Business case for designation of an area for selective licensing: Scarborough August 2023

At the time of the recent 2021 census, there were 51,342 privately rented properties within North Yorkshire, representing 18.7% of all households across the county. Generally, North Yorkshire is a largely rural county with a number of small market towns and only two towns with a population in excess of 50,000: Harrogate (population c. 75,000) and Scarborough (population c. 60,000). The extent of the private rented sector varies across the whole county. However, it is only within Scarborough town, where there is a significant concentration of privately rented properties at a scale, which has warranted a Selective Licensing designation. 

As a large seaside town, Scarborough has experienced significant change in the last 25 years with the decline of the traditional domestic tourism offer and consequent change of guest accommodation into residential housing, especially private rented housing, including a large growth in flats and houses in multiple in occupation (HMOs).

Across the Scarborough area, the private rented sector has grown considerably since the turn of the century. According to the 2001 census there were 6,340 privately rented households in the area. By the 2011 census, this had risen to 9,640 privately rented households. By the time of the 2021 census, this had risen to 11,098 households, a rise of 75% within just 20 years, and representing 21.7% of households in the area compared with 13.6% in 2001.
Whilst private rented housing is spread across the area, the highest concentrations are within the inner urban area of Scarborough. Large parts of the Castle, Northstead, Weaponness and Ramshill divisions in Scarborough have more than 50% of their households privately renting. These three wards alone had 4,535 privately rented households in 2021, representing more than 43% of the total housing stock in the three divisions, and 40.9% of the private rented stock across the area.

Even within these three wards, there is a deeper concentration of private rented stock within the inner urban area of Scarborough with 2,725 privately rented households out of a total of 4,552 household, which represents almost 60% of all households within the inner urban area.

The proposed area broadly combines the original two selective licensing designations known as Scarborough North and Scarborough Central, but also including some surrounding streets following analysis of recent data. The area covers Scarborough town centre and the surrounding residential areas, and covers parts of the Castle, Northstead and Falsgrave and Stepney divisions in Scarborough. In addition, it also includes most of the tourism heart of Scarborough.

As a result, there is a real mix of retail, commercial, residential and leisure uses within the proposed area, and it is not a homogeneous neighbourhood. On many of the streets within the area, guest accommodation and residential accommodation are mingled together, and with the rise of holiday lets within the area, it can be hard to distinguish between holiday accommodation and private rented properties.
 
56% of households within the proposed area are privately rented with some streets having more than 70% of households renting privately. In addition, there are 50 licensed houses in multiple occupation within the proposed area. With such a concentration of privately rented properties, this can have a significant impact on the overall proposed area, leading to a range of socio-economic problems, such as high levels of deprivation, poor property conditions and high levels of crime and anti-social behaviour. Such problems can also risk in reduced investment on other commercial, retail and leisure uses, which can result in a significant negative impact on Scarborough, not just within the town centre and proposed area, but can also ripple out to the wider area.

As stated above, the proposed area covers most of the town centre and neighbouring residential areas. It ranges from Trafalgar Square and North Marine Road in the North Bay, through to Eastborough in the South Bay. It also includes streets off Victoria Road through to Falsgrave Road. 

Based on 2021 census figures there are 4,500 households within the proposed area, of which just over 2,500 are privately rented, representing 56% of all households in the proposed area. 21.7% of the housing stock is privately rented, whilst in North Yorkshire, the proportion is 18.7%. It is the largest concentration of privately rented housing within the county.

Approximately two thirds of the housing stock in the area is made up of flats. A high proportion of these were former guest houses and larger single occupied households, which have been converted into blocks of flats over the last 40 to 50 years. A significant proportion of these were converted prior to the introduction of building regulations in 1991. 

The remaining third of property types largely consist of pre-1919 terraced houses. Overall, there is very little housing stock in the proposed area, which has been built since 1945. A significant proportion of the stock is solid wall construction with poor insulation. In addition, around 3.5% of the private rented stock is without central heating, which is twice the average for North Yorkshire.

The rationale for the designation is based on the factors outlined in the government guidance published in 2015 for designating an area for selective licensing and assessed areas against the key criteria of:

• low housing demand
• significant and persistent anti-social behaviour
• poor housing conditions
• high levels of migration
• high levels of deprivation
• high level of crime

With the initial selective licensing designations ending in June 2022 and the second scheme coming to an end in early 2024, the decision was made to develop a business case for a renewal of the combined two areas, plus an assessment of surrounding residential area, to assess whether they should also be within a renewed designation. 

Evidence for the assessment was based on information from the recent 2021 census, the Index of Multiple Deprivation in 2019, the evaluation of the previous two licensing designations and also an assessment of enforcement action and complaints received in respect of the surrounding residential streets.

The assessment was based on information at the government’s recognised Lower Super Output Areas, which cover neighbourhoods of around 600 to 1,000 households and also Census Output Areas, which cover neighbourhoods of around 150 to 200 households. These areas are used by government to rank different localities in terms of key indicators such as levels of deprivation and levels of crime.

The area covers five Lower Super Output Areas as follows:

• Castle division: 006A
• Castle division: 008C
• Castle division: 010A
• Northstead division: 006D
• Falsgrave and Stepney division: 008E

Within these areas, there are 30 Census Output Areas.

The evidence showed that there would be justification for undertaking a selective licensing designation based on the following criteria:

Poor housing conditions

56% of the stock within the proposed area is privately rented, with a high proportion of the stock being flats, many of which were poorly converted from guest accommodation or larger residential accommodation. In the 2019 Index of Multiple Deprivation all of the area was within the most deprived 2% in England on the Living Environment (Indoors) Domain, which is a key indicator of poor housing conditions.

