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Poorly understood rural housing policy can increase affordable home delivery, association says
A new report is calling for communities to embrace the rural exception site planning policy to enable a significant increase in the delivery of affordable homes in the English countryside.
The research by the English Rural Housing Association and UCL researchers believe the increase in homes can be delivered alongside maintaining the community’s local character.
The report, titled Land, Landowners, and the Delivery of Affordable Homes in Rural Areas, outlined the housing affordability issues facing rural towns and parishes, and highlighted how greater use of the already established policy could help deliver much-needed affordable homes.
The national policy was introduced in 1991 as a mechanism for delivering affordable homes on small plots of rural land that would not otherwise be granted permission for housing development.
Developments on these sites are required to prioritise affordable housing for people with a connection to the local community.
The policy has since been expanded to allow small numbers of market sale homes when required to ensure the delivery of affordable housing units as well.
The government said it published new planning practice guidance in June 2021 to help encourage more of these sites to be developed.
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However, the policy has not been widely used since it was introduced. The report showed that in 2016 and 2017, only 14 of 91 rural authorities constructed any affordable homes on these sites, with 37% of those constructed in Cornwall alone.
Researchers highlighted a number of reasons for this, such as a general lack of understanding of the policy, local landowners unwilling to sell land for site development, poor wording of the policy and opposition from local council members and residents.
For rural areas, the housing crisis centres on a number of issues, including emphasis on conserving villages as they are, limited rural amenities, environmental protection restrictions and increasing property prices.
These issues, combined with lower incomes in these areas and an increase in urban migration to the countryside, mean that the demand for rural housing often outstrips supply, driving up costs beyond what local residents can afford.
However, researchers stressed that many of these obstacles can be overcome with greater available information about the programme.
Dr Phoebe Stirling, research fellow at the Bartlett School of Planning at UCL, said: “This collaborative study has shown the value of exception site development to communities, families and rural economies.
“Landowners are critical partners in bringing forward sites, but a range of individuals and groups need to come together to achieve project success. Our research highlights how this can happen.”
The report has made five recommendations:
- Supply every parish council with information about the rural exception site policy
- Train rural housing enablers to raise awareness about the policy in communities
- Develop guidance to incentivise landowners to release land for rural exception sites
- Create a national programme highlighting the policy
- Produce a positive model for development on these rural sites, to showcase what the homes could look like
Martin Collett, chief executive of English Rural Housing Association, said: “Our aim is to turn the spotlight onto rural exception sites, initiating a nationwide dialogue that underscores the transformative potential that they hold for the countryside and those that live there.”
In response, a spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “Our National Planning Policy Framework ensures that planning policies and decisions are responsive to local circumstances in rural areas, including supporting housing developments that reflect local needs.
“Local planning authorities should go further by bringing forward more small sites for affordable housing so rural residents are able to remain in their communities.”
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