Shropshire Local Development Framework Interim Planning Guidance on Affordable Housing adopted 16 July 2009 Contents Page 1. Introduction 1 2. Build your own affordable home: Single plot exception sites 6 3. Affordable homes for local people: exception sites 12 4. Standard conditions for exception sites 15 5. Affordable housing within open market housing developments 17 Appendices Appendix A – Evidence of need for affordable housing 21 Appendix B – Local connection criteria and cascade approach 23 Appendix C – Single plot exception sites - model section 106 legal agreement 25 Appendix D – Standard conditions for all exception sites 39 Appendix E – Legal definition of overcrowding 41 Appendix F – Saved Local Plan policies 42 Appendix G – Settlements over 3,000 population 43 Appendix H – Types of affordable dwellings 44 Shropshire IPG on Affordable Housing Contacts Shropshire Council Development Services Shirehall Abbey Foregate Shrewsbury SY2 6ND Tel. 01743 252562 Email: firstname.surname @shropshire.gov.uk Housing Enabling & Implementation team: David Garratt, Housing enabling & development officer (south) Fiona Watson, Housing enabling & development officer (north) Dave Parker, Project Manager (Implementation) Communities & Housing Policy team: Helen Howie, Principal Policy Officer (Housing) 01743 252676 If you or someone you know would like this publication in large print, Braille or on audio tape please contact us on 01743 252562 and this will be arranged. If you would like this publication in another language, we can translate it for you. Shropshire IPG on Affordable Housing 1. Introduction Aims 1.1 The Interim Planning Guidance on Affordable Housing aims are to: • Increase potential sources of supply of new affordable housing across Shropshire, in response to established and anticipated needs; • Create a more positive approach to affordable housing designed to meet local needs where they arise, particularly in rural areas; • Provide some degree of consistency across Shropshire in certain elements of policy and practice regarding affordable housing. Status of the Guidance 1.2 The Interim Planning Guidance (IPG) is a material planning consideration when determining relevant planning applications, in addition to existing policies in the various adopted Local Plans within Shropshire. It applies throughout Shropshire. 1.3 Although the adopted Local Plan policies continue to have full force, the Council will take an enabling approach towards affordable housing by applying this Interim Planning Guidance unless a development causes sufficient harm to require the application of the more restrictive Local Plan policies. 1.4 The IPG accords with PPS3 1 (November 2006) and the Government’s response to the Matthew Taylor Review of the Rural Economy and Affordable Housing (March 2009). It also reflects an up-to-date evidence base (June 2008), the impact of the credit crunch (2008/9) and the Shropshire Housing Strategy (April 2009). As up-to-date guidance, it is afforded significant weight. 1.5 Whilst not a statutory component of the emerging Shropshire Local Development Framework, the IPG was prepared in accordance with the adopted Interim Community Involvement Statement for Shropshire. The organisations consulted, and their responses, are detailed in the consultation statement on the IPG (May 2009), which is available on the Council’s website. 1 PPS3 (Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing) contains national planning policy on housing. 1 Shropshire IPG on Affordable Housing 1.6 The consultation draft IPG was subject to a sustainability appraisal (March 2009), the results of which are reflected in this final adopted version. Overview 1.7 The chronic shortage of affordable housing in Shropshire has led the Council to take a proactive approach to encourage as much affordable housing as possible. The Shropshire Housing Strategy (April 2009) committed the Council to a proactive rural affordable housing planning policy and a rural enabling approach to delivery of affordable housing. 1.8 The enabling approach encourages those with resources (both land and finance) to invest them in the stock of affordable housing. It recognises that a combination of all types of affordable housing are needed to address the acute shortage of suitable, affordable housing for local needs. Consequently the Interim Planning Guidance seeks to maximize the opportunities for the following to deliver affordable housing: • Private individuals and families, to build their own affordable home on land that would not normally obtain planning permission (part 2) • Philanthropic organizations, such as housing associations, community land trusts and others, to provide affordable housing for sale, part-sale and rent on rural exception sites (part 3) • Developers, as part of mixed developments, at a level that does not inhibit development in the current difficult economic situation (part 5) 1.9 Parts 2 and 3 of the Interim Planning Guidance relate to “exception” sites. These sites will normally be in locations outside the established development limits of settlements, where planning permission for “open- market” housing development would not be allowed. Permission for housing development may be granted on such sites, provided it is 100% affordable housing, to meet local needs. 1.10 In so doing, it is envisaged that the guidance will increase rural affordable housing provision, thus facilitating sustainable rural communities. The increase in affordable housing should be reflective of the size of the community and its local economy, enabling local people live in close proximity to their work and/or family support network. The guidance is balanced so that protection of the landscape and environment is not compromised, and sites must be acceptable against a range of planning criteria. 1.11 Although the interim guidance allows affordable housing to be treated differently from other development with regard to settlement strategy, affordable housing exceptions sites will still be expected to meet normal 2 Shropshire IPG on Affordable Housing planning policies with regard to general design, including highway safety, flood risk, adequate drainage, neighbour amenity and so on. 1.12 Part 5 of the Guidance provides a consistent approach and common guidance on design and procedural issues in relation to affordable housing development within open market housing developments, bringing together adopted Local Plan policies and other more recent supplementary planning guidance from the five former Shropshire districts. The Guidance does not seek to carry out a wholesale review of existing Local Plan policies, as this is a matter for the Shropshire Local Development Framework. 1.13 Part 5 also addresses the need for flexibility in the application of existing policies in view of the effects of the ‘credit crunch’. Falling house prices and the lack of available finance within the economy are having a detrimental impact on the development of housing generally, and thereby on the provision of affordable housing within open market developments. There is a need for realism in the application of existing planning policies in order to enable development. The Guidance therefore introduces an ‘open book accounting’ approach to negotiating the proportion of affordable housing that will be sought on market developments to reflect the current economic viability of sites. The Need for Affordable housing 1.14 Each of the former district councils in Shropshire have carried out district- wide housing needs assessments in recent years. Across the board, these have revealed substantial need for affordable housing. 1.15 This local information has more recently been supplemented by other research. The West Housing Market Area Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA), completed during 2008, reveals a shortfall of affordable housing across Shropshire, with 939 newly forming households in Shropshire unlikely to be able to afford entry level market housing every year. In addition, nearly 600 existing households are estimated to fall into housing need (ie. cannot meet their needs in the housing market) every year. In total, the need for housing that cannot be met by the market is 1,585 affordable homes required per annum for Shropshire (Appendix A). 1.16 Land Registry figures reveal that the average house price in Shropshire in April 2008 was £179,453, while the median wage in 2008 was £21,335 per annum. This equates to a ratio of median house prices to median earnings of over 8 to 1. The ratio of lower quartile house prices to lower quartile earnings is even higher, at slightly below 9 to 1. In some areas (South Shropshire and Bridgnorth Districts), the ratio has been more than 11 to 1 in recent years. 1.17 In view of this evidence, and following the priorities of the Shropshire Sustainable Community Strategy, the provision of affordable housing is a 3 Shropshire IPG on Affordable Housing high priority for Shropshire Council. This is reflected in both the new Housing Strategy and the emerging Shropshire Local Development Framework. Impact of the Lack of Affordable Housing on Rural Areas 1.18 In its 2007 report, the National Housing and Planning Advice Unit highlighted that housing affordability constraints can have a series of negative economic and social consequences, including inhibiting labour market mobility and hindering the creation of mixed income communities. Fewer social rented tenants can move on to home ownership, creating bottlenecks in the availability of social housing. In turn, there will be an