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Section Seven: Housing

Principles for housing

7.1 The amount, location and type of new housing to be provided are key issues for the Core Strategy. In terms of the amount of housing, the Council is planning on the basis of meeting the needs of a stable population and this inevitably means a reduction in the amount of house building compared with recent years. A sustainable approach to the location of new housing, taking into account the rural nature of Tynedale, is being pursued. In providing for housing the Council is determined to meet the needs of the whole community. Affordability of housing is a major concern and the strategy is to maximise the proportion of new housing that is genuinely affordable to local people. The principles for housing are set in Policy H1.

Core Strategy Policy H1

The principles for housing are to:

Provide for and manage the supply of housing land to meet strategic requirements as set out in the RSS
To ensure an appropriate distribution of new housing across the District
Provide for a full range and choice of housing types to meet the needs of the whole community
Give priority to the provision of affordable housing to meet local needs
Limit new build housing to main towns, local centres and smaller villages with adequate services.
Promote well-designed, high quality living environments
Ensure that new housing development contributes appropriately to the local community in terms of meeting identified local housing needs and providing necessary services and infrastructure.

Policy H1 Implementation and Monitoring Framework Implementation:

Ensuring that housing trajectories / availability / capacity studies and needs assessments are fully up-to-date and can inform policy-making.
Allocation of sites for development in the Site Allocation DPD.
Development of detailed policies in the Development Control DPD.
Decisions on planning applications.

Monitoring:

Monitoring numbers and types of new dwellings complete / available.
Monitoring the location of new housing.
Monitoring housing register and housing needs assessments.

Housing provision and management of supply

7.2 The emerging Regional Spatial Strategy will establish annual average housing requirements for Tynedale. However these figures have yet to be finalised following the Examination in Public earlier in 2006. Within this framework the Council will look to maximise the provision of affordable housing and take advantage of any policy mechanisms set out in the RSS to achieve this. The Core Strategy will need to be in conformity with the final version of the RSS but, in the mean time, the overall figures for Tynedale, set out in Policy H2 below, are those of the submission draft RSS. The figures reflect the Council’s general objective of stabilising the population, rather than seeing continued growth.

7.3 Based on this general objective, the Core Strategy has to ensure that adequate housing land is provided and that land release is properly managed so that strategic requirements are met but not significantly exceeded. In the past the actual number of houses built in the District has significantly exceeded planned rates largely as a result of windfall sites coming forward. Having regard to the established requirement to manage downwards the provision of housing set out in the adopted Structure Plan and the emerging RSS and the level of extant permissions in the District it is clear that the release of housing land needs to be managed if strategic objectives are to be met.

7.4 In previous stages of this Core Strategy, the Council considered including a policy designed to enable the Council to refuse applications on otherwise acceptable windfall sites on the grounds of an over supply of housing sites at a particular point in time. The effect of such a policy would have been to phase the development of such sites rather than to prevent them being developed for ever.

7.5 Whilst there was considerable community support for this approach there was objection from the housebuilding industry. In a high cost appeal decision in Tynedale the Planning Inspectorate took the view that the Council’s approach failed to comply with PPG3 and finally the Panel Report following the Examination in Public of the Regional Spatial Strategy for the North East, published in July 2006, recommended that, in terms of housing provision, the District allocations set out in the RSS should not provide the justification for the refusal of windfall housing proposals that fall within the guidance set out for Urban Capacity studies. The Panel consider that brownfield windfalls should not be rejected solely on the grounds of favouring regeneration areas and that approval of brownfield sites in sustainable locations should add some additional flexibility to the overall housing allocation.

7.6 Given the above, the management of supply must be achieved following close monitoring of land supply and housing completions. This will allow the planned District housing requirements to be compared with the known land supply and thus enable judgements to be made on the need for the allocation of sites and their phasing. Clearly, other policies will contribute to managing housing supply, through ensuring that housing is only permitted in appropriate locations. Most notably, housing development will be limited to sustainable places, (see Policies H3 and H6), and will be strictly controlled on greenfield sites, (see Policy H4).

7.7 It is important that the provision of additional housing is located where it helps to sustain communities and the wider rural area. Therefore the Council will continue to split the overall provision of new housing between the Commuter Pressure Area and the Rural Area. These areas are shown on the Proposals Map. The proportions of this split, shown in the table within the policy, reflect the past policy approach to housing distribution and population levels. This provision includes both new build and the change of use of existing buildings.

Core Strategy Policy H2

Provision will be made for additional dwellings in Tynedale in line with the requirements and phasing set out in the Regional Spatial Strategy for the North East. The release of land will be managed and phased accordingly.

