Join us for an insightful seminar brought to you by our councils network, chaired by Anna Clarke, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at The Housing Forum. Our first session will explore how councils can work effectively with the Regulator. Our second session will discuss new opportunities to deliver affordable housing through the Small Sites Aggregator.
Programme
15:00 Welcome and Introduction
William Cornall, Chair of The Councils Network
15.05 Working with the Regulator
The Regulator for Social Housing carries out annual checks on Registered Providers with 1,000+ homes. In 2024, the Regulator introduced new consumer standards for social housing landlords, and also extended its role to cover local authorities.
The new regime has proved challenging for some authorities with a significant number of lower ratings awarded to councils than for RPs over the last two years. The Seminar will hear from two local authorities who have worked successfully with the Regulator – Sheffield City Council who referred themselves to the Regulator in order to get their support on the improvement plan needed, and Norwich City Council who in April this year were awarded a C1 rating – one of only nine councils to have done so at this time.
Speakers:
Davina Howes, Executive Director of Communities & Housing, Norwich City Council
Angela Holden, Director of Regulatory Engagement, Regulator of Social Housing
James Clark, Sheffield City Council
15.30 Q & A
15.45 The Small Sites Aggregator
The Small Sites Aggregator is a Government initiative designed to bundle together small, underused brownfield land plots to scale up affordable housing delivery. It has been operating since 2025, with the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority as the national delivery partner for the four pilot sites and Housing Forum member, Arcadis, engaged as a local delivery partner. Initial testing has been focused on Bristol, Sheffield, and the London Borough of Lewisham. In May 2026, plans were announced to roll out the Small Sites Aggregator nationally.
Speakers:
Tim Baxter, Head of Market Delivery, Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG)
Jez Sweetland, West of England Combined Authority
Gemma Care, Technical Director, Arcadis Consulting
16.10 Q & A
16:25 Close
When:
