Agenda item

Rural Housing

Jenifer Jackson, Head of Planning will update the Forum on Rural Housing.

Minutes:

Ashley Smith, Deputy Head of Planning, welcomed questions and comments relating to housing from members.

 

Paul Rinder asked if it was possible for a more relaxed approach to be taken for farm workers applying for needs in relation to key worker housing. He stated that his farm had recently taken on three new employees who were able to afford monthly rents of between £500-600; however the average rent in the Royal Borough could be as high as £1,400 and his new workers had been unable to find their own affordable accommodation. Paul Rinder stated that professions such as nurses, teachers etc. were entitled to apply for needs for key worker housing and asked if these guidelines could be extended to farm workers. He stated there was a skills shortfall due to the lack of farm workers who could afford to live in the Royal Borough. Ashley Smith stated that the whole of the Royal Borough was Green Belt land, which meant there were constraints relating to new housing; however rural worker dwellings were potentially acceptable development within the Green Belt providing the relevant tests were passed and justification provided. Such planning applications were considered on a case by case basis and it was for the applicant to demonstrate a genuine need for accommodation. Typically initial permissions would be of a temporary nature with a condition tied to any approval tying the accommodation to agricultural occupancy. Temporary permissions may be superseded with permanent permissions should the case continue to be justified.

 

Ashley Smith said there was a strong commitment through the Local Plan and the APPF to providing affordable housing in the Royal Borough, and the Council was seeking to secure 30 per cent affordable housing in the Royal Borough. The possibility of Rural Exception Sites had been retained in the draft revised NPPF. This was reiterated by Cllr Evans, who said it was hoped that the first development sites, with 30 per cent affordable housing, would be released in the summer. He said that the affordable units would have a rent of at least 70 per cent of the market value, and possibly as low as 50 per cent. Cllr Coppinger stated that the affordable units would include social housing, in order to provide for as broad a spectrum of housing needs as possible.

 

Ashley Smith stated that Prior Notification Permitted Development Rights were a possible option to create rural workers’ housing, with PD able to provide up to three dwellings in certain circumstances subject to certain restrictions. However the farm needed to have been used exclusively for agriculture and it needed to be demonstrated that it had been used for such a purpose prior to March 2013. Ashley Smith stated that he was not aware of a new category relating to Permitted Development Rights being announced to date. Applications under Prior Notification Permitted Development Rights are not planning applications and so are not considered in the same way; however full planning applications would need to provide a justification for need to show why they are required.

 

Helen Steward, Housing Enabling Manager, stated that affordable accommodation provided under Permitted Development Rights would firstly be offered to anyone who was eligible living inside that parish; if there were no applications, it could then be offered to eligible applicants living outside the parish. Under the Rural Exception Scheme, accommodation would only be offered to people living inside that parish, regardless of their occupation. It was a requirement of the Rural Exception Scheme for accommodation to remain affordable and, if applicable, in shared ownership in perpetuity. Ashley Smith stated that some housing schemes below a certain threshold did not have to provide any affordable housing, although the government was reviewing mechanisms to reduce affordable housing avoidance by developers. In accordance with the NPPG affordable housing can be sought on any development of ten or more dwellings.

 

Regarding the Borough Local Plan, the Forum was told that this had now been submitted and a June inspection date was hoped for. Draft findings would then be published by the inspector after the public examination.