High levels of deprivation

The vast majority of the area is within the most deprived 15% on the Index of Multiple Deprivation (2109), with three of the Lower Super Output Areas being within the most deprived 2% on the Index of Multiple Deprivation.

In addition, all of the area is within the most deprived 20% on most of the key domains in the Index of Multiple Deprivation including income, employment, health, crime, education and living environment, with again three of the Lower Super Output Areas being within the most deprived 5% on these domains.
 

5.1 Poor housing conditions

Scale and concentration of privately renting housing

56% of households within the proposed area are privately rented, as at the 2021 census. This is about three times as high as the North Yorkshire average. Within one of the Lower Super Output Areas (Castle: 006) more than 66% of households rent privately. This is the highest proportion of private rented stock across the whole of North Yorkshire. In two of the other four Lower Super Output Areas more than 50% of the stock was privately rented and were within the ten highest Lower Super Output Areas with private rented stock in North Yorkshire.

Nature of the stock 

The privately rented stock across the proposed area consists of three main property types. Firstly, three to four storey blocks of flats, many of which were converted from either former guest houses or small hotels, or from larger single household properties. In addition, many were converted prior to the introduction of Building Regulations in 1991. These blocks mainly consist of four to five flats, though there are some much larger blocks, which contain eight or more flats. 

These are mainly located within the town centre in locations such as Albemarle Crescent, Alma Square, West Square and Aberdeen Walk, and also in streets such as Victoria Road, Castle Road, North Marine Road, Trafalgar Square and New Queen Street, just to the north of the town centre. There are also some similar blocks to the west of the town centre in the Westwood and Falsgrave Road area. 

The vast majority of these blocks are of pre-1919 construction and, as a result, many are of original single skin construction and have poor insulation. Part of the area is within the Scarborough town conservation area, which means there are some restrictions in being able to change windows, for example, from single glazed to more contemporary double glazed UPVC windows. Coupled with exposure in some locations to cold off-shore winds, this can make the properties quite cold and draughty. 

The second most common property type within the proposed area is two and three storey terraced houses. These are mainly located in the streets leading north off Victoria Road and on to Falsgrave Road (for example; Hoxton Road, Nelson Street, Tindall Street, Norwood Street, Roscoe Street, Commercial Street etc.). There is also a concentration of similar terraced streets leading off Trafalgar Road and North Marine Road (for example, Trafalgar Terrace, Sandringham Street, Hope Street, Clark Street etc).

As with the previously mentioned blocks of flats, the overwhelming majority of these properties were built prior to 1919, and many of them have similar characteristics such as single skin construction. Whilst many of these streets would have been seen as traditional first time buyer type properties up to the 1980s/1990s, there has been a gradual change in the tenure type to becoming privately rented, which now makes up the majority tenure type in these streets.

The final most common property type, are flats above shops, which are common on secondary shopping streets, bordering the town centre, such as Victoria Road, Castle Road and Eastborough. While like most of the area, they are similar in being of pre-1919 construction, there are also some post 1945 developments such as Northway and Pavilion Square and Pavilion Terrace on the edge of the town centre. This property type is mainly a mix of one or two flats above a shop, though in some larger properties (particularly on Eastborough) these can be blocks of at least four flats above a shop.
All of the proposed area is within the most deprived 2% nationally on the Living Environment (Indoors) Domain of the Index of Multiple Deprivation. The domain is based on the following factors:

• houses without central heating - the proportion of dwellings that do not have central heating
• housing in poor condition - the proportion of social and private homes that fail to meet the Decent Homes Standard

The proposed area has a much higher proportion of dwellings without central heating at 3.5% compared to 1.3% across North Yorkshire and 1.5% for England.

Information from the English Housing Survey (2021-2022) shows that the private rented sector has the highest proportion of non-decent homes of all tenures, with 23% of private rented homes being deemed non-decent, compared to 14% of all dwellings. This would translate to about 575 privately rented households in the proposed area being non-decent.

The survey also highlighted that 11% of private rented properties have problems with damp compared to 4% across all tenures. This would translate to about 275 privately rented households in the proposed area having problems with damp.

The survey also highlighted that 14% of private rented properties had a HHSRS Category 1 hazard compared to 9% across all tenures. This would translate to about 350 privately rented households in the proposed area having a Category 1 hazard.

Hazards and schedules

The information provided is taken from both the evaluations of both the Scarborough North and Scarborough Central selective licensing schemes plus information on complaints and enforcement action taken from the neighbouring streets surrounding the former designations, which are proposed for inclusion in the new designation.

All housing-related complaints

Within the initial Scarborough North selective licensing designation, there were a total of 5,106 separate issues recorded arising from the inspections undertaken of licensed properties over the course of the designation. This amounted to an average of just over nine per licensed property and almost four and a half per individual property. The issues identified were a mixture of disrepair and Category 2 hazards, plus any non-compliance with licensing conditions.

Within the Scarborough Central selective licensing designation, there were 1,933 Category 2 hazards and 1,822 issues with licensing conditions amounting to an average of almost seven per licensed property and four per individual property. 

Within the surrounding streets, which are proposed to be included in the designation, we received a total of 85 complaints about issues in privately rented properties. Of these 35 were non-housing complaints (for example, waste/rubbish, noise) and a further 41 complaints resulted in an Informal Notice being issued and nine resulted in a Formal Notice being issued.

