Since the SPD was consulted on last year, new Government guidance on affordable housing has been introduced in the form of Planning Policy Statement 3:Housing, which has had implications on the content of the SPD, effectively making it redundant. In addition, the Council's Core Strategy has made good progress and is likely to lower the threshold currently sought for affordable housing on development sites.
However, the Core Strategy will not be used in the determining of planning applications until after the Preferred Options Consultation in the latter part of 2007. To bridge the policy gap, the SPD has been modified into an Interim Planning Policy Guidance for Affordable Housing Provision.
The Interim Planning Policy Guidance aims to assist developers and clarify what the Council requires in terms of affordable housing on development sites. Put simply, the guidance will pull together national, regional and local planning policy relating to affordable housing into one document.
The Interim Planning Policy Guidance will go to the Council's Policy Committee for approval on 25th July 2007. If it is agreed by Council Members it will be published on this page of the web site.
Once adopted, the interim guidance will supersede the Council's existing Affordable Housing Supplementary Planning Guidance.
The original draft Affordable Housing SPD and consultation statement are still available to view via the links below. The new interim guidance is based on this document.
- Supplementary Planning Document: Affordable Housing Provision within General Housing Developments, Consultation Draft
- Consultation Statement
The draft Affordable Housing SPD was subject to a Sustainability Appraisal to ensure that the policies and strategies proposed were sustainable in environmental, social and economic terms. Please refer to the Sustainability Appraisal page to view SA Documents which have been produced in line with the Affordable Housing SPD.