The District housing provision will be split between the Commuter Pressure Area and Rural Area as follows:

Commuter Pressure Area 77%

Rural Area 23%

Policy H2 Implementation and Monitoring Framework Implementation:

Ensuring that housing trajectories / availability / capacity studies and needs assessments are fully up-to-date and can inform policy-making.
Allocation and phasing of sites for housing development in the Site Allocation DPD.
Development of detailed policies in the Development Control DPD.
Decisions on planning applications.

Monitoring:

Monitoring numbers of new dwellings complete / available.
Maintaining an accurate and up to date housing trajectory.

Housing trajectory

Diagram – amend RSS requirement for 2016-21 to 80 dwellings per annum

The line represents the housing “requirement” for Tynedale over 17 years. The Submitted RSS, (in line with the Structure Plan) sets this at 125 per year (2004/05 - 2010/11), then 100 (2011/12 - 2015/16) and 80, 2016/17-2020/21. The bars show actual and projected building rates over the same 17 years. These have started high, reducing slightly as a result of an interim policy managing an oversupply of permissions. It has been necessary to lift this policy,(in spite of widespread support for it and a continuing oversupply of permissions), because of a recent appeal decision and an RSS Panel recommendation that brownfield windfalls should not be prevented solely because they may divert investment away from regeneration areas. Therefore the graph projects an imminent increase in the development rate and then only a partial reduction towards requirements. A later rise reflects affordable housing being delivered partly on “100% sites” allocated in the Site Allocations DPD. The housing requirement in the trajectory is that in the submission RSS. The trajectory will be updated in the light of the approved RSS through the Annual Monitoring Report.

The Commuter Pressure Area and the Rural Area

(currently used for the management of housing land supply)

Map

[to include key and Crown Copyright LA100018249]

The location of new housing

7.8 The principle of new housing being located in sustainable towns and villages is set out in Policy H1. In accordance with Policy GD1 most new housing should go in to main towns and local centres. Elsewhere there is a need to guide new housing to villages which have adequate services in the interests of reducing the need to travel and sustainability generally. The purpose of Policy H3 is to establish the criteria for a sustainable village within the overall settlement hierarchy and to ensure a balanced distribution of housing in line with existing population levels. It is important to direct new housing to those villages with adequate services to meet the day to day needs of the community, conversely new housing in such villages can help to ensure that those services are more viable in the longer term.

Core Strategy Policy H3

New build housing will only be located in:

Main towns - Hexham, Prudhoe and Haltwhistle
Local centres - Allendale, Bellingham, Corbridge and Haydon Bridge
Other smaller villages where there are adequate services.

A smaller village will be regarded as having adequate services if, within it, there is at least

a school or a shop selling food to meet day-to-day needs and either
a village hall / community centre or a pub.

There must also be a public transport connection to a larger settlement with a wider range of services. This policy does not apply to the change of use of an existing building to residential use. Within each of the housing sub areas i.e. the Commuter Pressure Area and the Rural Area, the aim when allocating and releasing land for new housing will be to achieve a distribution approximately in line with the following proportions:

55% in main towns
15% in local centres
30% in other smaller villages where there is an adequate range of services.

Policy H3 Implementation and Monitoring Framework Implementation:

Allocation of sites for development in the Site Allocation DPD.
Decisions on planning applications.

Monitoring:

Monitoring of location of new build housing.
Monitoring of development approved as a departure from this policy.

Housing on green field land

7.9 Building new housing on previously developed sites is the most efficient way of using land as it avoids green field land being taken up unnecessarily. This became an important strand of national and regional planning policy some years ago.

7.10 Despite the rural nature of Tynedale, there is considerable scope to use previously developed land for housing development, particularly bearing in mind that this includes the re-use of existing buildings. Whilst the aim is to maximise the proportion of new dwellings on previously developed land the Council will aim to achieve the regional target set out in the RSS.

7.11 The provision of affordable housing is considered important enough to justify exceptions to the approach of avoiding the development of green field sites. Green field sites may also need to be allocated to meet housing needs. The adoption of Policy H4 will mean that any green field sites allocated for housing in the Tynedale District Local Plan which have not yet been implemented will no longer have allocated status. They may be reconsidered as allocations in the Site Allocations Development Plan Document however. For the purposes of this policy the definition of previously developed land includes that previously developed with agricultural buildings.

Core Strategy Policy H4

The proportion of new housing on previously developed land will be maximised and housing development on green field sites will not be permitted unless:

All of the dwellings are affordable, they would meet an identified local need for such housing and there is a lack of alternative previously developed sites; or
The site is allocated for housing in the Site Allocations Development Plan Document.