Category 1 hazards

Over the course of both the Scarborough North and Scarborough Central designations, a total of 1,731 Category 1 hazards were identified through the inspections. This amounted to an average of 1.6 Category 1 hazards per licensed property and 0.85 Cat 1 hazards per individual property.

Enforcement

Over the course of both the two designations, there were a total of 15 separate prosecutions of landlords. 14 of these were prosecutions for failing to apply for a selective licence, the other was for a breach of licensing conditions. This prosecution was made for a block of 10 flats, where there were problems with the fire detection system, items blocking the fire escape routes and dangerous external steps as well as the accumulations of waste in both the front and rear gardens, which the landlord failed to address.

The licence holder was fined a total of £35,000 for the offences and we were awarded costs of £1,980.  
Within the surrounding streets to be included in the proposed designation there were a total of nine notices served for various housing-related offences over the past two years.

How will the designation contribute to an improvement in housing conditions?

The designation will contribute to an improvement in housing conditions in the designated area in a number of ways, which are set out below. 

• identifies all privately rented properties in designated area - licensing will enable us to identify all privately rented properties in the area, license them, and ensure compliance with the licensing conditions. Without licensing in place, it is virtually impossible to identify all privately rented properties in an area, and consequently a significant number of landlords may operate in breach of various regulatory requirements. Operating in such a way puts the health and safety of tenants, their visitors, and also nearby residents at risk.

• With a relatively small scale targeted licensing scheme, we are confident that we are able to identify all privately rented properties within the  designated area, which is something that we have been able to do within our current and previous licensing schemes.

• inspecting all properties within the designated area  - we will inspect all licensed properties within the designated area. By inspecting all properties, we are able to ensure that landlords comply with the various licensing conditions. It will also enable us to identify Category 1 hazards and other disrepair issues. Resolving Category 1 hazards and other disrepair issues directly improves property conditions.

         Our Home Improvement Agency is working with providers that are currently actively engaging with private landlords to deliver insulation   
         improvements such as loft insulation, room in roof insulation and internal wall insulation. A number of private rented properties have
         already benefited from these initiatives and we are working with the providers to actively market them to private landlords.

         These actions will also help to address fuel poverty within the proposed area. The area had previously been identified by the North
         Yorkshire Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) as having one of the highest rates of fuel poverty in the county.

• improve management standards -licensing and inspecting all properties enables us to address low management standards, as we have had on-going concerns about management standards within much of the private rented sector in Scarborough. We have specific licensing conditions in relation to property management, which we require landlords to comply with. Ensuring compliance with these has raised management standards generally and again provides greater security to tenants as well. It will also encourage more landlords to engage professional managing agents to ensure their properties are managed properly.
   
• greater engagement with landlords and agents and provision of advice and support to landlords - licensing enables us to engage with a far greater proportion of landlords and agents then we had previously been able to engage with. Greater engagement will enable us to provide practical advice and support to a far greater number of landlords, including the provision of both formal and informal advice, not just on the licensing requirements and conditions, but also in respect of management conditions, dealing with ASB, tenancy issues, energy efficiency, and so on.
   
• increased investment in rented properties - identifying Category 1 hazards and other disrepair issues results in an increased investment by landlords in their properties in order to resolve the issues raised through the inspections. Within our current licensing schemes some landlords have also reacted proactively by undertaking improvements to their properties ahead of inspections. Some have also stated that the introduction of selective licensing has given them the impetus to invest in and improve their properties. The interventions arising from the work of our Home Improvement Agency for energy efficiency will also increase investment in rented properties.
   
• licensing conditions - aside from the mandatory conditions, we are proposing a range of discretionary conditions, including some that will directly result in improved housing conditions: energy performance, property management, security, external areas.

5.2 High levels of deprivation

Overall

As mentioned previously, the vast majority of the proposed area is within the most deprived 15% on the 2019 Index of Multiple Deprivation, with a large part of the area being within the most deprived 2% nationally on the Index of Multiple Deprivation. As can be seen from the following table, there are high levels of deprivation across a number of key deprivation indicators.

Note: there are 33,755 Lower Super Output Areas in England with 1 being most deprived and 33,755 being least deprived

Information from the 2021 census, also showed that 28.4% of all households in the proposed area recorded two or more deprivation indicators and 7.9% recorded three or more deprivation indicators, compared with 13.7% for two or more indicators and 2.3% for three or more indicators across North Yorkshire.

More detailed analysis was also carried out at the Census Output Area level, which identified some very concentrated pockets of deprivation. In 10 out of the 30 Census Output Areas in the proposed area 35% or more households recorded two or more deprivation indicators. 10 out of the 30 Census Output Areas in the proposed area, also had 10% or more households who recorded three or more deprivation indicators.

Income and employment

All of the area is within the most deprived 30% nationally in terms of the income and employment domains on the Index of Multiple Deprivation. Three out of the five Lower Super Output Areas in the proposed area are also within the most deprived 3% nationally for the employment domain and within the most 6% deprived nationally for the income domain.
 
The recent census figures show a comparison between number of persons unemployed or on long term sick/disabled in the area compared with North Yorkshire.

The table shows that the proportion of residents who are unemployed or long term sick or disabled is three times higher than for North Yorkshire.

The census also shows that 25.9% of residents aged 16 and over in the proposed area are not in employment and have never worked, compared to 7.4% across North Yorkshire. 

One of the impacts of lower incomes and lower employment is a higher incidence of poverty. The 2019 Annual Report of the Director of Public Health for North Yorkshire provided data on poverty across the county, which estimated that up to 34% of households in the most deprived parts of Scarborough (including the proposed area) were living in poverty (defined as having a household income of less than 60% of median income after housing costs).
In addition, the report identified the deprived areas of Scarborough (including the proposed area) as having the highest rates of food insecurity and reliance on food banks across North Yorkshire. The former Northstead ward had the highest level of child poverty and the former Castle ward had the third highest level of child poverty, at 41% and 39% respectively of dependent children in child poverty.

