Affordable Rural Housing Commission - Final Report: UK Property Shop News

Solving the housing crisis in the countryside is achievable - says the Affordable Rural Housing Commission in its final report to Government.

Rural communities need a major increase in subsidised housing, if the next generation is not to be priced out of the countryside, according to the independent Affordable Rural Housing Commission (ARHC) in its report to Government launched today (Wed 17 May). It sets out practical actions that should be taken forward across all levels of government, the voluntary and private sectors, if this much-needed affordable housing is to be built. Without such action, the Commission warns, rural communities are being undermined as many people on lower, and even average, incomes are leaving the countryside to find a home they can afford.

The 12-member Commission has concluded that a minimum of 11,000 affordable houses are needed a year in market towns and villages to meet identified need - as part of an approach that allows these communities to evolve and provide homes for people from all walks of life. In addition, it says there needs to be some private development, both to provide the first rung on the property ladder and to generate cross subsidy to help pay for the extra affordable housing. It calls on the Government to provide more public funding for rural housing, and to give the countryside a fair share of resources. And it urges, as importantly, that regional and local planners, and rural communities themselves, should actively encourage well-designed affordable housing as part of mainstream planning policy.

The Commission was set up last July, in response to widespread concern about the implications for rural communities in England of a shortage of affordable housing to rent or buy, to come up with practical solutions that would improve access to affordable housing for those who live and work in rural areas.

Elinor Goodman, chair of the Affordable Rural Housing Commission, said: "If we don't act now, more and more people will be priced out of the countryside - leaving rural communities to increasingly become dormitories for the better off and places where people go to retire or for the weekend. This, in turn, will undermine the social fabric of rural life. Our investigation has shown us that much good work is already being done. We've seen how affordable housing can improve the overall quality of a village and underpin its future. But, to meet the scale of housing need in rural communities in all regions, we recommend that 11,000 affordable homes need to be built - that's equivalent to around six new houses a year in each rural ward in England.

"Villages and country towns must be allowed to evolve in the way they did in the past - they can't just be preserved in aspic. Most can probably absorb some more houses, as long as they are in scale and character and maintain the identity of individual communities. We are not advocating a laissez-faire approach, but using the planning system more effectively to identify and address rural needs, rather than treating them as an add-on after urban needs are met. People have been aware of this shortage for years but never before has there been so much evidence of the scale of it, and its impact on rural life. Since we were set up, the Government has announced changes to the planning system, which go some way to addressing the points made to us during our inquiry. What is needed now is for all those involved to embrace these changes and give rural housing the priority it deserves.

"We have also looked at the issue of second homes and concluded that they are not a major problem across the country. But, they are a matter of real concern in some communities, where there is a disproportionately high number, and we recommend ways of mitigating their impact locally. The need for rented and low cost homes is spread throughout rural England and the main solution is to provide more affordable housing."

The Affordable Rural Housing Commission Report 2006 outlines four key elements to solving the problem: positive planning, ensuring a supply of sites, better finance and improved leadership. Key recommendations include:

* a fundamental change in the way the need for affordable housing is addressed in rural areas - so that it is delivered through a plan-led approach as part of mainstream policy in regional and local spatial strategies;
* better use of planning tools available to generate more cross subsidy from open market development to social rented and low cost home ownership;
* ensuring that planners take account of the social needs of communities alongside the need to protect the environment;
* an increase in public funding, as part of a fairer distribution of resources for housing in rural areas;
* better funding for more Rural Housing Enablers (RHEs) to work with planners, developers, landowners, housing associations and parish councils to ascertain local housing need and locate appropriate sites;
* providing training and support for local authorities so they are equipped to gain the affordable housing they need through high quality, well designed development;
* asking Government to explore various proposals to stem the negative impact second home ownership can have on viable communities in specific honey pot areas, including asking the Lyons review of local government to consider whether a 'local impact tax' could be levied, and introducing a Planning Use Class Order;
* restrictions and changes to Right to Buy and Right to Acquire in more rural areas - to ensure that subsidised homes remain in the affordable sector in perpetuity;
* placing greater emphasis on the economic and social duty of National Park Authorities to encourage the provision of affordable rural housing;
* encouraging a better supply of sites through new models for delivering affordable housing, a new approach which brings together public land with funding and those able to build such homes, and further investigation of possible changes to the tax system;
* clearer guidance to speed up the release of brownfield land owned by public authorities for affordable housing.