A parish-wide survey carried out in 2005 asked the question: is there anyone in your family who would return to the village or remain in the parish if they could afford to live here? This was particularly aimed at the young, but it didn’t rule out others with strong ties which either had been - or were in danger of being - broken.
The response was good. And from an analysis of all the returns it appeared that there were around a dozen people who asked to be considered for affordable housing. We were advised by the people who conducted the survey, together with the local housing authority, that based on past experience we should begin the search for sites – or preferably one site – that could support housing for half that number, six.
A small sub-committee of the Parish Council discussed this demand with the social housing department at B&NES and established the sort of sites that might suit, bearing in mind that, unlike a search for sites for ‘market’ housing, so called ‘exception sites’ might qualify. To enable an affordable housing scheme to be undertaken as an exception site the following rules must apply:
- The Local need is proven to be genuine and arises and is capable of being met within an individual Parish or a group of Parishes, well related to the proposed scheme.
- The occupants of such housing shall be restricted as a first priority;
- to people who are currently living in, and are long standing residents of the Parish and who are in need of separate accommodation; or, as a second priority,
- to people, who are not resident in, but have strong local connections with the Parish (e.g. work).
Exception sites are typically adjacent to existing built-up areas but on open land. Nonetheless, having said all that the sub-committee was asked to begin their search within the built areas, ideally within the Housing Development Boundary (HDB). This encompasses the central part of the village from the boundary with Limpley Stoke at the corner of Church Lane and Dark Lane, down through part of Station Road, down to the Inn, back up along the rear boundary of the houses on the western side of the Hill, along the High Street and then up Freshford Lane as far as The Galleries
One can see from the chart and map on this website the sites that were identified. These are both within the HDB and beyond, in Sharpstone, Park Corner and Pipehouse. And, so far, not one of them has been given the go-ahead. Why is this? It’s because either the planners (as opposed to the social housing staff) of B&NES have ruled them as being too far from the historic centre, and hence the facilities, of the village - or the owners of the land have been unwilling to sell. It’s perhaps worth dispelling a myth at this point: there is no power of compulsory purchase for this scale of social housing. So anyone who has said that they don’t want to sell a piece of their land for housing is absolutely within their rights to do so and that’s the end of the matter, unless they change their mind.
It’s also worth pointing out that of the sites within the HDB many would be seen as in-fill and would stand a fair chance of an application for permission to build ‘non-affordable’ housing being granted. Consequently, even if the owner of one of these had been willing to sell, the price would likely have been ‘unaffordable’.
Here is the dilemma: the sites where the planners would prefer to see affordable housing are probably going to be too expensive (if the owner wants to sell), whereas, the bulk of the sites which might be less expensive – the ‘exception sites’ – are deemed by the planners to be too remote from the facilities of the village.
Despite all this the Parish Council hasn’t given up. It can be seen from the chart and map on this website that there are still sites which the planners wouldn’t even consider until all the others had been ruled out. That’s the point that has now been reached. The PC’s efforts for the immediate future will be directed to persuading the planners that the ‘outlying’ sites are not as remote as they have been considered to be. For the most part there are footpaths to the centre of the village and the 94 bus provides a good service for those who might find the walk a bit too far. And the planners will be asked to bear in mind that the typical affordable housing tenant, as evidenced by the original questionnaire, is likely to be sound of wind and limb.
If a site that seems obvious to you has been left off the list, or better still, you own one and would be willing to offer it for sale for affordable housing, the Parish Council will be delighted to hear from you.