Rochford Conservatives and Rochford District Residents Party miss £39 billion housing deadline while 362 families wait

Rochford District Council has failed to submit a bid for the government's Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP) — a £39 billion, ten-year funding programme that could have delivered new affordable and social homes for local residents.

The Strategic Partnership deadline passed on 15th April 2026. The Council made no bid. No partnership with a housing association was established. No preparatory work was done. The Council did not even apply for the Council Housebuilding Support Fund — a dedicated grant available until August 2025, specifically designed to help councils like Rochford build the capacity to bid.

362 households are on Rochford's housing register. 58 are in temporary accommodation. Some are living in overcrowded and deeply unsuitable conditions. While they wait, the Conservative and Rochford District Residents administration has missed one of the most significant affordable housing funding opportunities in a generation.

Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr James Newport said:

"When I asked why no bid had been made, the response was that social housing has never been a deliverable within a Corporate Plan. That is simply not true. The Corporate Plan 2024-28 — signed off by both the Conservative and Rochford District Residents groups, who continue to govern under it — explicitly commits to developing innovative solutions to housing need and reviewing affordable and social housing provision across the district. They adopted the plan. They kept the plan. They just didn't act on it.

Councillor Belton, the current leader, has repeatedly spoken about tackling empty homes as a priority. The SAHP offered grant funding to bring empty properties back into use as affordable homes. That opportunity has now passed. Words without action are worthless to the families stuck in temporary accommodation or crammed into overcrowded housing.

This is not putting residents first. This is an administration that makes commitments in print and ignores them in practice. Residents deserve better."

The government's SAHP funds a range of housing solutions, including social rent homes, empty homes brought back into use, and traveller pitches — all areas of identified need in Rochford District. The Continuous Market Engagement route remains open for individual scheme bids, but the long-term Strategic Partnership window, which offered the greatest funding certainty, has now closed.

The Liberal Democrats are calling on the administration to urgently set out what steps it will now take through the remaining funding routes and to explain why no application was made to the Council Housebuilding Support Fund before it closed.

**Notes to editors**

- The SAHP Strategic Partnership bidding window closed 15 April 2026

- The Council Housebuilding Support Fund closed August 2025, awarding £5.5m to 29 councils nationally

- Rochford District Council Corporate Plan 2024-28 commits to "developing innovative solutions in relation to our housing need" and a "review of temporary accommodation, affordable and social housing provision in the District outlining options to increase provision"

- 362 households are currently on Rochford's housing register; 58 are in temporary accommodation Q3 2025/26