Regulation 18 Draft Local Plan

Chapter 7 – Meeting Housing Needs

(14)Delivering New Homes

7.1 The government's Standard Method in national guidance is used to determine the minimum number of homes needed for South Kesteven across the plan period. The Standard Method for South Kesteven establishes a need of 14,020 dwellings from 2021 to 2041, equating to 701 dwellings per annum.

7.2 The Local Plan makes provision for housing growth at a variety of locations across South Kesteven. In line with the broad strategy, the Local Plan makes allocations in the most suitable and sustainable sites across the district, focussing on Grantham, Stamford, Bourne, The Deepings, and the Larger Villages. The proposed site allocations for residential development are detailed within Policy H1.

(13)Existing and Proposed Housing Supply

7.3 A breakdown of housing completions since the start of the plan period (2021), current commitments (full, reserved matters, and outline permission), and adopted and proposed Local Plan allocations by settlement are set out in Table 2 below. Please note that these figures will be reviewed and updated on a regular basis during the preparation of the Local Plan.

Table 2: Meeting Housing Need

* Not including small site lapse rate.

**windfall allowance based on 30 dwellings per annum

7.4 Further to identifying the housing requirement, it is also considered to be necessary to consider the distribution of housing across South Kesteven as part of the review of the Local Plan. Table 3 below sets out the percentage distribution based on completions, current commitments, adopted Local Plan allocations and windfall (see Table 2). This distribution is heavily influenced by the scale of allocations made in the adopted Local Plan.

Table 3: Current Percentage distribution of development

7.5 The NPPF allows Local Planning Authorities to make an allowance for windfall sites in the five year supply if there is compelling evidence that sites have consistently become available in the local area and will continue to provide a reliable source of housing supply. Windfall sites are sites not specifically identified as being available for residential development, but which may come forward, subject to suitability. Examples may include the redevelopment of previously developed land within a town or village, or small infill sites within settlements.

7.6 There is a strong track record of windfall sites becoming available in South Kesteven. Whilst the supply of windfall sites is finite it is expected that the number of new dwellings being delivered on small windfall sites in the smaller villages will continue, and the more permissive policy incorporated through SP3: Infill Development will further enable this. The windfall allowance for the smaller villages is likely to remain the same as the adopted Local Plan which amounts to 30 dwellings per annum. This figure has also been confirmed through the 2023 Annual Position Statement process which fixes the Council's 5 year supply until 2024.

7.7 The housing trajectory below sets out anticipated rates of completions, based on information by site promoters and other site intelligence. The trajectory sets out Large sites with planning permission under construction, Large sites with planning permission not under construction, Sustainable Urban Extensions, small sites with planning permission, windfall allowance, completions, adopted and proposed Local Plan allocations.

7.8 Annual monitoring of housing supply will be used to monitor the rate of housing delivery on allocated sites during the plan period. Completions will be reported in annually in the Authority Monitoring Report.

Figure 6: Indicative Draft Local Plan Housing Trajectory 2021-2041

(3)Affordable Housing

7.9 Ensuring an adequate supply of housing which is affordable for local incomes is an essential element of building a thriving and sustainable local economy and helps to promote social inclusion. The planning system plays a central role in increasing the supply of Affordable Housing by creating mixed and balanced communities.

7.10 Affordable Housing is defined in the 2023 NPPF as "housing for sale or rent, for those whose needs are not met by the market (including housing that provides a subsidised route to home ownership and/or is for essential local workers); and which complies with one or more of the following:

• Affordable housing for rent
• Starter homes
• Discounted market sales housing
• Other affordable routes to home ownership

7.11 In May 2021, the Government introduced First Homes, a new tenure of affordable housing, to the Planning Practice Guidance (PPG). They are a specific type of discounted market housing which are reduced by a minimum of 30% against the market value and sold to people meeting set eligibility criteria which can be found at First Homes - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The PPG stipulates that First Homes should make up at least 25% of all affordable housing units being delivered through planning obligations.

7.12 The purpose of First Homes is, as set out in the PPG, is to provide a route to home ownership where the needs of households are not met by the market. The PPG establishes national thresholds, percentages, caps and eligibility criteria for First Homes, but it also grants substantial opportunity for local deviation where evidence demonstrates that such a change is justified.

