Peak District National Park Authority Annual Housing Report 2007
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PEAK DISTRICT NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY - THE ANNUAL HOUSING REPORT 2007 Introduction 1. The Peak District National Park Authority has a duty to 'seek to foster the economic and social well being of local communities' whilst pursuing its statutory purposes 'to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage' of the Peak District National Park and 'to promote understanding and enjoyment of its special qualities' (Section 61 of the Environment Act, 1995) 2. As a Local Planning Authority, we set policy, assist site searches and community liaison, determine and monitor planning applications, and work with community housing providers1. National guidance is provided in Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing (PPS3) and also included in the Regional Spatial Strategy for the East Midlands (RSS8). Monitoring is a requirement in our Development Plan2 and we continue to meet changing national, regional and local requirements. 3. The report monitors policies in the National Park Management Plan 2006-2011 (published April 2007), which aims to provide more affordable homes for those who need them (People & Communities, Objective 4), and in the Development Plan (The Structure Plan, adopted on 1 April 1994 and the Local Plan, adopted on 30 March 2001). This report also informs the current review of the Development Plan. 4. For newly built housing, the Structure Plan focuses on provision for locally needed affordable housing and only allows new building for general housing demand to achieve enhancement of the National Park. It aims to sustain the population of the Park at about 38,000 residents (Para 4.28). The main policies are: for residential dwellings HC1-HC3; for barn conversions C2; and for holiday accommodation RT3. The monitoring period runs from 1 April 1991. The Government Office for the East Midlands agreed in September 2007 that all Peak District National Park Authority's housing policies should be saved beyond 27 September 2007, so monitoring will continue 5. The Local Plan includes policies permitting newly built locally needed affordable housing. In July 2003, the Authority adopted Supplementary Planning Guidance that gives additional information to people wishing to provide affordable housing in the National Park. Implementation is through a more robust Section 106 agreement to ensure affordability ‘in perpetuity’. 6. Since 1995 the Peak District Housing Forum, which includes representatives from this Authority, the Government Office for the East Midlands, Local Housing Authorities and other housing providers, has overseen housing monitoring in this area3. The Forum will consider the report at its next meeting. Structure of the Report 7. The report is divided into 4 sections. Section 1 considers all dwellings (residential and holiday units); Section 2 focuses on residential dwellings; Section 3 looks at holiday units; Section 4 considers further monitoring. 8. Care has to be taken in identifying annual trends in housing data for the Peak District. Because there are relatively few developments each year, data is prone to relatively wide annual fluctuations. For this reason the report will focus on the whole period monitored. Annual data which supports this report is available in Appendices A to E. 1 See Government Circular 6/98 "Planning and Affordable Housing". 2 Monitoring is required by paragraphs 2.25, 4.36 and 4.65 of the Plan. 3 Policy Committee (Minute 10/00). 3 Section 1: All Dwellings (Residential and Holiday Units) 9. There are estimated to be around 17,850 dwellings in the National Park at the end of 2006/074. Completions 10. 1828 dwellings have been completed since 1 April 1991, at an average rate of 114 completions per year5. Annual completions in the National Park do not follow a consistent trend (Figure 1). The years of high completion rates coincide with the completion of a few large schemes (e.g. in 2003/04 the conversions of Yorkshire Bridge Filter House, Cressbrook Mill and Litton Mill contributed 82 units to the total). Figure 1: Completion Rates and Unfinished Dwellings Annually 1991/92 to 2006/07 500 450 400 350 Completions per year 300 Outstanding 250 200 Under Construction 150 Lapsed per year 100 50 0 2 4 8 4 /9 /9 /02 1 7 1 9 93/9 9 0 03/0 9 9 9 0 1 1 1995/961 1999/0020 2 2005/06 Year 11. 112 new dwellings were built in 2006/07 of which 23% were on previously developed land (‘brownfield sites’), compared with the government target of 60%, according to the definition required by the national Best Value Performance Indicator (BV106). If conversions of agricultural buildings are included as 'brownfield', 31% of dwelling completions were on previously developed land6. This figure varies substantially each year, as the numbers of completions in the Peak District is relatively low. The low figures stated here are influenced by the completions of greenfield schemes at Chantry Court, Tideswell (22 units), Michlow Drive, Bradwell (12 units) and Highfields Drive, Bakewell (36 units). Commitments 12. Figure 1 indicates that the number of units under construction is steadily increasing and that those outstanding or left to lapse are decreasing7. As Figure 2 shows, only 9% of commitments over the period have lapsed. 