Housing Land Supply and the Provision of Affordable Housing

Stakeholders' Workshop : Thursday 27^th January 2005

Possible Future Borough Housing Target to 2021

Background

1.1 The starting point for determining the future housing land supply required for Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough for the period up to 2021 is the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS). The new RSS was published in June 2004 (Regional Planning Guidance for the West Midlands - RPG11), but this only sets out figures for Shropshire as a whole, not divided between Boroughs/Districts. Under the old planning system, this sub-division was achieved through the County Structure Plan, but under the new system this will be a task for the Regional Planning Body through a partial review of the RSS - now likely to be commenced at the end of 2005. How then can we move forward in preparing the housing policies of the new Borough Local Development Framework in the meantime?

Possible Scenarios

2.2 The use of Structure Plan proportions rather than current rates enables allowance to be made for the 'step change' in the proposed distribution of new housing development introduced by RPG11, with the Metropolitan Urban Areas being enabled to meet more of their own housing needs and new provision in the Shires and Unitary Areas being correspondingly reduced. The annual average rate of housing provision set for Shropshire (not including Telford and Wrekin) reduces at 2007 from 1,300 dwellings per annum to 900 dwellings per annum through to 2021.

Scenario 1

2.3 Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough's proportion of the County total in the current Joint Structure Plan 1996-2011 is 32%. Applying this proportion to the rates set in RPG11 produces the following Borough target rates and totals for new dwellings to be built:

These are the figures, therefore, which result from applying the current advice of the Minister of State - referred to as Scenario 1.

Alternative Scenarios

2.4 The Regional Planning Body, in carrying out the partial review of the RSS, will be looking to ensure that the future distribution of new housing development reflects the objectives of its Strategy. The 'step change' is a key policy, but there are others of particular relevance to Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough, particularly:

• Shrewsbury identified as one of 5 sub-regional foci and as a major shire town where new development is to be focussed;
• Market towns, including County towns, identified as having a key role in helping to regenerate rural areas, as a focus for sustainable economic and housing development, with Shrewsbury identified as a Strategic Centre for regeneration;
• In rural areas, the provision of housing should generally be restricted to meeting local housing needs and/or to support local services, with priority being given to the re-use of previously developed land and buildings within existing villages.

2.5 Initial work carried out on behalf of the Regional Planning Body has suggested that a higher proportion of the County's total new development could be directed to Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough in order to enable Shrewsbury to fulfil its strategic role as a sub-regional focus. Clearly a range of scenarios are possible, with there being a need to have regard to the needs of the towns and rural areas of the County whilst conforming with the major strategic objectives. The following is one alternative scenario which could be put forward as striking an appropriate balance - it would apportion the Borough 42% of the County target post 2007:

2.6 This alternative scenario is put forward at this stage as a basis for discussion of issues and to enable stakeholders to consider a possible range of development levels and their potential implications - in terms of scale/location of housing land supply and social, economic and environmental impacts, including provision of affordable housing and implications for population and labour force change.

PAPER B

Shrewsbury and Atcham Local Development Framework and Community Strategy

Housing Land Supply and the Provision of Affordable Housing

Existing Commitments and Potential Brownfield Supply

1.1 In preparing the emerging Local Development Framework (LDF), the Borough Council and its stakeholders should promote a sustainable pattern of development by:

• assessing the urban capacity of Shrewsbury and the main villages to accommodate more housing;
• maximising the re-use of buildings and previously developed land in preference to (but not to the exclusion of) greenfield development;
• concentrating most additional housing within the urban area of Shrewsbury.

1.2 This raises three initial issues:

1. to realistically assess the urban capacity of the Borough;
2. to identify the requirement for new housing land for the Borough;
3. to determine an appropriate urban : rural split for future housing development.

Potential Brownfield Land Supply

2.1 Local Planning Authorities must assess the potential brownfield land supply in their districts by undertaking an Urban Capacity Study. This authority undertook such a study from 2001 to 2003 and surveyed Shrewsbury and the 12 main villages of the Borough in accordance with national guidance in Planning Policy Guidance Note 3 : Housing and its companion document 'Tapping the Potential' (both 2000). This study comprised comprehensive site surveys assisted by a computerised mapping system. The gross housing capacity was calculated by applying standard urban and rural densities (i.e. dwellings per hectare) to the area (in hectares) of the sites surveyed. The gross housing capacity was then discounted using standard percentage rates that were determined locally for each of the 11 sources of brownfield land identified in 'Tapping the Potential'.

