13/12/2004

Local authorities will continue to be able to give planning permission for affordable housing in rural areas under the exception clause that makes building affordable rural housing much easier.

In a statement last week government ministers Keith Hill and Margaret Beckett confirmed the Planning Policy Guidance (PG3) will be designed to enable rural affordable housing on sites that would otherwise not be available for development, where those homes meet the affordable housing needs of local people.

Mrs Beckett said: “Defra's challenge over the next five years is to support sustainable communities. That means a high quality environment, fair access to local services, and tackling rural social exclusion wherever it occurs."

“But in all our discussions with rural communities one theme comes out above any other – the need for affordable housing."

The Country, Land and Business Association welcomed the announcement as President Mark Hudson said: "Local Authorities, developers, housing associations, landowners, and village dwellers all need the flexibility that the exceptions policy provides to find sites for small scale affordable housing."

"On such sites the land is often being made available by landowners at a fraction of the open market value it would have attracted if it had been zoned for housing, or even if that hope had been attached to it. Retaining exception sites is a win-win situation for the community and the local economy."