5 Affordable Housing Requirements
Sites Where Affordable Housing is Required
5.1 The thresholds determining when it will be appropriate to seek an element of affordable housing are set down in Policy H13 of the Replacement Calderdale UDP and reflect national guidance, currently published in PPS 3. The minimum site size threshold is 15 dwellings.
5.2 In accordance with the government’s “Draft Guidance for Local Planning Authorities on the Validation of Planning Applications” (August 2007), the Council requires that an “affordable housing statement” and a “planning obligations statement” are submitted prior to the validation of any application that includes 15 or more dwellings. Where an applicant believes that it would not be economically viable to provide the amount of affordable housing in accordance with the requirements of the Replacement Calderdale Unitary Development Plan and this Supplementary Planning Document, a residual type valuation must be submitted prior to validation of the application to demonstrate how this is the case. In addition the applicant will be expected to meet the Council’s reasonable costs for having this valuation assessed by independent expert(s).
5.3 In order to ensure a fair and consistent approach, the Council will produce further detailed guidance on the format and content of these residual valuations, and the procedures for ensuring that they are properly assessed. It is likely that this guidance will be incorporated into the Council’s list of Locally Required Information, which will be published pursuant to the changes to the General Permitted Development Order that will be introduced in April 2008. The detailed guidance will be discussed at the Agent’s Forum and distributed to all Forum contacts prior to being brought into use.
5.4 In practice it may not always be immediately apparent whether a site qualifies for affordable housing, particularly where a site is close to the threshold. Where a site has been allocated in the RCUDP as a new development site, the RCUDP site boundary will determine whether the site is above the threshold where affordable housing is to be sought rather than the area associated with proposals to develop part of the RCUDP site. In other cases, the natural land development boundary forming a site area should be used and not necessarily the boundary put forward by a developer. Where a site is in one or more ownerships the whole site area will be considered when establishing whether or not the site is above the threshold but the mechanism for securing affordable housing will normally reflect the difficulties of bringing such sites forward as a whole. Such sites should be treated at this stage as if affordable housing will be required. Site area is the gross site area including any open space and roads provided as part of a development.
5.5 Both sites allocated for housing in the RCUDP and sites coming forward as windfalls will qualify for affordable housing where such sites are suitable. The requirement to provide affordable housing will apply to both new build developments and conversion schemes. Where development is phased the affordable housing contribution will be provided as the development progresses and in accordance with the timetable included in the legal agreement accompanying the planning permission.