Affordable Housing

3.16 A community’s need for affordable housing is a key issue for this Local Plan and other council strategies and programmes. There are now, and will continue to be, many people in St Edmundsbury who do not have their own housing or are living in unsuitable or inadequate homes, and who are unlikely to be able to meet their needs in the housing market without some help. This is the government’s definition of housing need.

3.17 The Borough Council commissioned a Housing Needs Study in 1998 which provided evidence of local need for affordable housing and anticipated future requirements during the Plan period which then ran to 2006. Since the original study, the Borough Council has commissioned a Review of the Housing Needs Situation in 2001 and more recently a Housing Requirements Study in 2005. Government advice in PPG3 states that where there is a demonstrable lack of affordable housing, provided by an up-to-date assessment, local plans should include a policy for including affordable housing in suitable development. A further review of local housing need is currently being undertaken and is expected to be published in 2005.

3.18 The 2001 Review of Housing Need estimates that the scale of affordable housing needed in the borough is 641 homes a year for the period up to 2006. As a comparison the total requirement for St Edmundsbury in the Structure PlanReview is 440 homes a year for the period 1996 to 2016. The 641 homes a year comes from a considerable backlog of existing households in need as well as new households wanting to set up home.

3.19 The scale of housing development allocated for the borough is not going to meet the identified requirement for affordable housing outlined in the 2001 housing needs update. However, the situation does justify a pragmatic approach of looking for affordable housing on as many sites as possible, subject to national planning policy, development economics and the resources available to registered social landlords.

3.20 The term “affordable housing” is used to encompass both low-cost market housing and subsidised housing, irrespective of tenure or ownership (whether exclusive or shared) or financial arrangements, that will be available to people who cannot afford to rent or buy houses generally available on the open market.

3.21 For affordable housing to be viable to those in housing need it must meet the following tests;

i) be only for households lacking their own housing or living in housing which is inadequate or unsuitable, who are unlikely to be able to meet their needs in the housing market without some help; and
ii) such housing should be available, both initially and for subsequent occupancy, only to those with a demonstrable housing need.

POLICY H3: AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Developers will be expected to allocate land within sites to ensure that 40% of the proposed number of dwellings constitutes affordable housing in respect of proposals which in themselves, or as part of a wider but contiguous site, relate to:

• Sites of 0.5 hectares and above or 15 dwellings or more, in settlements
   of 3,000 population and above.

• Sites of 0.17 hectares and above or 5 dwellings or more, in settlements,
   of less than 3000 population.

Conditions or legal obligations will be used to ensure that affordable housing is secured and retained for those in housing need.

The Local Planning Authority will consider issues of development viability and mix, including additional costs associated with the development of brownfield sites and the provision of significant community benefits, and may be willing to negotiate a lower percentage of affordable housing.

Note: This policy applies to both new build and conversion housing schemes.