Health

All of the proposed area is within the most deprived 25% nationally on the Index of Multiple Deprivation Health domain, with three of the five Lower Super Output Areas being within the most deprived 5% nationally. 

From the 2021 census, it was identified that 13.9% of residents in the proposed area were limited a lot by their health or disability, while a further 12.3 % were limited a lot, amounting to 26.5% of all residents. By comparison, the figures for North Yorkshire are 6.8% limited a lot and 10.7% limited a little, amounting to 17.5% of all residents.

Within the proposed area, 9.5% of all residents reported in the census that they were in either bad or very bad health. Across North Yorkshire only 4.6% of all residents stated that they were in bad or very bad health in the census.

Living environment (overall)

The proposed area has very high deprivation rates in respect of the living environment domain of the Index of Multiple Deprivation with all of the area being within the most 3% deprived nationally on the Index of Multiple Deprivation. All five of the Lower Super Output Areas within the proposed area are within the 10 most deprived Lower Super Output Areas out of 373 Lower Super Output Areas within North Yorkshire as a whole.

The living environment domain is made up of two sub-domains: the indoors sub-domain which measures quality of housing and the outdoors sub-domain, which measures air quality and road traffic accidents. Due to the concentration of blocks of flats within the proposed area it has a very high population density, with an average of approximately 6,200 people per square kilometre, which is one of the highest population densities within North Yorkshire.

The area also covers Scarborough town centre and most of the main tourist area of the town. As a result, it generates high levels of road traffic in excess of what would normally be expected, especially during the main tourist season. This result in high rates of air pollution in the proposed area.

Living environment (indoors)

There are even higher deprivation levels on the living environment (indoors) domain with all of the proposed area being within the most 5% deprived nationally on this domain. Two of the Lower Super Output Areas are ranked within the most 1% deprived nationally at 137th and 194th most deprived nationally out of 33,755 Lower Super Output Areas in England.

The five Lower Super Output Areas within the proposed area are all within the most ten deprived Lower Super Output Areas on this domain within North Yorkshire. The two Lower Super Output Areas ranked at 137th and 194th in the country are ranked as 1st and 3rd most deprived within North Yorkshire.
The living environment (indoors) domain is based on the following indicators:

• houses without central heating (the proportion of houses that do not have central heating) - within the proposed area, 3.5% of dwellings did not have central heating compared to 1.3% within North Yorkshire and 1.5% for England
   
• housing in poor condition (the proportion of social and private homes that fail to meet the Decent Homes Standard) - information from the English Housing Survey (2021-2022) shows that the private rented sector has the highest proportion of non-decent homes of all tenures, with 23% of private rented homes being deemed non-decent, compared to 14% of all dwellings. This would translate to about 575 privately rented households in the proposed area being non-decent.

Property values (source: Rightmove)

Property sales values within the proposed selective licensing area are significantly lower than those for North Yorkshire and the wider Scarborough coastal area. The following table demonstrates this comparison:

The table shows that the average property price in the proposed area has been less than 50% that of the average for North Yorkshire and only around 60% of the average for the wider Scarborough coastal area.

The figures for the proposed area are slightly influenced by having a higher proportion of flats sold as flat values usually tend to be lower than house values. However, the average sale price for a house within the proposed area is only around 50% of the North Yorkshire average and around 65% of the wider Scarborough coastal area for all property types.

How will the designation contribute to a reduction in the level of deprivation?

The designation will contribute to a reduction in the level of deprivation in a number of ways.

Housing conditions

The licensing scheme will directly result in an improvement in housing conditions, as outlined previously in Section 5.1. It is anticipated that the licensing scheme will result in a reduction in the number of properties with no central heating and also reduce the number that fail to meet the Decent Homes Standard. These are the two indicators for the living environment (indoors) domain. The key components of the Decent Homes Standard are the HHSRS ratings, disrepair, modernisation and thermal comfort, all of which can be improved as a result of licensing. 

Improvements in the housing conditions will also reduce the level of deprivation for the overall living environment domain.

Health deprivation

With a clear correlation between poor health and poor housing conditions, improvements in housing conditions as a result of licensing, should lead to a consequent improvement in the health of households living in private rented properties. The resolution of Category 1 hazards such as excess cold cause by lack of fixed heating, damp and mould growth, fire safety etc. would directly result in an improvement in health outcomes for households.

One of the indicators within the health deprivation domain is related to mood and anxiety disorders, which can be exacerbated by poor housing conditions, insecurity of tenancy, poor management, and so on. Improvements in housing conditions and general tenancy issues as a result of licensing, should reduce the stress and anxiety of householders and thus reduce health deprivation overall.

One of the licensing conditions relates to safeguarding, which seeks to identify and refer vulnerable persons who may be at risk in properties. By doing so, this would improve the health outcomes of such vulnerable persons.  

Barriers to housing and services

While the proposed area has relatively low levels of deprivation in respect of this domain, the wider barriers sub-domain has housing overcrowding and homelessness as indicators. Ensuring compliance with specific licensing conditions such as terms of occupation, safeguarding and tenancy deposits should assist in reducing homelessness. In addition, the inspections will be able to identify any tenancy issues including overcrowding and any households at risk of homelessness, and with appropriate tenancy support in place, means that we will be able to address and resolve such issues. 

