Last Autumn West Suffolk Council consulted on Issues and Options for a new local plan. One of the key concerns many residents raised with the parish council, was the need for affordable housing for Wickhambrook residents. For this reason, we have decided to carry out a more detailed survey to try and get a better understanding of future housing need for the village.
Community Action Suffolk (CAS) will undertake a Housing Needs Survey (HNS) which aims to capture the needs of people in the parish who want to downsize or move to an upgraded property that meets their changed circumstances.
The survey also captures all the different tenure types residents might needs, for example:
- affordable rented
- shared ownership
- open market.
If the HNS identifies that there is a local housing need in the parish, CAS would work with the parish to bring through a Rural Exception Site (RES).
Any properties on such a site, whether shared ownership or rented, would always remain in perpetuity for people with a local connection.
The survey will be undertaken by Community Action Suffolk, who will identify if there is a local housing need in the parish, and if a need is established, will work with the parish to bring through a Rural Exception Site (RES).
If there was evidence from a housing needs survey, planners would consider bringing a Rural Exeption Site forward for local people.
A Rural Exception Site would be located either next to, or outside the settlement boundary of the parish (shown in red on the plan above), where planning permission for new developments isn’t normally be granted. The site would need to be near key facilities in the village.
On a rural exception site, small numbers of full market properties may be allowed, to cross subsidise and ensure that the scheme is financially viable and affordable. If they were to be sold on, the relevant share would be offered back to the housing association that manages the properties.
Part one
Generic information about the household (no. people, type of household, no. bedrooms, tenure type) and period of time settled in the parish.
Designed to build a picture about the types of properties in the parish and feeds into West Suffolk Council for their profiling. It asks residents about their views of future development in the parish, and if supportive, what type of properties they would like to see coming forward. This is important, as if the parish were to progress to a RES, the planners would want to know the level of support for the project in the parish.
Part two
This looks to identify any households or members of the household within the Parish that may be in need of housing now or in the future, and gathers more detailed information about parish households – financial, tenure types, needs. This information is required to establish why there is a need, how affordable housing is in the parish.
Part three – as part 2, but looking at people who want to move to or return to the parish.
What happens next?
In early September surveys will be delivered to each household in the parish. All questions in the survey are optional.
The surveys can either be completed online or delivered back to CAS by post, and all data is anonymised. Information does not go through or be held by the parish.
CAS will then produce a full report, identifying any levels of housing need and reasons it.
A summary of the report will be published which can be made available to residents in the parish.
How has this been funded?
West Suffolk Council is funding the cost of Community Action Suffolk’s work on the report.
The parish council is funding the cost of printing the survey, its delivery to all the residents in the parish, and the cost of any postal returns to CAS (if you have access to the internet, please complete and return the survey on-line!).