2.2 The study revealed a gross urban capacity for the Borough of approximately 19,000 dwellings located in Shrewsbury (15,000 dwellings or 79%) and the main villages (4,000 dwellings or 21%). National guidance requires that this gross capacity be discounted to identify the net capacity of brownfield land that is suitable and available for redevelopment and that this net capacity be compared to past rates as a 'reality' check. In addition, the Regional Planning Body has requested that these discounted capacities be phased into 3 time periods in accordance with the adopted RPG11 i.e. up to 2011, up to 2021 and then beyond 2021. These two requirements have enabled the Borough Council to realistically assess the urban capacity of the Borough (i.e. the sites that are potentially suitable and available) and to identify an indicative phasing for the potential release of this land.

Requirement for New Housing Land and Potential Brownfield Land Supply

2.3 The potential brownfield land supply (i.e. 3,960 dwellings from 2004 to 2021) should make a significant contribution towards the requirement for new housing land from 2004 to 2021. The requirement for new housing land is derived by deducting existing housing commitments from the potential housing targets for the Borough. In relation to the two housing scenarios identified by the Regional Planning Body (see Paper A ), this provides a range for the new housing land requirement from 2004 to 2021.

* Commitments include outstanding housing allocations from the Borough Local Plan (2001)

2.4 In addition, 654 dwellings were built in the Borough between 2001 and 2004. These completions were fewer than anticipated within the Structure Plan strategy but will need to be considered by Shropshire County Council (as the local agent for the Regional Planning Body) in the context of the overall Shropshire housing target.

Potential Urban and Rural Split

2.5 As explained in Paper A, the Regional Planning Guidance for the West Midlands (i.e. RPG11 adopted in 2004) indicates that Shrewsbury is the main focus for growth within the County (and Borough). This broadly reflects previous Structure Plan strategies, but Shrewsbury could be required to perform an enhanced role as a sub-regional focus for growth which could require the settlement to accommodate higher levels of development.

2.6 The current Joint Structure Plan (1996), has helped to deliver an average rate of housing development in the Borough of 340 dwellings per annum (2,718 dwellings in total) in the period from 1996 to 2004. The Joint Structure Plan housing strategy has influenced the distribution of this housing development such that Shrewsbury has accommodated approximately 75% of this new housing. In recent years (i.e. 2001 to 2004), the proportion of housing built in Shrewsbury has actually fallen. However, this reflects the historical take-up of readily available housing sites in Shrewsbury (now largely committed or completed) and also reflects the decline in the overall rate of housing development due to market conditions. As the LDF will shortly identify new housing sites, it would be appropriate to seek to maintain the longer term trend in housing development (i.e. an urban : rural split of 75% : 25%). This should ensure that Shrewsbury can effectively fulfil its role as the principal focus for growth and provide sufficient rural housing to meet the need for affordable rural housing and to sustain rural communities and their services.

PAPER C

Housing Land Supply and the Provision of Affordable Housing

Results of Borough Housing Needs Survey

Background

In November 2003 Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council commissioned David Couttie Associates Limited to undertake a Borough-wide Housing Needs Assessment and projection of housing need in order to provide a basis for informing future housing and planning strategies. The Housing Needs Survey was undertaken in accordance with the DETR Good Practice Guidance (2000) and the SEERA Good Practice Guidance (2004). The Final Report was presented to the Borough Council in December 2004. Extracts from the Executive Summary and main report are set out below.

Key Findings

• 88% of households live in accommodation suitable for their needs. Satisfaction ranges from 95% in the owner occupied no mortgage sector to 72% in the private rented sector;
• Flats and terraced houses average cost is £95,029 and £122,003 respectively and affordability is a major issue, particularly for new forming households;
• 56% cannot afford private rental and home ownership is beyond the reach of 92% of concealed households, only 8% of them earn over £25,000 pa the national average income;
• The social stock is 13.8%, much lower than the national average of 19.3% and provides only 328 re-let units each year;
• Annually 591 affordable housing units are needed, 263 more than existing supply from relets, a new supply requirement of almost six times current delivery levels;
• There is a requirement to develop a more balanced housing stock in both sectors with a need for more small units flats and terraced houses, particularly in the private sector;
• The retired population will increase by 36%, to 24% of the whole population by 2021. There is an inextricable link between ageing and disability and two thirds of those with a support need are over 60. Nearly 45% of them have a walking difficulty.