Income and employment

As outlined previously, there are a high number of people in receipt of out of work benefits and on low income within the proposed area. Selective licensing can assist in reducing the number of persons out of work within the proposed area in a number of ways as follows:

• increased contact with tenants and residents through the inspection process and tenancy support can lead to signposting out of work tenants/residents to various partner agencies, who can assist people to get back into work via a range of different means
• improvements to housing conditions and increased security of tenure as a result of selective licensing can result in increased confidence for tenants and reduce stress regarding their housing situation. As a result they will feel more confident and prepared to seek work and access training opportunities
• improvements in housing conditions and overall image/perception of the area will attract a wider demographic of potential tenants, including those who are currently in work and in higher income jobs

Crime

One of the objectives of the scheme is to address anti-social behaviour within private rented properties in the area, through effective multi-agency working with our Safer Communities Team and the wider Community Impact Team, which includes the North Yorkshire Police. Reducing anti-social behaviour within privately rented properties will impact on wider levels of crime within the proposed area. Evidence from the current licensing schemes has shown that the multi-agency approach is having a positive impact on reducing anti-social behaviour within privately rented properties in those areas.

Overall

Taking all these factors into consideration, there should be an overall reduction in deprivation levels within the proposed area. As outlined previously, there has been a rise in deprivation levels within the area over the past five to 10 years. The scheme, combined with other actions, should initially arrest this rise and consequently see a reversal of this trend over the next five years and into the longer term future.

6.1 Housing strategy for the Scarborough area - pre 31 March 2023

“Improving the private rented sector” was one of the key objectives within the housing strategy that covered the Scarborough area pre 31 March 2023.

“Deliver the existing Selective Licensing schemes and proposed third scheme in order to improve housing standards in the privately rented sector” was proposed as a key action within the strategy. This action has been delivered over the past two years and the strategy proposed a further action as follows:

“Review and evaluate impact of existing schemes as they reach the end of the licensing period (Scarborough North in 2022 and Scarborough Central in 2024) and use as basis for deciding on whether to renew the existing schemes.”

The review and evaluation of the first two schemes has been completed and provided the rationale for the decision to renew the two schemes.
This approach is supported by other key actions in the strategy, which are as follows:

Enhancing the neighbourhood

One of the key outcomes of the evaluation of the Scarborough North selective licensing scheme was concerns about the external environment, including rubbish dumping and waste problems and the wider visual amenity of the area. These were issues that, to a large extent, were outside the remit of the selective licensing scheme and the licensing conditions. 

However, one of the recommendations of the evaluation was that there should be a stronger emphasis on developing more of a neighbourhood management focus, and that any extension of the licensing scheme should be accompanied by a coordinated set of interventions in terms of fly tipping/rubbish management awareness raising and, if necessary, prosecutions.

One of the key actions was to “Continue to undertake waste clearance, and so on, in selective licensing areas; and take a pro-active approach to addressing property that is detrimental to the local area.” 

Part of this will be achieved through joint working with other key service areas, such as environmental services in terms of waste management and environmental improvements, and planning in terms of improvements to visual amenity.

Ensure that we take a rigorous approach to enforcing housing standards in the private rented sector

The key message here is that there is a need to ensure that a robust approach is taken to enforce housing standards irrespective of whether it’s in a selective licensing area or not. Whilst not having the powers and use of licensing conditions that a selective licensing designation can confer, there is a need to ensure a consistent approach to enforcing standards across the whole of North Yorkshire.

One of the key aims of our new housing service is to double the number of housing enforcement actions taken across North Yorkshire by 2026.

Promoting carbon reduction via HHSRS

One of the key concerns within many private rented properties is that they tend to have poorer energy efficiency than the wider housing stock, as whole. This is due to a variety of reasons including being of older stock, and also the nature of their construction.

One of our key aims will be to decarbonise the housing stock and improve energy efficiency, not just in the private rented sector, but across the whole housing stock. 

The strategy states: “Where properties have poor energy performance standards (EPC’s), we will encourage property owners to improve energy efficiency, signposting them to relevant finding support or where necessary take enforcement action.”

One of the proposed licensing conditions is “A copy of the Energy Performance Certificate for the property must be provided at any time as requested by the Council. The licence holder must provide prospective and new tenants with a copy of the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) prior to the commencement of the tenancy.”

6.2  North Yorkshire Council Housing Strategy: 2024-2029

We are due adopt our new housing strategy by early 2024. One of the three key themes of the strategy will be “Our Homes”.

The theme identifies a number of key priorities as follows:

• decarbonising the whole housing stock, including our council homes, making them more energy efficient and affordable to live in, reducing fuel poverty 
• ensuring that new housing supply of all tenures contributes to our net zero ambitions 
• addressing stock condition issues, improving poor quality housing in all tenures 

To meet these key priorities, we have identified a wider range of actions including:

• attracting government funding to improve and decarbonise our private sector housing homes
• tackling stock condition issues, improving poor quality housing across all tenures 
• using our legal powers to enforce and raise standards in the private rented sector - taking a consistent and firm approach to raising housing standards, including the further development of selective licencing schemes

6.3     North Yorkshire homelessness and rough sleeping statement

A new Homelessness Strategy will be prepared for North Yorkshire.

Currently a joint Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Statement for the county exists, agreed by the previous councils.

The statement outlines the challenges faced with rises in the number of households threatened by homelessness or have become homeless, which is due to a variety of reasons including lack of suitable accommodation available in both the social and private rented sector. With the rising energy prices and on-going cost of living crisis, the situation is likely to worsen as more households face financial distress and may be unable to afford their present accommodation.

