Affordable Housing
Affordable Housing
Affordable Housing in South Shropshire means housing of a good standard (that is built to the LIFETIME STANDARD and ECOHOMES "VERY GOOD" STANDARD) that is cheaper than that which is generally available in the local housing market.
Affordable dwellings should not normally exceed 100sqm gross internal habitable floor area. This includes any attached or integral garaging.
THE COUNCILS POLICY
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All housing developments within the District will continue to provide 50% affordable housing. In order to allow single plots to be available as open market housing, we require 50% of the cost of construction of an equivalent affordable house to be given to the Council as a contribution for affordable housing elsewhere in the District.
In Ludlow and Church Stretton (settlements where the population is more than 3000) open market housing is allowed on small sites up to 0.5 hectares, or less than 15 houses, without any requirement for affordable housing.
In the other main towns and villages (Bishops Castle, Craven Arms, Clun, Cleobury Mortimer, Clee Hill, Burford and Bucknell) there is a target of 50% affordable housing on all sites. Open market housing is allowed on a single plot provided a contribution is made towards affordable housing elsewhere.
All housing developments on sites outside of the main settlements will only be for affordable housing. These are known as exception sites.
In order to retain attractive redundant traditional rural buildings, including barns in the countryside and understanding the costs associated with their careful restoration and reuse, we are proposing to allow their use for open market dwellings, so long as 50% of the cost of construction is given to the Council to provide affordable housing elsewhere.
The use of barns for affordable housing without a payment is still allowed, as is the building of single self-build dwellings for the local people in housing need within or on the edge of many of our villages. These must remain affordable forever.
Affordable houses should normally be no larger than 100sqm and such houses will have a potential initial maximum value. The resale value of these houses is to be linked to the initial value and subsequent increases in the local housing market.
All affordable dwellings will be subject to appropriate legal restrictions on occupancy and value and will be subject to the Council's Equity Mortgage agreement.
It is a requirement that all dwellings will be built to high environmental standards achieving the Lifetime and EcoHomes standards currently met in all publicly funded housing developments.
Within our main settlements, of the 50% affordable dwellings required on mixed schemes it is expected that these should match the open market houses in terms of size and type, for all purposes they are identical and closely integrated.
For financial reasons it must be assumed that the affordable dwellings are evenly split between what we are calling Discounted Equity Mortgage houses and Social Rented Housing. The actual agreed mix of homes built will be subject to negotiation. Any changes to this would have to be agreed and would involve a payment to the council for provision to be made elsewhere
AFFORDABLE HOUSING SOLUTIONS IN SOUTH SHROPSHIRE
Affordable Housing Solutions in Shropshire is the District Council's response to the pressing affordability problem experienced by local people, this is one of the worst nationally and the worst in the West Midlands. The average house price is around nine times the average household income.
Affordable Housing Solutions in South Shropshire, Interim Planning Guidance, was adopted on October 2006 following a consultation period. The guidance builds on existing adopted planning policies and established council practices which have been successful in helping local people to access affordable housing.
After a period of discussion following the local elections in May 2007 changes were agreed at full Council on 25th October 2007 with immediate effect. The update centres on the Affordable Housing Payment. Changes relating to the Affordable Housing Payment have been incorporated into the document below. However, it has not been comprehensively reviewed for other items, such as national planning policy context.
A series of simple guides to aspects of the policy such as single plots, barn conversions and exception sites are also available.
Useful links:
- South Shropshire Local Plan 2006-2011 - Interactive (External link)
- The Councils Corporate Plan
- Local Development Framework
- South Shropshire Local Homes Website (External link)
See these pages for related information:
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Subscribe to changes to this page here.Author: Environment & Community. Last Updated: 25/2/2008.
