Date: 2nd November 2020

Subject: Rural Housing

Chair: Councillor Trevor Thorne, Northumberland County Council

- To download the Agenda for this seminar click here

- To download the Learning Outcomes from this seminar click here

Speakers:

• Steve Kemp, Executive Director, OpenPlan Consultants Ltd

  "Housing and the Planning White Paper"

  - Download the presentation here

• Tony Price, Programme and New Initiatives Manager, Trent & Dove Housing Association

  "The Work of Research Users in Social Housing"

  - Download the presentation here

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• Graham Biggs, Chief Executive, Rural Services Network
  

  "Report on Revitalising Rural Campaign and Pragmatix Research"

  - Download the presentation here

Learning Outcomes

3 Examples of Good Practice

• Trent and Dove Housing – Research Users in Social Housing (RUSH) – is a collaboration of housing associations and others interested in sharing research on social housing. New members are always welcome! For more information, please email Tony Price, Programme and New Initiatives Manager, at [email protected].
• Research produced by Pragmatix on behalf of RSN, CPRE and English Rural Housing Association demonstrates the clear economic value of affordable homes in rural communities. The research report can be accessed here.
• RSN are making 5 affordable housing policy asks of Government as part of the Revitalising Rural campaign for a national Rural Strategy on the following issues: affordable housing quotas; grant funding; community-led housing; exception sites; sale of affordable homes. You can read more about the Revitalising Rural campaign and the chapter on Affordable Housing here. 

5 Key Learning Points

• The ‘Planning for the Future’ white paper lacks detail on several of the issues raised and is more akin to a usual green paper.
• Many small rural communities need small scale incremental development to meet affordable home needs locally.
• Rural affordable housing development produces clear economic benefit to the nation. For example, each new rural affordable home pays for itself and returns an extra £54k to Treasury coffers.
• There is a need for development funding to enable small scale rurally based housing associations and other organisations to scale up their development potential.
• Second homes and holiday lets present a significant issue in relation to rural housing markets requiring specific solutions to be generated.

Any Other Key Outcomes from the Seminar

• The need for rural affordable housing is nothing new and has been an issue for many decades. This is intrinsically linked and inter-twined with a range of other key issues affecting rural communities and the rural economy.
  
• Demand for rural living has risen as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic which is further increasing the stress on rural housing markets and the need for affordable homes.
• There is widespread concern amongst rural organisations and representatives regarding the potential implications of proposed changes to the planning system, particularly around proposed changed to affordable home thresholds, zoning, Neighbourhood Plans and Rural Exception Sites.

? The attendance & apologies for this seminar can be downloaded here