One of the key challenges for us in preventing homelessness is being able to discharge our duties through the provision of both social rented housing and private rented housing. In recent years, there has been an increasing reliance on use of private rented housing and far higher numbers of households threatened with homelessness are rehoused in private rented housing compared to social rented housing. 

The importance of ensuring that we can place households threatened with homelessness in private rented accommodation which is safe, in good condition and is properly managed cannot be underestimated. A high amount of the households placed in private rented housing are within central Scarborough and in the past we experienced problems with complaints from many such households about the property condition, management issues and tenancy issues. Selective licensing will help to ensure that within the designated areas we are only placing households in properties, which have been licensed and inspected and meet all the required licensing conditions. With the end of private rented tenancies being the single biggest cause of homelessness in the area (over 30% of all cases), it should also help to reduce the overall number of households threatened by homelessness.               

6.4 Community Safety Partnership Plan

We are in the process of developing a new Community Safety Partnership Plan for the Scarborough area. Key priorities have already been identified for the plan, some of which impact on private rented properties generally and also within the proposed selective licensing area. The key priorities and how they relate to the sector are outlined below:  

• reduce crime and disorder
• reduce anti-social behaviour
• reduce alcohol and substance misuse
• protect vulnerable people

The approach is underpinned by strong partnership working and aims to take a multi-agency approach to often complex issues, focusing on both support and enforcement measures. The enforcement measures included housing enforcement carried out in partnership with the residential regulation team. The plan focuses on the following key areas in order to meet the key priorities, which would complement the selective licensing renewal.     

Integrated working targeted at areas with high levels of crime, anti-social behaviour and vulnerable people

This includes the proposed selective licensing area. As mentioned previously, joint working between the residential regulation team and the community impact team takes place in these areas in the form of joint visits/inspections of properties, housing/safer communities high risk properties group and tasking meetings.

Safeguarding of children and adults at risk including domestic abuse, sexual violence, child sexual exploitation

Scarborough has the highest levels of domestic violence across North Yorkshire and a considerable amount of domestic violence takes place within residential properties. Amongst a range of measures, the strategy aims to highlight these issues and promote safeguarding actions and processes. 

Modern slavery and human trafficking

This has been a growing concern and there has been increasing evidence that such practices have been occurring within private rented properties. There have been on-going investigations into the potential trafficking of persons from outside the UK, which has included inspections of private rented properties.    

Night time economy

While anti-social behaviour and crime-related problems in the night time economy may not seem directly related to private rented properties, there are on-going problems with particular premises in the night time economy within the proposed area. Some residential properties are situated directly above properties such as pubs, bars and late night takeaways or are in the immediate vicinity and are adversely affected by noise and anti-social behaviour emanating from the night time economy.

Serious organised crime

Like many large seaside towns, Scarborough has suffered from the impact of “county lines” with gangs from other parts of the country establishing themselves in the town. There is evidence of such gangs establishing themselves within the more deprived areas, including both the current and proposed selective licensing areas.

There is also evidence of gangs taking advantage of and exploiting vulnerable tenants residing in private rented properties in both the current and proposed selective licensing areas. The practice of “cuckooing” where dealers target vulnerable people and take over their homes to set up shop within the individual’s homes is known to be particularly prevalent within inner Scarborough.  

Substance related crime and anti-social behaviour

There are high rates of crime and anti-social behaviour associated with substance abuse, especially within Scarborough town, including the proposed area. Working with the residential regulation team one of the key actions is to continue to enforce any substance abuse related anti-social behaviour using appropriate legislation and enforcement powers.    

6.5 Links to wider strategies and actions

In addition, we see that selective licensing complements our wider aspirations to help uplift the urban parts of the Scarborough area more generally. Key interventions include the following:

Scarborough Town Centre Strategy

A town centre strategy for Scarborough is already in place to address the decline in the retail sector and make the town centre a thriving hub. One of the strategic objectives of the strategy is to increase residential living within the town centre by 25% by 2025. The strategy contains a number of key actions to support this aspiration, including “establish a property improvement and conversion fund” and “establish bespoke student accommodation within the town centre”. 

The proposed selective licensing designations will cover the whole of the town centre and will be directly affected by the town centre strategy. 

Scarborough Town Deal

The Scarborough Town Deal sets out a vision for the regeneration of Scarborough town over the next 15 years through a bold strategy and series of projects, which aim to rejuvenate the town.

Most of the projects are based in and around the town centre and within the proposed selective licensing area. It includes a range of strategic objectives, some of which align with the broader aims of selective licensing. One of the strategic objectives is to “re-imagine the public realm as a network of interesting spaces to explore and place to linger”. The improvement of property conditions as a result of selective licensing will contribute to meeting that aim by ensuring that an emphasis is made on external appearance of properties as well as internal improvements. 

Employment and Skills Plan for Scarborough: Towards 2030: “An era of opportunity”

Overall the Scarborough area has a low skills base, low educational attainment and low income levels compared to both the rest of the region and nationally. It has more than double the percentage of people on out of work benefits compared to the rest of North Yorkshire. 

The Employment and Skills Plan is aimed at improving the skills base especially in key employment sectors. One of its key “sectors” is social inclusion, which has the specific aim of improving skills and employability of residents within the area’s most deprived neighbourhoods. This aim is chiefly being delivered through the community-led development programme below.  

