HL Deb 24 January 2005 vol 668 cc39-43WS
The Minister of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Lord Rooker)

My right honourable friend the Minister for Housing and Planning has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

This Statement concerns the planning system's role in providing sufficient homes to meet the variety of housing needs in England. The intention is to remove barriers to delivering the housing needed in our communities and ensure the planning system is not a brake on an adequate and continuing supply of sites for housing in sustainable locations.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is publishing today two updates to planning policy guidance Note 3: Housing (PPG3), entitled Supporting the Delivery of New Housing and Planning for Sustainable Communities in Rural Areas. Both updates will help to increase the supply of housing where it is needed in the most sustainable way possible. They reflect the changes to the planning system made in the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004.

These updates were the subject of consultation in July 2003. The remainder of the PPG3 update Influencing the Size, Type and Affordability of Housing, of which Planning for Sustainable Communities in Rural Areas was a component, is being further consulted upon. I am making a separate Statement on this today.

Supporting the Delivery of New Housing

PPG3 requires local planning authorities, when preparing their local development frameworks, to review all their non-housing allocations and to consider whether some of this land might be better used for housing or mixed-use development. The Government's experience is that nevertheless many local planning authorities continue to reserve an excess supply of land when it would make sense to consider this for housing.

The consultation update proposed an approach to the handling of applications for housing and mixed use development on land allocated or previously used for industrial or commercial use which is no longer needed for that use, and which is both suitable for and needed for housing. The Government have considered the responses to the consultation and are adding today the following new paragraph 42(a) to PPG3:

"Local planning authorities should consider favourably planning applications for housing or mixed use developments which concern land allocated for industrial or commercial use in saved policies and development plan documents or redundant land or buildings in industrial or commercial use, but which is no longer needed for such use, unless any of the following apply:

  • the proposal fails to reflect the policies in this PPG (including paragraph 31), particularly those relating to a site's suitability for development and the presumption that previously-developed sites (or buildings for re-use or conversion) should be developed before greenfield sites;
  • the housing development would undermine the planning for housing strategy set out in the regional spatial strategy or the development plan document where this is up-to-date, in particular if it would lead to over-provision of new housing and this would exacerbate the problems of, or lead to, low demand;
  • it can be demonstrated, preferably through an up-to-date review of employment land1 (refer to Annex D for practice guidance), that there is a realistic prospect of the allocation being taken up for its stated use in the plan period or that its development for housing would undermine regional and local strategies for economic development and regeneration".
1 Employment Land Reviews: Guidance Note ODPM 2004

In December 2004 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister published practice guidance for local planning authorities on carrying out employment land reviews to assess the demand for and supply of land for employment. The guidance aims to help local planning authorities assess the suitability of sites for employment development, safeguard the best sites for employment and identify those which are no longer suitable for employment development and which should be made available for other uses. A copy of the practice guidance is available in the Libraries of the House.

Planning for Sustainable Communities in Rural Areas

The consultation PPG3 update Influencing the Size, Type and Affordability of Housing proposed to replace the rural exception policy with an allocation policy, which would enable local planning authorities to allocate sites solely for affordable housing. In the light of the consultation responses a revised approach has been developed, aimed at meeting concerns expressed about the practical effects of the proposed approach. The Government are today amending PPG3 policy, adding a new section which will enable local planning authorities to allocate sites in rural areas, but also to take advantage of windfall sites through a continuing rural exception approach. The intention to retain the rural exception policy alongside a new allocation policy was signalled by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she published her department's five-year strategy Delivering the Essentials of Life on 8 December 2004.

The replacement paragraph 18 of PPG3 is as follows:

  • "18. It is important that there is adequate housing provision in rural areas to meet the needs of local people and to contribute to the delivery of sustainable communities. Regional spatial strategies should set out how planning at the local level is expected to contribute to meeting identified rural affordable housing needs (including Gypsies and Travellers where relevant). Local planning authorities should make sufficient land available either within or adjoining existing rural communities to enable these local requirements to be met in a manner which contributes to the achievement of sustainable communities. Affordable housing provision in rural areas should be supported by a rural exception site policy (see Annex B). Rural exception sites should be small, solely for affordable housing and on land within or adjoining existing small rural communities1 which would not otherwise be released for general market housing. The affordable housing provided on such sites should meet local needs2 in perpetuity and count towards the overall level of housing provision. The rural exception site policy applies to both allocated or windfall sites."

An addition to paragraph 36 of PPG3 is highlighted in bold below:

36. Authorities should make specific allowances for all the different types of windfalls in their plans. Allowance should be made on the basis of examining past trends in windfalls coming forward for development and on the likely future windfall potential as assessed in a capacity study. No allowance should be made for greenfield windfalls (except for rural exception sites, see Annex B and refer to Annex D for good practice advice on capacity studies).

1 Small rural settlements have been designated for enfranchisement and right to acquire purposes (under Section 17 of the Housing Act 1996) by S.I. 1997/620–625 inclusive and 1999/1307.

2 Should be set out in the local development document and can include key or essential workers and those with a family connection.

The replacement Annex B of PPG3 is as follows:

"Annex B: Rural exception sites

  1. 1. All local planning authorities that include rural areas should include a rural exception site policy in the relevant development plan document. A rural exception site policy enables the authority to allocate or release small sites within and adjoining existing small rural communities1, which may be subject to policies of restraint, such as green belt, and which would not otherwise be released for housing, but only in order to provide affordable housing to meet local needs2 in perpetuity.
  2. 2. In preparing local development documents, local planning authorities should take account of their local housing assessment and should consider the benefits of preparing village appraisals, which encompass assessments of housing, economic and environmental profiles of rural communities. In doing so, they should work closely with their local communities, landowners and housing providers to prepare strategies for implementing exception schemes, including identifying possible sites. Based on these assessments, the local planning authority should set out:
    • what the local planning authority considers to be "affordable" housing for the purpose of the rural exception site policy in the context of its local housing assessment or other appraisal; and
    • the area within which needs will be considered "local", for example, in terms of market towns, groups of villages or parishes, or even a single parish. In some areas it may be possible to name particular settlements where there is evidence of need and where opportunities for affordable housing on rural exception sites will be explored.
  3. 3. Development plan documents may allocate sites solely for affordable housing and should set out the criteria against which windfall sites will be considered.
  4. 4. Rural exception sites are not appropriate for general market housing or market housing for local needs only. It is unacceptable to include clauses in planning obligations which would enable lenders of private finance to dispose of property on the open market as a last resort if a borrower were to get into financial difficulties. Such clauses should also be unnecessary in the case of loans to registered social landlords, in part, because of the safeguards to private WS 43 lenders offered by the Housing Act 1996. Planning obligations should be used to set out a cascade mechanism3 that will ensure that occupiers are always found for affordable housing provided on rural exception sites".
    1. 1Small rural settlements have been designated for enfranchisement and right to acquire purposes (under Section 17 of the Housing Act 1996) by S.I. 1997/620–625 inclusive and 1999/1307.
    2. 2Should be set out in the Local Development Document and can include key or essential workers and those with a family connection.
    3. 3A mechanism which sets out the procedure to be followed to secure an occupant for affordable housing on rural exception sites, when such housing is vacated. This might set out the geographical areas or types of households that would be eligible for such housing.