Land and planning
The first issue faced by CLTs is that of land availability and the route to
acquiring it for affordable housing development.
The emphasis CLTs place upon meeting local needs may help persuade local
landowners to sell land to your trust. Assurance that the CLT is going to
steward the land in perpetuity for the benefit of the local community can help
persuade landowners who wish their surplus land to be used for social good
rather than open market development. It can also show that what happened in the
past, where council homes on land provided by a farmer ended up in the private
sector through the Right to Buy, can be prevented.
In rural areas community groups ought to explore the Rural Exception Sites
Policy in their local area. A rural exception site is a plot of land on the edge
of (or “well situated” in relation to) the defined development boundary of the
settlement but which may not have been allocated for housing development in the
Local Development Framework (although there are sometimes steps taken to
designate sites which are seen as more suitable for this process). These may be
suitable for small schemes of affordable housing to meet identified local needs.
[The new coalition Government is considering giving even greater power than this
to local communities to grant themselves an affordable housing planning
permission.]
The consent will be controlled by a Section 106 agreement under the Town &
Country Planning Act 1990, which provides an agreement between the local
authority and developer to define what is meant by “affordable” and “local
needs”. S106 agreements are also used to require contributions to local schools,
road schemes or even preservation of local wildlife areas. The allowance for
small scale developments with an emphasis on local needs means rural exception
sites provide ideal opportunities for rural CLTs to identify land they can use.
The use of rural exception sites is encouraged in the Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing guidance issued by Communities & Local Government. This sets out the
approach Local Planning Authorities are required to take to housing delivery.
CLTs should ensure they meet the definition of affordable housing as stated in
the guidance:
‘Affordable housing includes social rented and intermediate housing, provided
to specified eligible households whose needs are not met by the market.
Affordable housing should:
- Meet the needs of eligible households including availability at a cost
low enough for them to afford, determined with regard to local incomes and
local house prices.
- Include provision for the home to remain at an affordable price
for future eligible households or, if these restrictions are lifted, for the
subsidy to be recycled for alternative affordable housing provision’. Local
area plans usually require private market housing developments to
incorporate a quota of affordable housing into their schemes, normally
20-35% but sometimes up to 50%. As such if there is a private development
occurring in your area, CLTs may be able to access land adjoined to this
development through these mandatory quotas. Consult with your local
authority housing and planning officers to find out if this is a viable
option.
The planning regime has undergone review in recent years to bring in Local
Development Frameworks (LDF). A key element of the LDF is the Local Plan but the
aim is that they should be more flexible and adaptable. As an example, one local
authority identified sites which had not been so designated in the Local Plan as
suitable for development for one third each of social, intermediate market and
open market housing and was able to adopt this policy albeit after a complex
consultation process without having to adopt a whole new Local Plan. The option
now exists for developing and consulting on policies which supplement and
complement the Local Plan. As well as rural exception sites which are envisaged
in Local Plans therefore, LDFs may allow the option of small or significant
“departures”.
Land or buildings in public ownership might be another possible solution if
the local authorioty or other public body can be persuaded to sell them for £1
because of the social benefit that disposal below value would generate.
Development Trust Association’s Asset Transfer Unit could assist with the
transfer process and its justification in social policy terms.
Land on which homes for sale could also be built to cross-susbsidise the
affordable homes would present further advantages. Exception sites are unlikely
to be suitable as all the housing must be “local needs” but in theory it ought
to be possible to explore with the planners the provision of local needs such as
homes for older people who can afford to buy but need a smaller or more easily
managed home in the community they know; or homes for households who could
afford a high percentage of open market value. Sites transferred from a public
authority are more likely to be provide this sort of opportunity.