Shared Prosperity Fund 

Annual Report of the Director of Public Health for North Yorkshire 2021-2022: The report mainly concentrates on the lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic. However, pre-Covid, the annual report focused on a number of recommendations for addressing poverty across North Yorkshire, which apply to the proposed area and would support the proposal. They include:

• support deprived areas - the need for co-ordinated plans focused on areas of deprivation through collaboration with local communities and residents to reflect their priorities for reducing poverty and shaping healthy places
• reduce childhood inequalities - all agencies working with children and families should be alert to the risk and impact of childhood poverty and ensure they take account of hidden and indirect costs that may hinder a child’s participation in the services they offer
• create safe environments for high-risk groups - all agencies working with people with multiple health and social problems should consider a “housing first” approach that provides a safe and stable environment which is sensitive and flexible to the needs and individual circumstances of the person
• develop priorities to mitigate the impact of changes to the benefit system - as part of the Joint Needs Assessment, the council and clinical commissioning groups should undertake specific investigation to understand the impact of changes to the benefit system, cuts and sanctions on people, in terms of their mental and physical health and the use of services to set new strategic priorities in local plans to mitigate these impacts

We see selective licensing as being a key element of a much broader range of strategic actions to both improve the private rented sector and help uplift the identified area. Over the past few years we have introduced a range of different initiatives. Whilst these initiatives have all had some positive impact it is recognised that on their own they have been insufficient to bring the lasting improvements needed.

Interventions have included:

• the on-going provision of advice to landlords and close joint working with the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), including the provision of twice yearly landlord forums
• the provision of disabled facilities grants to meet the needs of disabled and elderly people and the provision of a subsidised handyperson/small repairs service for this group  
• the targeted provision of different subsidy options where available to support energy efficiency improvements within the area including Community Energy Saving Programme and Green Deal and the provision of specialist energy advice through the Choices for Energy Scheme 
• the on-going delivery of a mandatory licensing scheme for larger HMOs
• the delivery of an additional licensing scheme for smaller HMOs from 2014 to 2019 
• a proactive approach to responsive enforcement action around housing conditions including the prohibition of certain properties and close joint working with North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service 
• a proactive approach to tackling anti-social behaviour including the use of council powers to prohibit certain properties where needed 
• the establishment of the Community Impact Team, a multi-agency team, initially set up to work in partnership to help uplift the Castle and North Bay areas and which now operates across the wider area - this consists of a partnership between our community safety and environmental health/housing staff, Police, Fire and Rescue Service and other organisations

A number of the interventions listed above, plus others, have also been considered as options to the designation of selective licensing. An appraisal of each of these options is outlined below:

As can be seen none of the alternative options considered would be effective enough in their own right and collectively to tackle the problems within the private rented sector in the proposed area. Our approach is to identify every private rented property within the proposed area and to ensure that once licensed they will all be inspected.

The following sets out the steps that we have undertaken to consult on the proposed designation. We developed and approved a consultation plan in August 2023 and was based on the consultation process undertaken for the previously designated selective licensing schemes. The consultation plan is an essential part of the process required in order to make a designation for a selective licensing scheme.

The procedural document for selective licensing: “Selective Licensing in the private rented sector: A Guide for Local Authorities” issued by DCLG in 2015 sets out the following requirements for consultation that a local authority must undertake:

Section 80 (9) of the Act states that when considering designating an area the local housing authority must: 

• take reasonable steps to consult persons who are likely to be affected by the designation, and, 
• consider any representations made in accordance with the consultation. 

Local housing authorities will be required to conduct a full consultation. This should include consultation of local residents, including tenants, landlords and where appropriate their managing agents and other members of the community who live or operate businesses or provide services within the proposed designation. It should also include local residents and those who operate businesses or provide services in the surrounding area outside of the proposed designation that will be affected. Local housing authorities should ensure that the consultation is widely publicised using various channels of communication. 

If the designation does not require the confirmation of the Secretary of State because of its extent the local housing authority must consult on the proposed scheme for at least 10 weeks. We recommend that if the scheme requires confirmation the local housing authority should aim to consult for at least 10 weeks unless there are special reasons for not doing so. 

The consultation should be informative, clear and to the point, so the proposal is readily understood. It should inform local residents, landlords, letting agents and businesses about the proposed designation, giving the reasons for proposing it, why alternative remedies are insufficient, demonstrating how it will tackle specific problems together with other specified measures, and describing the proposed outcome of the designation. It should also set out the proposed fee structure and level of fees the authority is minded to charge (if any). Consultees should be invited to give their views, and these should all be considered and responded to. 

Once the consultation has been completed the results should then be published and made available to the local community. This should be in the form of a summary of the responses received and should demonstrate how these have either been acted on or not, giving reasons. 

Dates and duration of consultation 

We granted approval to undertake the consultation in August 2023. The consultation will commence on 1 September 2023 and will run for a minimum of 10 weeks ending on 10 November 2023. 

Who will we consult with and how? 

We will consult with the groups and individuals listed below.

All local residents within the designated area

There are approximately 4,000 households within the proposed area and adjoining streets. A questionnaire will be sent to every household within the designated area, complete with a proposal document and prepaid return envelope to encourage a high response rate.  

A number of community drop-in sessions will be held, which will enable local residents to find out more about the proposal. Details of the drop-in sessions will be provided with the questionnaire documentation.

All private landlords, letting agents and estate agents who own and manage properties within the designated area

A questionnaire will be sent out to all private landlords, letting agents and estate agents on our database. This will include details of the proposal and how landlords will be able to provide their response.

A number of landlord drop in sessions will be held, which will enable landlords to find out more about the proposal. Landlords will also be invited to any of the community drop-in sessions. Details of the drop-in sessions will be provide with the questionnaire documentation.

