RURAL HOUSING TRUST & BABERGH DISTRICT COUNCIL TO HOST ROYAL GUEST AT RURAL HOUSING SEMINAR

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, President of the Rural Housing Trust (the Trust), will attend a seminar to raise awareness of how planning policy can be used to provide affordable homes in rural areas.  The seminar, in Polstead Village Hall, near Hadleigh, Suffolk on Thursday 10 February 2005, will be attended by local authority councillors from across rural Suffolk and Essex. 

The lack of affordable housing in small villages is especially relevant in Suffolk and parts of Essex, where the picturesque scenery and accessibility has resulted in many local people being priced out of the housing market. 

The event, which has been organised by the Trust in conjunction with Babergh District Council, with support from the Town & Country Planning Association (TCPA), will examine the success of the exception site policy (see Notes), a policy the Trust has used to develop more than 300 schemes throughout England.  Using the policy, land that could not otherwise be used for housing can be acquired at an affordable price – a saving that can be passed on to prospective residents – providing the housing is affordable and designed to meet the needs of local people in perpetuity. 

The use of exception sites has recently been reviewed by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.  Campaigning by the Trust and others has ensured that the policy survived, some fifteen years after it was first adopted by Government and after the Trust’s pioneering efforts demonstrated its success. 

The Princess Royal will draw attention to the lack of affordable housing in small villages and encourage delegates to do what they can to address the problem.  There are around 8,000 small villages in England and it is estimated that most of them need around 6-8 affordable homes to meet local needs.

Moira Constable, Chief Executive of the Trust, who will be speaking at the seminar, said:

“The Trust has unrivalled experience in delivering affordable homes where they are most needed.  Exception sites are successful because they require the involvement of the parish council and the support of the community.  Landowners have confidence in the approach because it provides a long term asset for the village and there are no commercial gains.”  

Sue Wigglesworth, Chairman of Babergh District Council and local member for Polstead said: -

Babergh District Council has a proven track record of delivering village schemes.  During the last 14 years we have provided 169 rural homes over 17 different schemes.  There are currently three schemes underway which will provide 32 units of accommodation.  Furthermore, we have 19 potential schemes in the pipeline – 8 of which have been identified as exception sites.  Babergh District Council is using this seminar to highlight issues surrounding rural housing, and to learn from our partners about continuing to deliver affordable housing schemes for future generations”.

Richard Butt, who is a Trustee at the TCPA and who will chair the seminar, said:-

“At last increasing the supply of affordable housing is high on the Government's agenda.  It is important, though, that rural needs also receive higher priority and that the distinctive solutions which have been painstakingly evolved for tackling them are used to the full.  The risk otherwise is of losing a living and working countryside.”

The Trust would like to thank Elliston, Steady and Hawes (Building) Ltd, partners of Flagship Housing, for their sponsorship of the event.  Together with Flagship Housing, ESH is developing affording housing in Polstead.

Notes to editors

·        The Rural Housing Trust, a national charity formed in 1976, is a leading developer of affordable housing for local people in small English villages.  It works closely with Parish Councils to ensure that houses meet the needs of the local community.  Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal has been President since 1988. 

·        Nationally, the Trust has developed around 3,000 houses in over 300 villages across 34 counties. 

·        The Exception Policy was introduced in 1989 after demonstration projects by the Rural Housing Trust showed how it could be implemented.  It has been the most successful planning tool in increasing the supply of affordable housing in villages.   Government has proposed an end to the policy in favour of allocating sites for affordable housing in local plans, an approach which the Trust opposes because it believes it will lead to a dramatic change in the willingness of landowners to make sites available at affordable prices.  The Trust campaigns for the retention of the exception policy as the most effective way of providing affordable housing in small villages.