Increasing affordable housing in the countryside with Rural Exception Sites

Embracing the Rural Exception Site planning policy can significantly increase the delivery of affordable homes in the English countryside, while maintaining the community's local character, finds a new report by researchers from UCL and the English Rural Housing Association. The report, titled Land, Landowners, and the Delivery of Affordable Homes in Rural Areas , outlines the housing affordability issues facing rural towns and parishes, and highlights how greater use of the already-established Rural Exception Site policy could help deliver much needed affordable homes. Rural Exception Sites were established as a national policy in 1991 as a mechanism for delivering affordable homes on small plots of rural land that would not otherwise be granted permission for housing development. Developments on these sites are required to prioritise affordable housing for people with a connection to the local community. The policy has since been expanded to allow small numbers of market sale homes when required to ensure the delivery of affordable housing units as well. However, the policy has not been widely used since its inception. In 2016 and 2017, only 14 of 91 rural authorities constructed any affordable homes on these sites, with 37% of those constructed in Cornwall alone.