that is “accessible and attractive to all” across the housing market, reduce homelessness and ensure supported housing meets local needs, and ensuring housing is safe and warm.
Councillor McCabe added that the council insisted new builds delivered through Aequus were rated EPC A, and repurposed buildings were as close as possible.
In a statement, Councillor McCabe added: “We are not pursuing our Housing Plan alone. It will be delivered with support from anchor institutions across Bath and North East Somerset.
“A housing mission board has also been established to unite organisations from across the housing sector, including representatives from local planning authorities, regional authorities, registered providers, housebuilders, and designers.
“I am very much looking forward to working with the board to see what we can achieve together.”
John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter
