Minsterley Local Housing Needs Survey

In September and October 2002 the Borough Council in partnership with Minsterley Parish Council undertook a survey of local housing need in Minsterley. The purpose of the survey was to help inform that needs review and to enable the Borough Council and the Parish Council to ensure any development proposals meet local need (if there is any)

694 questionnaires were delivered by hand to every property in the Parish and 283 forms were returned a return rate of just under 41%.

Main Findings

A relatively stable community.

The majority of respondents had been resident in the parish for more than 5 years (76%) although a significant proportion (14%) had been resident for less than 2 years.

The suggestion that the community is relatively stable is strengthened by the fact that only 13% of respondents indicated that they would be likely to leave the parish in the next 5 years. Applying this percentage to the total number of properties in the parish (694) we can estimate that over the next 5 years around 90 properties will become available through people moving away.

Area is predominantly owner occupied housing.

The survey found that 82% of property was owner occupied, 11% housing association and 4% privately rented. This compares to a Borough wide picture of 15% social rented.

Small level of housing need.

The survey found that 34 respondents (12%) felt that they would be in need of alternative accommodation in the next 10 years, 6 being in need now and 4 being in need of bungalow accommodation. 65 % of those people in need wished to remain in Minsterley and 20% wished to find accommodation in nearby Pontesbury.

The main reason for being in need was due to existing accommodation being unsuitable or unsatisfactory (60%) however 23% reported the reason being due to changing circumstances meaning no suitable accommodation available in the parish.

Factoring this percentage up for the parish we can estimate that around 19 respondents are in housing need within the Parish as a result of their being no other suitable accommodation available (+- margins of error)

Main need for 2 bed bungalows and three bed houses.

The survey indicated that the strongest need is for elderly person 2 bed bungalows (24%) and three bed houses (20%). There is also a strong need for two bed and more than three bed houses (14% in both cases)

No strongly preferred tenure for those in housing need.

Of those responding to be in housing need no strongly preferred tenure was evident with 43% requiring rented and the same percentage owner occupied.

Affordability.

Interestingly of those people responding as being in housing need 65% reported that they could only afford a rent of up to £60. This would be the equivalent of a round a £48000 mortgage. However when asked the question as to what mortgage they felt they could afford 60% of respondents indicated they could afford a mortgage over £71,000 although conversely 40% could not.

Strong support for a small scheme of affordable housing to meet local need.

The survey found overwhelming support for a small scheme of affordable housing to meet local need with 82% of respondents indicating support

The survey also found support for both owner occupied and rented tenure housing with 19% stating a need for rented accommodation, 21% for owner occupied and 60% suggesting a need for both.

Support for development in the village.

When asked for an opinion where development should take place Generally people said in the centre of the village, on a brown field site if possible and if possible on waste ground, so that the size of the village was kept the same. The following sites where suggested.

Other comments are set out below.

There was support for the scheme, but people were cautious, and saw a lot that could go wrong with it.

A lot of people said they wanted their village to stay small and residents are worried that Minsterley would become like Westbury, where allegedly trouble is caused by anti-social persons, re-located there as a result of a scheme such as the one proposed.

This sort of housing they said often attracts the wrong sort of person

They are adamant that any housing should only be for local, young people, first time buyers. This was supposed to be what was to happen in Westbury, but things went wrong

The local facilities/infrastructure would not sustain any more new people in the village, the school is already full to over-flowing, nobody can park outside the few shops and there is no Doctor in Minsterley.

Conclusion.

1. The housing needs survey indicated strong support for a small development of affordable housing to meet local needs, although concern was expressed that this should be within the village boundary on a brown field site.

2. The survey suggests a need for around 19 homes over the next 10 years to meet local need. Of these the survey suggests that they are split evenly between rented and owner occupied.

3. The survey suggests a need for 5 bungalows and 7 2/3 bed properties.

4. The survey suggests a need for around 7 rented properties with affordable rents below £60 per week and a need for 3 to 4 low cost owner occupied properties with a purchase price of less than £60,000.