REPORT ON OPEN MEETING ON AFFORDABLE HOUSING HELD ON 3rd June 2009.
A JOINT INITIATIVE BY FRESHFORD & LIMPLEY STOKE PARISH COUNCILS
Carol Southall, Rural Housing Enabler (RHE), of Community First in Devizes, Wiltshire gave a broad overview of housing need and affordable housing. The RHE acts independently of all interested parties and is there to assist in the delivery of affordable homes in rural communities.
Affordable housing is provided for people in housing need who cannot afford to buy or to rent their own homes at open market prices.It can include low cost market housing, houses for rent and housing for shared ownership. Such housing is subsidised by Goverment grant but funds are limited.
Nationally,there is a demonstrable need for affordable housing.Here in the South West house prices have risen by 164% since 1997. In the same period average incomes have grown by just 20%. The average house price is now 9.3 times average incomes. Households from rural areas are being forced away to seek cheaper housing in urban areas. Despite the current economic gloom, average house prices in the South West are forecast to be over £280,000 by 2011. Assuming a purchaser paid a deposit of 5% he would require an income of £88,000 to borrow the balance if he were able to obtain funding at 2.5 or 3x his annual income.
RHE carries out Needs Surveys in communities where the population is less than 3000.The Survey goes to every household in the parishes affected.In addition the survey form is made available to anyone who has a direct and tangible link with the community. The analysis of the survey will determine whether a proven need for affordable homes exists. The survey is carried out in close cooperation with the local Parish Councils.The two Parish Councils would now like to go ahead with a Needs Survey.It is expected that the survey will be distributed to all households at the beginning of July and that the outcome will be made known by September.
If a need is shown to exist the next step is to seek to identify a suitable site for development.While the normal planning constraints apply, more latitude is provided for affordable housing to the extent only that if exceptional circumstances are shown to exist then land which is outside the housing development boundary/ green belt land, may be considered for development.This has been shown to be considerably cheaper than seeking to build on infill sites which by their very nature attract a higher market value than can be afforded by grant. An exception site would still need to be within or close to the village boundaries.
The chief benefit of getting affordable homes built is that local people are housed.There is a more balanced feel to the community and in the long term the community is likely to be more capable of being sustained. Affordable homes are not second rate homes and considerable attention is paid to providing homes that are well built, economic to run and which sit well in the local landscape. Provision is made to ensure that the homes are affordable not just in the short term but forever.
In concluding,Carol Southall quoted from a recent document published by the National Housing Federation - " a decent home is a foundation stone for people to be able to fulfill their potential in society."
Carol invited questions from those present. Assisting her were Gary Ward, Housing Support Officer of Bath & North East Somerset and Hugh Delap,Chairman of Freshford Parish Council and formerly the lead councillor in Freshford with responsibility for affordable housing.
Who carries out the analysis of the Needs Survey?
The analysis will be carried out by Carol at Community First. While households will be asked to return the form within 14 days of receipt some leeway is given.The important thing is to encourage all those given a form to complete it.Carol has considerable experience of analysing these surveys having conducted over 80 surveys.She will draw upon that experience to ensure that the analysis is as thorough as is possible.
Do you consult at every stage of the process?
If a need for affordable housing is shown to exist then the next step is to seek to identify a suitable site or sites.Consultation is key to everything that we will do.We will keep parishioners informed about what is happening.
We have already gone through this process in Freshford.Why do we have to go through it again?
The Freshford Needs Survey was conducted in 2005/06. A need for affordable housing was identified and we then began a long process of identifying potential sites - some twenty in all.Ultimately we could go no further as we either found that land was not available for sale or that B&NES thought that the site was not suitable. So,this is a new initiative in partnership with Limpley Stoke and it calls for a new survey. We suspect also that the data from the earlier survey may well need updating and we think it would be wrong to place reliance on it at this time.
Will any application to build houses go through the normal housing process?
Even if any build takes place on an exception site it is subject to normal planning control and all interested parties have the right to make their views known in the usual way.
Who qualifies to live in the houses if they are built?
The housing is provided for local people who have clear links with the community either through work or through their families or having lived in the area for many years. If a person in affordable housing moves out then the accommodation will again be offered to a local person.( Note: some differences of approach were highlighted between B&NES and Wiltshire Unitary Authority in the selection criteria but overall the criteria of housing for local people is one that both Local Authorities support.)
If I need further information who can I approach?
If you have any questions then you are most welcome to speak with or contact Carol Southall at Community First.Telephone 01380 722475 or email Carol- csouthall@communityfirst.org.uk.
Your parish councillors will also be pleased to assist.For Limpley Stoke please contact Margaret Field or Simon Coombe. For Freshford - Nick Stevens or Hugh Delap
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AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN FRESHFORD.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION TO DATE ( June 2009 )
The expression Affordable Housing covers the homes and houses that sell or rent for an amount less than the open market value. It includes the buildings that used to be provided by local authorities and more recently have been provided and managed by Housing Associations on behalf of the local authorities.
A parish-wide survey carried out in 2005 asked the question: is there anyone in your family who would return to the village or remain in the parish if they could afford to live here? This was particularly aimed at the young, but it didn’t rule out others with strong ties which either had been - or were in danger of being - broken.