Recommendations

DCA's recommendations for the Council to consider in future housing and planning strategies include:-

• Negotiate with prospective developers towards achieving a target of 35% subsidised affordable homes from the total of all suitable sites coming forward for planning consent over the period of the Local Plan.
• Each site will need to be assessed individually, targets being subject to wider planning, economic priority and sustainability considerations and will require a flexible approach to specific site negotiation.
• Consider adoption of lower site thresholds both in large and small settlements to maximise future delivery of affordable housing, recognising site size differences in urban and rural areas.
• Create a rural 'exceptions' policy as one means of addressing need in the smaller rural settlements.
• In its enabling role support delivery agencies, mainly RSL's, working in the area to provide a mix of types but mainly small units (flats and terraced houses) to meet the needs of new household formation and address the shortages in the existing stock;

Additional Extracts from Main Report

Land and Affordable Housing Delivery

Land supply is crucial to the provision of housing. Land available at a discount is often the key to making a social housing scheme viable, particularly given the limited funding available. Therefore, local authority housing and planning strategies need to ascertain the availability of sites and propose ways of bringing sites forward.

The inter-relationship of the land and subsidy issues is important in the negotiation process. It is clear from the scale of affordable need identified in the survey that the Council will need to negotiate with private landowners and developers to be able to deliver the scale of housing required.

Affordable Housing

Circular 6/98 emphasises the need for local authorities to provide a local definition of affordable housing. A basis for a definition of affordable housing, which would assist within the context of the Local Plan, is discussed below.

The Council needs to define affordable housing in setting future planning policy and we would suggest that as simple a definition as possible be provided. Our definition is:-

The definition of affordable housing published recently by SEERA also includes reference to subsidy:-

All definitions vary slightly but the core meaning is the same.

The types of affordable housing which comply with our definition are as follows:-

KEY POINTS FROM DISCUSSION

HOUSING SUPPLY

• Designation of Shrewsbury as a sub-regional focus in the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) will help to secure housing development in the county but distribution needs to focus on the town, raising issues for the other District Councils and rural areas
• Development levels resulting from designation will help to support the economy of the town further but alternative concern expressed that a slower rate of growth is better for sustainable development - a key issue for the Core Strategy
• Regional Spatial Strategy Partial Review timescale - intention for review to commence in September 2005 following completion of the Black Country Study
• Consideration of the Borough's rural settlements as a hierarchy - the Council will be considering a draft revised settlement hierarchy for the Borough which would provide the basis for a sustainable development strategy
• Existing housing allocations - allocations which have not been taken up will need to be reviewed but would normally roll forward
• Problem of low and declining number of residents per household - implications for housing requirements i.e. high demand and more houses required. The composition of households is also important - increasing ageing population and varying needs of young and elderly groups
• Expectation that western areas of the region - especially Shropshire - will be most affected by inward-migration from other regions, particularly retirement migration which will increase pressure on the housing supply
• Housing supply - Plan will need to identify a 10 year supply but to phase the release of housing development over the period to 2021
• Concern that just building more houses does not result in lower prices - but with the main mechanism for securing affordable housing through the planning system being as a proportion of houses on sites, then need sufficient overall development levels to achieve an adequate supply of affordable houses

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

• Provision of a mix of housing - smaller units should be provided to address the issue of mix, but there is a need to have larger units in order to subsidise the provision of smaller units - housing mix policies need to be appropriately framed
• Clear policies for the provision of affordable housing on sites should enable developers to negotiate land acquisition at appropriate levels in the future and on windfall sites
• Suggestion that may need to revisit the Urban Capacity Study (UCS) yields in the light of the Borough Housing Needs Survey, the commercial value of sites may be affected by a drop in the threshold for affordable housing and may make commercial development more favourable than residential development
• 35% target - there is a need to check the viability on a site specific level and a need for the Authority to negotiate with developers, agents and RSL's with open discussion of site economics. 35% may be appropriate on greenfield sites but with brownfield sites demolition and reclamation incurs further costs and a realistic assessment of the target is required
• Core Strategy - the document needs to set objectives and targets that are clear and realistic. The balance between brownfield and greenfield development will affect the delivery of affordable housing
• Local needs policies - success of policies adopted by other authorities (e.g. Powys) to deliver housing for local needs (not just affordable housing) - people do not want to move out of their communities
• Concealed households - restrictive nature of 70% allowance for extending properties in context of need to house multiple generations when young family members return home to care for elderly relatives

SABC Presentation

Below is a power point presentation shown during the workshop.