Policy H4 Implementation and Monitoring Framework Implementation:

Allocation of sites for development in the Site Allocation DPD.
Decisions on planning applications.

Target:

By 31st March 2008 at least 60% of new dwellings to be built on previously developed land.
By 31st March 2016 at least 65% of new dwellings to be built on previously developed land.

Monitoring:

Monitoring of development approved as a departure from this policy.
Monitoring of % of new dwellings built on previously developed land.

Housing density

7.12 Another way in which the use of land for new housing can be made more efficient is to avoid building at low densities. A minimum density of 30 dwellings per hectare has become an important part of national and regional policy. Such densities have been achieved in Tynedale in recent years without compromising on other aspects of design and layout. There is a very good range of lower density housing already in Tynedale and so a minimum of 30 dwellings per hectare will be required on all sites unless it would adversely affect the character of an existing area of low density development.

Core Strategy Policy H5

Proposals for additional dwellings involving new building will be required to have a minimum site density of 30 dwellings to the hectare unless such development would adversely affect the character of an existing area of low density housing.

Policy H5 Implementation and Monitoring Framework Implementation:

Decisions on planning applications.

Monitoring:

Monitoring of development approved as a departure from this policy.
Monitoring of average density of housing development and number and % below 30 dwellings per hectare.

Change of use of existing buildings to housing

7.13 Policy H6 sets out the approach to the change of existing buildings to dwellings. Such changes of use will be permitted in principle in all towns and villages regardless of the level of services. In addition the policy sets out criteria for the assessment of proposals to change the use of buildings in the open countryside. Policy H6 includes safeguards to make sure that buildings being considered for residential use in the open countryside are of visual or historic merit and that they are genuinely capable of conversion rather than rebuilding.

7.14 It also includes the need to demonstrate that the building cannot be used for employment or tourism purposes given the need to maximise opportunities for employment and tourism in rural areas. Permitting additional dwellings through change of use in the open countryside clearly has implications for the need to travel and energy use. To compensate for this there will be a requirement for such developments to incorporate energy efficiency measures or include on site renewable energy generation which results in emission targets set through building regulations being improved upon.

Building regulations set a maximum target emission rate in terms of Carbon Dioxide depending on the type and size of building. To meet the criteria in Policy H6 the applicant will need to demonstrate that the actual emission rate is at least 10% below the target rate. A condition will be attached to planning permissions to ensure that information confirming this is submitted before construction begins.

Core Strategy Policy H6

The change of use of existing buildings to residential use will be permitted in:

Main towns - Hexham, Prudhoe and Haltwhistle
Local centres - Allendale, Bellingham, Corbridge and Haydon Bridge
Smaller villages as defined in Policy GD1

In the open countryside, the change of use of existing buildings to residential use will only be permitted where:

the building is of permanent construction and has visual or historic merit which contributes to the distinctive character of the area and justifies its retention; and
the change of use does not involve any extension, significant rebuilding or harm to its character ; and
the applicant has demonstrated that it cannot be developed for an employment generating or tourism use; and
energy efficiency measures and / or on site renewable energy generation results in the actual CO2 emission rate being at least 10% below the target emission rate as defined by building regulations.

Policy H6 Implementation and Monitoring Framework Implementation:

Decisions on planning applications.

Monitoring:

Monitoring of development approved as a departure from this policy and also development involving non-residential uses.

Meeting affordable housing needs

7.15 Meeting affordable housing needs is central to the Council’s approach on housing.

Policy H7 establishes the principle that, as with market housing, affordable housing needs should be met in sustainable settlements that have services to meet people’s day to day needs. A range of means will have to be employed to maximise the delivery of affordable housing, these are set out in Policy H7.

7.16 Making the best use of the existing housing stock will be critical given that funding for new development will inevitably be limited. This could involve for example the purchase of existing housing on the open market, re allocation or adaptation of existing affordable housing. The Council intends to allocate sites specifically for affordable housing in the Site Allocation Development Plan Document. It is also intended to make best use of the ability to allocate or permit affordable housing on exception sites i.e. those that would not get permission for market housing and to seek a proportion of affordable housing on market housing sites where appropriate. Affordable housing is as defined in Annex B of Planning Policy Statement 3, Housing.

Core Strategy Policy H7

The affordable housing needs of the District will be met in:

Main towns - Hexham, Prudhoe and Haltwhistle
Local centres - Allendale, Bellingham, Corbridge and Haydon Bridge
Other smaller villages where there is an adequate range of services as defined in Policy H3. Affordable housing needs will be met as locally as possible through:
The re-use or re-allocation of the existing housing stock
The allocation of sites for affordable housing
Permitting affordable housing schemes as windfalls including those on exception sites
Seeking an appropriate element of affordable housing on market housing sites, in accordance with Policy H8.

