A POSSIBLE change to East Hampshire District Council's affordable housing policy has been described as an "astonishing" and "an extensive piece of social engineering". And it is one Alton Town Council firmly believes needs to undergo considerable public consultation. The need for change seeks to address developers' concerns that the current 35 per cent affordable provision for developments of 15 or more dwellings saddles them with a heavy financial burden. They believe a more gradual introduction, starting at a lower site size threshold and provision, would be more appropriate. The problem was first thrown up at EHDC's housing summit in 2004, with a number of options for a range of thresholds being delivered by planning officers to the 2005 housing summit for comment. Since then the options have been revised and planners are now asking town and parish councils to identify a preference. The range of thresholds would apply to all schemes within the district and not just to those settlements that have a population that exceeds 3,000 people, as is the case at present. While some members of ATC planning committee felt the affordable requirement should only apply to developments of 10 units or more, others favoured a smaller percentage of affordable units for developments of five and over. In sliding scale option three developments of 10 new properties would be subject to a five per cent affordable provision which would equate to half a house, requiring a financial contribution from the developer for offsite provision. The percentage provision would increase as the unit numbers increased with an 11 unit development expected to provide one affordable home (representing nine per cent), a 12 unit development 1.5 affordable units (13 per cent) and a 13 unit development 2 affordable units (15 per cent). This option would be complicated to administer and, EHDC planners point out, it would provide a very low level of affordable provision. Option four, put forward by EHDC officers working with a planning consultant and said to be favoured by EHDC, would start with one affordable home for every five market houses. Using whole dwelling numbers it would also avoid financial contributions for offsite provision and would be expected to result in a good level of affordable provision. The requirement would be for five, six and seven-unit developments to provide one affordable home (equivalent to 20, 17 and 14 per cent of the total), eight and nine unit sites to provide two affordable units (25 and 22 per cent), 10 and 11 unit sites to provide three affordable units (30 and 27 per cent) and so on. While providing the highest affordable home potential, option one was considered too harsh with smaller developments over five units being stung with high affordable ratios (two out of a five unit development would be affordable, representing 40 per cent). And option two was considered too complicated with a sliding scale both numerically and percentage wise making it difficult to administer. Alton Town Council has responded to EHDC by requesting extensive public consultation, possibly using the new community forums (replacing the community committees). While understanding the need for more affordable homes in East Hampshire, Alton councillors' concerns were for how the affordable element of a small development would work. Would the developer of a prestigious four-bed five-unit development be expected to build four large houses for sale on the open market and one small affordable unit or would the affordable unit have to come up to the same spec? If so, how would EHDC decide how to allocate a large luxury four-bed home in an equitable way to clients on the housing list without causing resentment among others? There was concern, too, over problems which could arise over an imbalance in the socio- economic mix of a small development and over the fact that by introducing an affordable element it could make small scale developments economically unviable by forcing the price of construction up while bringing the value of the properties down. l A partnership between East Hampshire District Council, five other Hampshire local authorities and Community Action Hampshire has proved successful in attracting funding for affordable housing in rural areas. The Housing Corporation is to allocate over £7 million to Hyde Housing Association, selected by the Hampshire Alliance for Rural Affordable Housing (HARAH) to build the new homes. HARAH was set up to ensure that regional government and funding bodies recognised the importance of the need for affordable rural housing. Two of the key objectives of the alliance are to maximise investment in affordable housing in rural villages across Hampshire and achieve high standards of development, management and community involvement. John Lancaster, chairman of HARAH, said: "It is critical that the needs of rural areas are not overlooked and overshadowed by the large urban growth areas in the South East. HARAH was set up as a means of attracting investment into rural Hampshire and I am delighted to say I think the initiative has worked." Hyde will receive £7.7 million to spend over the next two years on building affordable rented and shared ownership homes. The figure allocated represents a 40 per cent increase in funding for rural homes in Hampshire, compared to the previous two years. Elizabeth Cartwright, EHDC portfolio holder for housing, said: "Rural Housing Schemes can take a long time to work up and attracting funding can be difficult. The HARAH partnership means that we can share resources and best practice to ensure we deliver the maximum number of homes. "East Hampshire has one of the best records in delivering affordable rural housing and this partnership (and the funding awarded to it) means we can continue to build on this achievement." The government's affordable rural housing commission has included HARAH's innovative approach to developing new rural homes as best practice in a recently published report and is encouraging other councils to work in a similar collaborative way. Landowners and parish councils interested in promoting rural housing should contact Natalie Meagher, housing development manager for EHDC on (01730) 234340 or rural housing enabler John Lancaster at Community Action Hampshire (01962) 854971.
