Inventing our future Collective action for a sustainable economy

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Supply of affordable housing
7.57 In order to meet the demand for affordable housing, local councils work with national and local
housing and planning policies to achieve the development of affordable housing in partnership
with housing providers.
7.58 Development is distributed to contribute to sustainable patterns, concentrated rather than
dispersed. The draft East of England Plan focuses development in market towns and key service
centres, to be identified in local development documents. In all other rural settlements and
communities, the continued viability of agriculture and other rural economic activities are
important, along with the provision of housing for local needs and support for the sustainability
of local services 29 . The Plan also identifies how dwellings will be distributed throughout the Region,
by local authority.
7.59 Following the need to concentrate rather than distribute development, local authorities conduct
urban capacity assessments to inform the allocation of sites for development. Rural areas may have
few sites allocated within the overall district total.
7.60 Village development may be on sites that would not normally be granted planning permission for
open market housing. Such ‘exception sites‘ are to meet the needs of local people, based on local
surveys and needs information.
7.61 In January 2005 ODPM published a replacement for paragraph 18 of PPG3 – Planning for
Sustainable Communities in Rural Areas. Paragraph 18 emphasises the need to make adequate
housing provision in rural areas to meet the needs of local people and to contribute to the delivery
of sustainable communities. Paragraph 18 also introduces the concept of allocated exception sites
(identified in local development frameworks) to sit alongside windfall exception sites. Exception
sites generally should be small sites, solely for affordable housing and on land adjoining existing
small rural communities which would otherwise not be released for general market housing. The
affordable housing provided on such sites should meet local needs in perpetuity.
7.62 Cross subsidy is a means of securing additional housing completely without grant or with a lower
input of grant by producing homes for sale or shared ownership in addition to rent. Such schemes
would be based on clear assessment of a local community’s need for different forms of housing
tenure and local housing and planning policies.
7.63 Cross subsidy from other forms of tenure is currently not normally achievable on exception sites
(see above). However, the issue should be kept under review in the event the situation changes
during the lifetime of the RHS.
7.64 Over recent years, funding for affordable rural schemes has been through the Housing
Corporation’s ring-fenced rural programme that has targeted small villages (below 3,000
population) as well as more recently larger settlements such as market towns and larger rural
settlements in the 3,000 - 10,000 population range. Between the year 1998/99 and 2003/04 1985
rural homes have been completed in the East of England. The effectiveness of partnership working
has seen a jump from 194 homes completed in 2001/02 to 386 in the year 2003/04.
7.65 Providing new housing in settlements above 3,000 population does, however, mean that eligible
schemes and tenants would qualify for the Right to Acquire.
7.66 Housing is a key element in rural community regeneration and rural renaissance. Rural housing
provision should be integrated with access to skills, employment and service provision.
29 Policy SS9 Development in Rural Areas, in the draft East of England Plan.