Policy H7 Implementation and Monitoring Framework Implementation:

Allocation of sites for development in the Site Allocation DPD.
Decisions on planning applications.
Support for schemes to re-use or reallocate existing affordable housing stock more effectively.

Target:

Up to 31st March 2011 at least 55% of all new dwellings built annually to be affordable
From 1st April 2011 at least 60% of all new dwellings built annually to be affordable.

Monitoring:

The number of affordable dwellings completed.
Monitoring of development approved as a departure from this policy.
Monitoring housing register and housing needs assessments.

Affordable housing on market housing sites

7.17 Planning policies have a crucial role in helping deliver low cost homes through quotas of affordable dwellings being negotiated on market housing sites where the total number of dwellings proposed is above a certain threshold. Where a relevant local need has been established, the Council, through legal agreements with developers, seeks to secure a proportion of affordable homes for local people and to keep these affordable. Policy H8 sets out the approach to this.

7.18 New national guidance on affordable housing, in Planning Policy Statement 3, was published after the Core Strategy was submitted. It sets a national indicative minimum site size threshold of 15 dwellings for provision of such housing but indicates that local planning authorities can set lower minimum thresholds where viable and practicable. In view of the high level of need for affordable housing in Tynedale, the site size threshold in Policy H8 will be reviewed against this guidance to ensure the maximum reasonable contribution towards supply of such housing through the planning process. Any change will be the subject of a future Development Plan Document

7.19 The proportion of affordable housing sought will depend on the assessment of the level of need in that particular area at that time but will be between 30% and 50% of the total number of dwellings proposed.

Core Strategy Policy H8

Where a relevant local need has been established, the Council will seek to negotiate with developers to secure an appropriate element of affordable housing in relation to all housing developments of:

15 or more dwellings or 0.5ha or more in Hexham, Prudhoe and Haltwhistle
5 or more dwellings or 0.2ha or more elsewhere Depending on the assessment of need in the local area, the proportion of affordable houses sought will be between 30% and 50% of the total dwellings on the site.

In negotiating the provision of an element of affordable housing, the Council will take into account the character of the site, the nature of the development proposed and the impact on the viability of the development overall as material planning considerations.

Policy H8 Implementation and Monitoring Framework

Implementation:

Allocation of sites for development in the Site Allocation DPD.
Decisions on planning applications.

Monitoring:

The number and % of affordable houses completed on market housing sites.
Monitoring of development approved as a departure from this policy.

Gypsies and travelling people

7.20 One particular section of the community, gypsies and travellers, requires a strategic policy in order to ensure that their (often unforeseen) accommodation needs are met. Gypsies and travellers are defined for planning purposes as persons of nomadic habit of life whatever their race or origin, including such persons who on grounds only of their own or their family’s or dependants’ educational or health needs or old age have ceased to travel temporarily or permanently, but excluding members of an organised group of travelling show people or circus people travelling together as such.

7.21 There is no designated gypsy site in the District at present as the District has had only infrequent visits by small numbers of traveling people for a short term. However, as additional information becomes available predicting needs and demands, or where unforeseen demand may arise, consideration will be given to providing a site. This can be done as part of the Site Allocation Development Plan Document, if necessary as exception sites. In accordance with Circular 01/2006, new sites can be provided by the Council or privately by gypsies or travelers themselves. Policy H9 sets out criteria for the assessment of proposals or the potential allocation of sites.

Core Strategy Policy H9

Identified needs for permanent, temporary or transit accommodation for gypsies and travellers will be met in accordance with the locational criteria in Policy H3, if necessary through the allocation of sites, including the possibility of exception sites. Within this context, proposals for such sites or any unforeseen site proposals or extensions to sites will be considered positively provided that they are planned comprehensively to offer:

Adequate infrastructure and on-site facilities, including water supply, sewerage, waste removal / recycling; hardstandings, car / lorry parking, work areas and play areas; and
Convenient services within walking distance with a public transport connection to a wider range of services in a larger settlement; and
a location that is not visually intrusive and can be satisfactorily assimilated into the landscape with adequate on-site, plot separating landscaping; and
a sustainable community with no unacceptable impact on:

the environment, (including biodiversity, nature conservation, archaeology, historic interest or flood risk); or
the local community, (including amenity / living conditions); or
the local economy (including agriculture).

Policy H9 Implementation and Monitoring FrameworkImplementation:

Allocation of sites for development in the Site Allocation DPD.
Decisions on planning applications.

Monitoring:

Monitoring of needs for sites to be permitted / allocated.

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