4 Census of Population 2001 (Key Statistics Tables KS01 and KS16), Office for National Statistics and Annual Housing Report Appendix B, Table 1 (2001/02 onwards), Peak District National Park Authority (PDNPA). All Census of Population data is Crown Copyright and the material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland. 5 Annual Housing Report, Table 2, Page 16, PDNPA 6 Best Value Performance Plan 2006/07, PDNPA, (http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/index/pubs/bvpp.htm), Section 2E, Page 41. 7 Annual Housing Report, Appendix B, Table 1, PDNPA 4 Figure 2: The Proportions of Dw ellings Granted Planning Permissi 13. The rate of commitments fluctuates annually. This also mirrors the progress of ahave few Lapsed.large schemes. The average over the 16 year period is 120 per 223,year 9% 14. The numberconversions of dwelling (64%). applicationsIn 2006/07, permissionreceived has has been been relatively granted forlow 174 in recent new units. years up to 2304, 91% on Between 1991/92 and 2006/07 that 15. 65% 2004/05,of applications compared determined with the eachearly 1990s.year have been approved over the current Structure Plan period, 1991/92 to 2004/05. This is lower than the national and regional averages of 16. Figure72% 2 shows and 76% the respectively, steady increases for the in same applications period. determined, in both the East Midlands Lapsed Commitments 17. Sincearea 2004/05 and all revisions England to over the theplanning last 5 systemyears. This has not occurred in the National Park. Extant Commitments paragraphs is no longer comparable. Work is underway to ensure this data will be available for 2007/08. Figure 3: Index showing Trends in the Number 120 100 (Source: Peak District National Park Authority and DCLG) 8 80 . The majority are Index 60 40 20 have meant that data for the previous three of Dwelling Applicati 0 1991/92 8 Annual Housing Report, Appendix B, Table 16,9 9PDNPA2/93 1993/94 1994/95 ons Determined 1991/92-2004/2005 1995/96 1996/97 1997/98 1998/99 Year 1999/00 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 Peak District 2003/04 2004/05 East Midlands 5 England Section 2: Residential Dwellings Completions 18. The proportion of permitted dwellings that are residential (Figure 4(b)) is lower than the proportion of constructed dwellings that are residential (Figure 4(a)), suggesting that there may be greater drivers for the completion of residential units than holiday units. Figure 4: The Proportions of Completions (a) and Commitments (b) that are Residential and Holiday Units 316, 17% 555, 29% Total Residential Total Residential Total Holiday Total Holiday 1376, 71% 1512, 83% (a) (b) 19. As residential units account for approximately 80% of overall dwelling completions many of the observations made in Section 1 apply here as well. There have been annual fluctuations in completions and commitments; low and decreasing lapse rates; decreasing numbers of units outstanding; and increasing numbers of units under construction. 20. An average of 95 residential dwellings have been completed each year, over the 16 year period9. In the future, residential completions are unlikely to occur at the same rate as they have during the Structure Plan period. The above figure is partly the result of 440 outstanding commitments granted before the National Park Authority's current housing policies were adopted and 192 dwellings completed as a result of the development of large 'windfall' sites. Assuming that this high level of commitment is unlikely to continue, we calculated (2005/06) that the underlying dwelling completion rate is likely to be approximately 48 per year. 21. By 2005/06 the actual number of completions (1407) had exceeded the estimates in the Structure Plan (1000 dwellings) by around 40%. Figure 5 shows that this is largely as a result of the supply of 600 open market dwellings through conversion of existing buildings, 400 higher than expected. 22. Figure 6(a) shows that just under a third of residential dwellings completed over the last 16 years have an occupancy restriction attached. Figure 6(b) shows that approximately three quarters of these are local needs dwellings. 23. Of the remaining 69% of completions that are unrestricted, the majority are by conversion or change of use (Figure 7). Since the Structure Plan has been in place, the number of new build 'enhancements' (dwellings permitted to improve or conserve the site) have been increasing (Figure 7). The number of other new build completions has decreased from a peak of 88 dwellings in 1992/93 to less than 5 in six of the last seven years.