The response was good. And from an analysis of all the returns it appeared that there were around a dozen people who asked to be considered for affordable housing. We were advised by the people who conducted the survey, together with the local housing authority, that based on past experience we should begin the search for sites – or preferably one site – that could support housing for half that number, six.
A small sub-committee of the Parish Council discussed this demand with the social housing department at B&NES and established the sort of sites that might suit, bearing in mind that, unlike a search for sites for ‘market’ housing, so called ‘exception sites’ might qualify. To enable an affordable housing scheme to be undertaken as an exception site the following rules must apply:
- The Local need is proven to be genuine and arises and is capable of being met within an individual Parish or a group of Parishes, well related to the proposed scheme.
- The occupants of such housing shall be restricted as a first priority;
- to people who are currently living in, and are long standing residents of the Parish and who are in need of separate accommodation; or, as a second priority,
- to people, who are not resident in, but have strong local connections with the Parish (e.g. work).
Exception sites are typically adjacent to existing built-up areas but on open land. Nonetheless, having said all that the sub-committee was asked to begin their search within the built areas, ideally within the Housing Development Boundary (HDB). This encompasses the central part of the village from the boundary with Limpley Stoke at the corner of Church Lane and Dark Lane, down through part of Station Road, down to the Inn, back up along the rear boundary of the houses on the western side of the Hill, along the High Street and then up Freshford Lane as far as The Galleries
One can see from the chart and map on this website the sites that were identified. These are both within the HDB and beyond, in Sharpstone, Park Corner and Pipehouse. And, so far, not one of them has been given the go-ahead. Why is this? It’s because either the planners (as opposed to the social housing staff) of B&NES have ruled them as being too far from the historic centre, and hence the facilities, of the village - or the owners of the land have been unwilling to sell. It’s perhaps worth dispelling a myth at this point: there is no power of compulsory purchase for this scale of social housing. So anyone who has said that they don’t want to sell a piece of their land for housing is absolutely within their rights to do so and that’s the end of the matter, unless they change their mind.
It’s also worth pointing out that of the sites within the HDB many would be seen as in-fill and would stand a fair chance of an application for permission to build ‘non-affordable’ housing being granted. Consequently, even if the owner of one of these had been willing to sell, the price would likely have been ‘unaffordable’.
Here is the dilemma: the sites where the planners would prefer to see affordable housing are probably going to be too expensive (if the owner wants to sell), whereas, the bulk of the sites which might be less expensive – the ‘exception sites’ – are deemed by the planners to be too remote from the facilities of the village.
Despite all this the Parish Council hasn’t given up. It can be seen from the chart and map on this website that there are still sites which the planners wouldn’t even consider until all the others had been ruled out.
The PC’s efforts have in part been directed to persuading the planners that the ‘outlying’ sites are not as remote as they have been considered to be. For the most part there are footpaths to the centre of the village and the 94 bus provides a good service for those who might find the walk a bit too far. And the planners will be asked to bear in mind that the typical affordable housing tenant, as evidenced by the original questionnaire, is likely to be sound of wind and limb.
A welcome development has been the involvement of English Rural Housing Association, an organisation geared specifically to getting affordable houses for villages. Their Regional Development Manager, Louise Davidson, addressed councillors in November '08 at their monthly meeting. Present too were representatives of Limpley Stoke and Hinton Charterhouse Parish Councils. An interview with Louise was later published in the P.C.'s newsletter 'The Bulletin' and can be read in full by accessing the Parish Council page on this website.( See Newsletter November '08 ).
As a result of that meeting Louise was invited to speak to Limpley Stoke councillors at their meeting in January '09. In particular Louise wished to explore with them the possibility of linking with Freshford to provide a joint scheme for affordable housing that would be of benefit to both parishes.
In February '09 Freshford P.C. were advised by Limpley Stoke P.C. that they wished to further examine the feasibility of a joint scheme. (Hinton Charterhouse P.C. had already indicated no interest in such a venture.)The next step was to arrange a meeting with all interested parties including also officers from BANES and West Wiltshire.That took place in March. The outcome was to confirm that the two parishes wished to examine the feasibility of a joint scheme.It was recognised that despite all the previous work undertaken by Freshford P.C. a new joint venture requires that a fresh needs survey be undertaken. The survey will be distributed to all households within the two parishes and in addition will be made available to those who have recognised links with the area but who are at the moment not living here. We are thinking in particular of parents of children at the school and there may well be others with strong local ties.
The survey will not take place until there has first been held a public meeting so that the new scheme can be explained in futher detail by councillors of the two parishes. In addition the meeting will be addressed by Carol Southall of Community First,Rural Housing enablers in Wiltshire, who is working in conjunction with English Rural Housing Association(see above).The meeting took place at 7.30pm on Wednesday 3rd June 2009 at the Memorial Hall, Freshford. A report of that meeting appears at the top of this page.
In the meantime and to re-new our existing plea - if a site that seems obvious to you has been left off the list, or better still, you own one and would be willing to offer it for sale for affordable housing, the Parish Council will be delighted to hear from you.