Have Your Say on West Northamptonshire Council's Draft Housing Allocation Policy 2026

Overview

We are consulting on proposed changes to our Housing Allocation Policy and are seeking your views on them. The changes could remove some applicants who do not have a priority band from the housing register waiting list.

Every local housing authority is required by law to have a housing allocations policy which determines priorities and procedures when allocating social housing. Whilst much of the policy is in accordance with legislation, guidance and regulations, the Council is able to shape certain areas of the policy to address strategic priorities, emerging local needs, and to consider creating efficiencies and value for money. The policy must be fair and transparent, and it must set out:

• Who can and cannot apply
• How we consider and prioritise applicants
• How we allocate home to applicants
• How we can apply applicant choice

Background:

We are proposing changes to the Housing Allocation Policy, which could lead to some non-priority applicants being removed from the social housing waiting list.

We have a growing demands for social housing and we only have a limited number of social homes which means that we have a large and growing waiting list.

The Draft West Northamptonshire Housing Allocation Policy, (PDF, 812KB, opens in new window) is available to download.  You may wish to have this open when competing the consultation.

Who can take part in the consultation?

We would like to hear from individuals, other local authorities, social or affordable housing tenants, waiting list applicants, voluntary and community groups and organisations, registered providers of social and affordable housing, councillors, and any other interested parties.

How to have your say:

We welcome your views on the proposed Housing Allocations Policy

You can submit your comments by:  

• Completing the online survey by following the "share your views" link below.

If you have any questions about the consultation, need assistance to complete the online questionnaire or would like a copy of it in another format you can contact using our details below:

Email: Lesley.Armstrong@westnorthants.gov.uk

Postal address: 

• Lesley Armstrong
• Housing Allocations and Quality Manager
• West Northamptonshire Council
• One Angle Square (Service Yard)
• Angel Street
• Northampton
• NN1 1ED

This consultation closes midnight on Sunday 22 February 2026

For information about how consultation and engagement responses are managed, please see the consultation and engagement privacy notice.

Please note that this consultation is solely intended to gather feedback on the proposed scheme. It is not the appropriate forum to provide details about any application you may have submitted or are planning to submit. If you have specific questions or require updates regarding an application, we kindly ask that you use the appropriate channels for such enquiries.

What happens next?

All feedback will be reviewed and considered by councillors at a Cabinet meeting during March 2026 before a final decision is made on the new Housing Allocation Policy for West Northamptonshire.