7.13 First Homes priced at least 30% below full market value at a maximum value of £250,000 after the discount has been applied. The 2023 Local Housing Needs Assessment broadly concludes that no deviation from government guidance on First Homes is required.

7.14 The 2023 Local Housing Needs Assessment identifies a requirement of 27-57% of the overall housing need figure of 701 to be affordable, resulting in a need of 188 - 402 homes per year.

7.15 Policies H2-H4 of the Local Plan seek to address the identified need. Housing schemes of 10 or more dwellings (or an area of 0.5ha or more) should make provision for between 27-57% of the scheme's total capacity as affordable housing. The exact percentage will be determined by the Whole Plan Viability Study which will accompany the Plan and assess the viability of affordable housing, alongside a range of other developer contributions for different site typologies and locations across the district.

7.16 In some circumstances, where it can be robustly justified, the Council may be willing to accept a financial contribution in lieu of on-site provision. Where a financial contribution is acceptable to the Council, the sums payable shall be calculated as being equivalent to the difference between the open market value of the agreed number of units which are being provided on site and the purchase value that a registered housing provider (RHP)/Council would be willing to pay for these units as affordable housing units. For rented units, RHP values are assumed to be equivalent to 40% of open market value (OMV) and for intermediate units RHP values are assumed to be equivalent to 60% OMV.

7.17 The guideline that approximately 60% of affordable housing should be for rent and 40% for affordable home ownership (including First Homes) is based on the recommendations of the 2023 Local Housing Needs Assessment. This may be varied to reflect local circumstances where evidenced by local housing needs studies.

(2)Specialist Housing Provision

7.18 The 2023 Local Housing Needs Assessment recommends that housing provision in South Kesteven should be monitored against the following bedroom mix of market and affordable housing provision over the period to 2041.

Table 4: Indicative mix of homes to be delivered up to 2041

Source: AECOM modelling using Census 2011 and ONS 2018 based household projections. Note 'market' includes owner occupied and private rented tenures.

7.19 The Local Housing Needs Assessment indicates a need of 3,923 - 4,053 specialist homes for older people over the plan period based on the age and likely health needs of the population. The need for these homes is incorporated into the overall need for housing and is not additional to the overall housing requirement up to 2041.

7.20 The needs of these households may be met by other forms of housing or accommodation including residential caravans. Some households may be accommodated within mainstream housing, particularly if they have limited care and support needs. The LHNA concludes that ideally, mainstream housing would be built to standards that support the needs of older people; as such Policy H4 below includes criteria in relation to accessible and adaptable dwellings.

7.21 The Local Plan aims to ensure that new provision in the District over the next 20 years meets the changing needs of the population. An appropriate mix of housing is necessary to secure mixed and balanced communities where people's needs and aspirations for new housing are met. Policy H4 seeks to ensure greater choice in types of homes entering the housing market. This will ensure that development proposals can positively respond to local housing need.

7.22 Custom build housing, including self-build, is housing built by individuals or groups of individuals for their own use, either by building the home on their own or working with builders. Many custom or self-builders find it difficult to secure a building plot and in 2011 the Government introduced the Custom Build Homes programme to encourage more people to build their own homes. As a result, national planning policy requires local planning authorities to establish where demand exists and plan appropriately to meet that demand.

7.23 The Self Build and Custom Housing Building Act 2015 (as amended by the Housing and Planning Act 2016) requires Local Authorities to maintain a register of people and organisations wishing to acquire plots of land for self-build and Custom House-building projects and places a duty on Local Authorities to have regard to this register in carrying out its planning, housing and land disposal. The Council is required to grant planning permission for a sufficient number of serviced plots to meet the demand, as evidenced by the numbers of people on Part 1 of its Self-build and Custom House-building Register.

7.24 The majority of self and custom build development currently occurs on small individual sites within and on the edge of the towns and villages and Policies SP3 and SP4 of this plan enable the ongoing provision of such sites for self and custom build housing.

