Weight given to parish council requests for housing allocations

RE: Weight given to parish council requests for housing allocations

2016-09-20T09:45:49Z

Gill,

Thats right. The exception site sallowance is within our adopted Core Strategy 2014, see Policy RA1 Figure 12.

Best wishes

Roger

RE: Weight given to parish council requests for housing allocations

2016-09-19T10:20:41Z

Thanks Roger - that's interesting. We did have a discussion in the office about doing just that but it met with a luke warm reception from some. The nervousness is about estimating the likely contribution from these sites to OAN when our development strategy over the past 10 years or more has precluded anything but local needs housing in most of our villages. We don't have much in the way of evidence to justify a number for small scale market housing. However, I do think it's something we should look into further. I googled you- are you still at Rother District Council? - I will have a look at your policy.

Gill

RE: Weight given to parish council requests for housing allocations

2016-09-19T09:44:57Z

I agree with Andrew.

Our Core Strategy includes an 'exception site allowance' in addition to a windfall sites allowance.

Given that exception sites are locally driven and require Parish Council support, this provides some scope to cater for the situation you describe.

RE: Weight given to parish council requests for housing allocations

2016-09-16T15:51:48Z

Thanks for the response Andrew - I agree that OAN isn't something we should get too fixated on and this isn't really about the numbers as we can find sufficient land elsewhere. However, there is a feeling that any development in these smaller villages should show in our plan as contributions towards meeting the Borough's growth requirements as in combination they could help to reduce pressure on other rural locations. Exceptions schemes (which our Members do consider on a case by case basis) wouldn't help with that in a plan-making context. Part of me thinks that if localism is to hold any real weight then even though we do not need to make allocations in small villages we should be able to respond positively to the small number of rural communities who want us to allocate sites for them. However such an approach is sure to be challenged by unsuccessful site promoters of similar sites elsewhere. We are wondering how this will play out in an examination, hence the post to see if anyone else has been in this or a similar position.

RE: Weight given to parish council requests for housing allocations

2016-09-16T14:26:37Z

Gill,

Housing numbers/OAn are a minimum anyway so perhaps we shouldn't get to hung up on exactness in the art of the housing numbers.

An exception approach could be used _ I think Horsham have done a scheme recently in a village where they had PC support to get a new school and Berkeley Homes (Quality housbuilder) delviered for 65 homes. Sound like smaller scale but I would guess that the village want a quality scheme rather than one that just delviers the most money for the landowner?

This would be a positive approach to plannnign and the delviery of much needed homes and is possibly best kept at arms length from the complex, lengthy plan process.

Would your members support an exception approach? Because this is really about politics as much as planning - or are they the same!

Weight given to parish council requests for housing allocations

2016-09-14T13:58:59Z

Having spent time gathering evidence, we are now drafting the development strategy for our local plan. Our approach means that we don’t have to look to our smallest villages to contribute to achieving OAN (these are settlements with few facilities and fall at the bottom of our hierarchy). However, we have become aware that some of those communities may want to have small scale growth (say 5-10 market dwellings) to support local shops, pubs schools etc. Other villages of similar size and who are in the same group in the hierarchy are opposed to allocations in their area. Some have started to prepare neighbourhood plans and intend to allocate sites themselves. Others want the growth but don’t want to prepare plans (perhaps because of the commitment, cost etc) and would prefer the Borough Council to allocate sites in the local plan.

The question.

In the light of the fact that the Council does not need to allocate sites in small villages to meet OAN, would it be appropriate for the Council to make allocations in only those villages that want allocations and are not preparing their own NPs? Would this be found to be a flawed development strategy because other settlements in the same group in the settlement hierarchy (that may be shown to be equally or more sustainable) did not have allocations? I would anticipate that those promoting sites in similar villages with no allocations will object.

Just for clarity, this isn’t about the overall plan number because the amount of development that would arise from these sites is small when compared to the plan requirement overall. It is about the fact that the only evidence underpinning the need for allocation of sites in these villages could be the requests made by the local Parish Councils for the growth. What weight can be given to local Parish Council requests for housing allocations on this scale?

How have other councils approached the allocation of sites in small rural settlements? Have any Councils used a development management policy approach as an alternative to making allocations? If so, what do those policies say?