Shropshire Farming Talk: The need for rural housing

A consultation to update the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was announced in July, one of the first acts of the new government.

It is proposed that housing supply targets need to increase to 370,000 homes per year, from the current 300,000 to meet a target of delivering 1.5m homes under this Government.

A New Towns Commission has already been launched to focus on delivery of homes at scale but the question is, will the development needs of small rural communities be recognised as well?

In Shropshire, there is a history of landowners and managers balancing the need for producing high quality food, maintaining natural beauty and enhancing the rural economy.

But a lack of adequate and affordable housing in rural areas has made it increasingly hard to find labour to continue this long tradition.

Not only has existing housing become more difficult and expensive to manage, meaning the supply to private rented sector dwellings in rural areas has dwindled, but the supply of new homes is also more difficult.

The cost of submitting a planning application for a small number of homes in a rural area is often too great for private developers, including landowners, to take on, meaning important small sites do not get delivered.

Shropshire has bucked the National trend, as the authority to build the second most affordable homes built on rural exception sites in England. Nevertheless, more can be done to ensure that the next generation of farmers can live and work in the countryside.

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) is working with Shropshire Council, through liaison meetings, to discover what changes can be made to local policies to encourage more landowners and managers to build more homes in rural areas or put forward land for others to do so.

Shropshire Council’s draft local plan is currently in review stage and includes draft policies for taking a whole estate approach, and looking at how the services in neighbouring clusters of communities can support each other. Both draft policies could make the process of getting planning permission for a small number of homes in a large number of villages easier.

The CLA will continue to champion the need of housing to protect and enhance the future of the rural economy. Without housing, landowners, managers, and farmers we will not be able to continue looking after the countryside.

by Sophie Dwerryhouse, Midlands Regional Director of the Country Land and Business Association