7.25 In line with national planning policy the council wishes to increase the number of self-build homes by requiring the provision of a small percentage of a sites capacity as serviced self-build plots on strategic housing allocations in the district, to meet the requirements of the Council's self-build and custom build register. There are a number of different mechanisms which could be used by the developer to provide self-build plots including:

• Self-build – the customer buys a serviced plot and builds their own home to their own specification or uses a contractor
• Custom-build – the customer buys a serviced plot and works with a developer to create a home to their specification. The house is completed by the developer
• Community build – where a group of individuals join forces to purchase a number of plots to build together. They may employ planning consultant, architect and a contractor

7.26 Policy H3 requires provision of at least 2% of plots on large housing schemes of 400 or more units, on the basis that there are greater opportunities to provide suitable serviced sites for custom and self-build within larger scale schemes through a masterplan approach to its development.

7.27 Plots on such sites should be marketed appropriately for at least 12 months. Marketing should include direct contact with people on the Council's Self/Custom Build Register and via the National Custom and Self-build Association (NaCSBA) portal or similar. The marketed price of each plot should be commensurate with their value in the context of the local housing market relevant at the time of marketing. The location of self- build plots should form part of the masterplan for each strategic site and will be expected to be developed in accordance with the design code or principles established by the masterplan or planning consent.

(3)Gypsies and Travellers

7.28 The Council has commissioned an updated Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment (GTAA). National Planning Policy requires local authorities to assess the level of need for Gypsy and Traveller sites. The Equality Act 2010 also ensures that members of the Gypsy and Irish Traveller communities are afforded legal protection against discrimination.

7.29 The draft GTAA quantifies the accommodation and housing related needs of Gypsies and Travellers (including Travelling Showpeople) in terms of residential, transit sites, negotiated stopping arrangements, and bricks and mortar accommodation for the period 2021-2041. The GTAA has been used to inform policy development in the Local Plan.

7.30 As recommended by the study, and in alignment with recent case law, the Council is adopting the 'ethnic' defined accommodation needs figures i.e. meeting the accommodation needs of all households who ethnically identify as Gypsies and Travellers. This will not only demonstrate knowledge of the overall accommodation need of all Gypsies and Travellers, but also how the accommodation needs in relation to households on meeting the Planning Policy for Traveller Sites designation are being addressed.

7.31 For South Kesteven District there is an identified need for 40 residential pitches during the period 2021 to 2041. This is an increase of 10 pitches against the requirement of the adopted Local Plan which identified a requirement of 30 pitches up to 2036.

7.32 The need arises as follows over this period:

Table 5: Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Need

Source: GTAA 2024

7.33 The 2024 Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment (GTAA) also identifies a need for 6 plots for Travelling Showpersons during the plan period (from 2021 to 2041). This is a decrease of 3 pitches against the requirement of the adopted Local Plan which identified a requirement of 9 pitches up to 2036.

7.34 The need arises as follows over the plan period:

Table 6: Travelling Showpeople Accommodation needs

Source: GTAA 2024

7.35 Around one fifth of Gypsies and Travellers nationally reside on unauthorised developments or encampments. Despite increased powers for local authorities to deal with anti-social behaviour and to evict where necessary, the Government has acknowledged that increased site provision is the most effective means of dealing with unauthorised developments and encampments, and the policies above seek to proactively encourage proposals for Gypsy and Traveller accommodation to come forward.

7.36 Compared with the national picture, South Kesteven experiences considerably fewer unauthorised encampments. However, there is still a need for local authorities to consider how issues around unauthorised encampments can be resolved, including considering adopting the 'negotiated stopping' model.

7.37 The emerging GTAA records low levels of unauthorised encampments within South Kesteven District. However as there is currently no transit provision, a negotiated stopping policy is recommended to address unauthorised encampments for set periods of time. This would be in place of any formal transit provision.

7.38 The Council, as a public body, has a statutory duty to meet the needs of the Travelling community. A negotiated stopping policy would make provision for temporary stopping arrangements throughout the district, which in turn could reduce levels of unauthorised encampments and support the travelling community. The negotiated stopping policy will be subject to separate consultation and consideration as a policy position of the Council, rather than a Local Plan policy relating to land use.