Replacement Calderdale UDP : Adopted 25 August 2006 (as amended August 2009)

Replacement Calderdale UDP : Adopted 25 August 2006

• Foreword
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Calderdale in Context
• Strategic and Core Part One Policies
• 3 Guiding Principles and Key Themes
• 4 Employment, The Economy, Tourism and Regeneration
• 5 Housing
  • Introduction
  • Strategy for Housing
  • Existing Housing Areas
  • Additional Housing
  • Non-Allocated Sites
  • Density and Type of Dwellings
  • Living Over Shops and Other Business Premises
  • Affordable Housing
  • Accessible Housing
  • Houses in Multiple Occupation
  • Gypsies
• 6 Retailing and Town Centres
• 7 Open Space, Sport and Recreation Facilities
• 8 The Built and Historic Environment
• 9 Transport
• 10 Infrastructure, Education and Community Facilities
• 11 Natural Environment and the Countryside
• 12 Environmental Protection
• 13 Minerals
• 14 Waste Management
• 15 Monitoring and Review of the Plan
• Annex A Privacy, Daylighting and Amenity Space
• Annex B Trees On or Adjacent to Development Sites
• Appendix 1 National Planning Policy
• Appendix 2 National Minerals Policy
• Appendix 3 Supporting Published Documents
• Appendix 4 Glossary of Terms
• Appendix 5 Acronyms and Abbreviations
• Appendix 6 Policy Topic Index
• Appendix 7 Policy Number Comparison
• Appendix 8 Supplementary Maps

Affordable Housing

5.43 Affordable housing is that provided for local people who are unable to resolve their housing needs in the private sector market because of the relationship between housing costs and incomes. The need for affordable housing has been recognised in national planning guidance for some time and also in the previous UDP (1997). Providing affordable housing also forms part of the Government’s overall strategy of creating mixed communities.

5.44 The Calderdale Housing Requirements Study (2005) confirms and quantifies the affordable housing need in the District and indicated that, at the conclusion of the Study, 720 households needed affordable housing. This need cannot be met at current rates of provision, and the requirements to meet existing need, in addition to newly arising needs, will continue in future years.

5.45 A Statement of Needs and Requirements will be published annually, indicating the level of need, and requirements for new dwellings by area and tenure. Reference will be made to changes in incomes and housing costs.

5.46 Affordable homes are those provided for people who are unable to afford to access suitable housing through the normal working of the housing market. A subsidy is required to enable homes to be affordable, either to rent, or in a form of low cost home ownership.

5.47 The Housing Corporation Target Rents define affordability in relation to rents. Affordable ownership will be assessed in line with the method adopted in the Housing Requirements Study, and will be undertaken on an annual basis. Reference will be made to incomes and house prices and costs, in order to identify the entry level point where households are able to secure home ownership. Consequently the need in terms of low cost home ownership schemes, for those who are unable to do so will be assessed.

5.48 With the transfer of the local authority housing stock to Pennine Housing 2000, the Council’s only direct means of increasing the supply of affordable housing is through its enabling role with Registered Social Landlords. This source alone will not be able to meet the scale of need identified in the Housing Requirements Study. In such instances PPG3 requires UDPs to include a policy for seeking affordable housing in suitable private housing developments. Government guidance as to what are considered to be suitable sites has evolved since the inception of policy on affordable housing. Whilst the most recent definition of a suitable site is set down in DETR Circular 6/98, the Council will have regard to whatever guidance is current when assessing individual sites. One of the main criteria to be employed in assessing a site’s suitability is its size. For sites in the main urban areas the current threshold in Circular 6/98 is 1 hectare or 25 dwellings whilst for settlements of 3000 population or fewer in rural areas it is up to local authorities to define their own thresholds. In Calderdale the settlements conforming to the Government’s definition of rural areas are:-

• Blackshaw Head;
• Cragg Vale;
• Heptonstall;
• Old Town/Chiserley;
• Barkisland;
• Ripponden; and
• Rishworth/Krumlin.