Landlord associations

Details of the proposal will be sent to the local representatives of the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), Eastern Landlords Association (ELA). Association of Residential Lettings Agents (ARLA) and Safeagent. 

Key stakeholders

Individual meetings will be held with particular key stakeholders who will be most affected or who will have an involvement in the scheme. This will principally be North Yorkshire Police and North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service. However, there may be other key stakeholders identified through the process where an individual meeting is required.

Other stakeholders

Other local stakeholders will be invited to attend a stakeholder consultation session. These will include stakeholders such as Citizens Advice, social landlords operating in the area, other housing organisations, hospitality association, our other internal services. Presentations will also be given at the local homelessness forum, which is regularly attended by a wide range of local stakeholders.  

All stakeholders will be contacted to make any comments regarding the proposal regardless of whether they attend the session.      

Local community and voluntary groups

Presentations will be given to key local community and voluntary groups who are based in the area.  

Local community and police group

A presentation will be provided to the Castle Community and Police (CAP) Group, which represents the area.  

Councillors

The local councillors for the Castle, Northstead and Falsgrave and Stepney divisions will be provided directly with the proposal in advance of the exec report and will also be contacted to discuss the proposal in detail as part of the consultation process. The local councillors will also be invited to on-going consultation events.

Local MP

The local Member of Parliament, Robert Goodwill, will be provided with a copy of the proposal and invited to comment on the proposal.  

Our internal council services

Our internal council services who may be affected in some way by the proposal will also be invited to comment on the proposals. These will include safer communities, environmental services, planning, economic development, housing benefits, street scene, and so on.

Other means of consultation

The main means of consultation will be via the questionnaires to residents and landlords and also via the various consultation sessions and presentations. 

In addition the consultation will be made available on the consultation page on our website for the duration of the consultation period. The full proposal will be provided on the website and comments on the proposal will be invited through the website.

Communication           

The main forms of communication of the consultation will be through the questionnaires to residents, business and landlords and also via the various consultation sessions and presentations.

Other means of communication will be as follows:

Our website

There will be a news release on our website at the commencement of the consultation. Details of the consultation, community drop-in sessions and how to respond will remain on the website during the duration of the consultation period. In addition regular social media alerts will be put out advising of community drop-in sessions and consultation deadlines.

News release

A news release will be issued at the commencement of the consultation. This will include details of community drop in sessions, where to find more information on the proposal and how to respond to the proposal.

Posters/leaflets

Posters and leaflets will be produced advertising details of community drop-in session, where to find more information on the proposal and how to respond to the proposal. Posters will be placed at prominent locations within the proposed area and posters and leaflets will also be provide for local stakeholders, community locations, community groups and other agencies for display and to pass on to persons who may have an interest.

Other partners

Other key partners will be encouraged to communicate details of the proposal and how to respond through their various channels of communication including their own websites, social media and premises. A standard communication pack will be provided for all partners.

How and when will we report on the consultation?

At the end of the consultation period a full report will be produced on the outcomes of the consultation. The report will provide details of all the consultation responses and will be split into four parts as follows:

1. resident/business questionnaire responses
2. landlord questionnaire responses
3. feedback from all consultation events
4. individual stakeholder meetings and responses

The report will details the results of the consultation and will include any specific comments made by respondents. Personal details of any individual respondents making comments in the questionnaire or at a consultation event will not be disclosed.    

The consultation findings will be reported to our executive in early 2024 and will include a copy of the consultation report. The consultation report will be published and placed on our website. 

We will need to charge a fee to cover the running costs of the scheme. The estimated cost of administrating the scheme will be in the region of £850,000 during the five year period. This estimate is based on the number of licences that are estimated to be issued in the selective licensing area (based on the area defined within this business case) and the level of resources required to deliver the scheme. In order to meet the scheme running costs, we will be looking at a cost in the region of £700 for a single licence. 

The level of fee income to be levied will of course vary depending on the final scale and scope of the scheme. It is however anticipated that fees for individual occupancy properties will be less than those for larger multi-occupied properties.

We are also proposing to offer a range of discounts to landlords where certain circumstances apply. These will include: 

• discount for properties previously licensed within the Scarborough North and Central selective licensing designations - it is recognised that where properties were previously licensed and there has been no change of landlord, that they will have been compliant during the previous selective licensing designation. As a result a reduced fee is proposed for such properties based on reduced inspection requirements
• discounts for accredited landlords - applied where a landlord is a member of either our accreditation scheme or a member of the National Landlord Association’s accreditation scheme
• early bird discounts - applied to all applications received with all completed documentation received within three months of the date of commencement of the scheme
• multiple property discount - applied to all second and subsequent licence applications

Levels of discount to be offered will be finalised following the consultation process and will depend on the scale and scope of the overall scheme. 

Fee payments

The fee is split into two parts. It is proposed that the initial payment will be required at the time of the application and will be for a fixed amount of £180. This will cover costs associated with the administration of the application. 

The second payment will be required following the processing of the application and the draft licence being issued and will need to be made prior to the full licence being issued. The second payment will be based on whether the property is a single unit or is a multiple unit property, and will take into account any discounts that are relevant to that application.

Refunds

Refunds are not normally granted should the licence be revoked for any reason during the course of the licensing period. The only circumstances in which we would consider the refund of all or part of the licence fee are: 

1.  If the licence has been issued and it was then established that the property was not required to be licensed as per the licensing requirements. In any such case any licence fee paid will be refunded in full.
2.  If the licence is revoked prior to us undertaking an inspection of the property. Please note that we will still charge for the processing and issuing of the licence and any other costs incurred up to the point that the licence is revoked.