5.49 In these settlements affordable housing will be sought on sites of 15 or more dwellings or sites of 0.5 hectare or more. The Housing Needs Study recognised that in the more rural areas the impact of the Right to Buy Initiative has been more severe. There is also a higher demand for social rented housing in rural areas, which reflects the proportionately higher house prices in these areas.

5.50 Other measures of a site’s suitability are its proximity to local services and access to public transport. Abnormal costs associated with the development of a site will only be accepted as mitigating circumstances for the affordable housing requirement to be waived wholly or in part if they render a scheme not viable. Such cases will be the exception since any abnormal development costs should be reflected in the price paid for the land. Where developers seek mitigating circumstances, evidence of the effect of any additional costs will be required in the form of detailed financial assessments of the whole development.

5.51 Developers should contact Housing Services as soon as possible, and prior to submitting a planning application, to discuss the affordable housing that will be required where the results from the Housing Requirements Study demonstrate a need for affordable housing. The average level of affordable housing required on a site will be 20% unless the need is for a lower amount. This is the level at which the Council considers it reasonable and appropriate to set the average level of affordable housing that will be required, without it being unduly onerous on developers whilst assisting in meeting the need for affordable housing in the district. The specific amount and type of affordable housing will be subject to negotiation with developers and be dependent on the circumstances prevailing when the site comes forward. These will include information in the annually revised Housing Strategy, which involves consultation with a wide range of housing providers, enablers and users who have an interest in the requirements for and provision of housing within the District.

5.52 In Circular 6/98, the term affordable housing relates to both low cost market and subsidised housing (irrespective of tenure, ownership (whether exclusive or shared) or financial arrangements) that will be available to qualifying persons who cannot afford to occupy houses generally available on the open market. Circular 6/98 also states that the type of affordable housing to be built should reflect local housing need and individual site suitability and be a matter for discussion and agreement between the parties involved. The differing priorities for the housing that is required are highlighted in the Council’s Housing Strategy and based on the Housing Requirements Study. A mix of different types of affordable housing including housing for disabled people may be required on a site. Normally, the affordable housing will be expected to be provided on the site, but there may be certain instances when good reasons exist to provide the housing elsewhere or to provide a commuted sum towards the provision of housing elsewhere. This will be a last resort since the objective of affordable housing policy is to meet the needs in the area of the site and by allowing the affordable housing to be provided elsewhere this could lead to the polarisation of communities.

5.53 The Council will need to ensure that any affordable dwellings built are available for those in genuine need and that a significant proportion remain affordable in perpetuity. Appropriate mechanisms will therefore need to be in place to secure these objectives. The clear preference in Circular 6/98 is that registered social landlords are involved since they have their own occupancy criteria and are governed by the rules of the Housing Corporation making further occupancy controls unnecessary. This is also the preferred approach of the Council. Where a registered social landlord is not involved, Circular 6/98 requires conditions or legal agreements to be attached to planning permissions restricting occupation to households meeting eligibility criteria based on the Council’s Scheme of allocations.

5.54 Evidence will be required on planning applications that the dwellings to be provided will be of a suitable type and design. There will also be a need to ensure that affordable housing is provided on a site within a reasonable timescale, and that in a mixed scheme, the affordable houses are not forgotten as development of the total package proceeds. To this end the Council will use conditions and/or planning obligations to ensure that the affordable housing element in mixed schemes is not unduly delayed. The following Policy sets out the approach to the provision of affordable housing:-

Supplementary Planning Guidance Note 1 provides further guidance on the provision of affordable housing in private development schemes.

5.55 Annex B to PPG3 enables planning authorities to have policies which support the release of small sites for affordable housing which development plans would not otherwise allocate for housing within or adjoining villages, and on which housing would not normally be permitted. This advice is aimed particularly at the more rural parts of the country and is not generally applicable in metropolitan districts such as Calderdale where most small settlements lie within the Green Belt and are close to the main urban areas. No such policy was included in the previous UDP (1997) and insufficient justification exists to add such a policy in the Replacement Plan.

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