Local housing for local people

In 2018, an independent organisation undertook a survey  (with direction from Sevenoaks District Council (SDC) (and support from Halstead Parish Council (HPC)) to find out if there were shortfalls in affordable housing provision within the village. The survey also sought to identify the needs of older households wishing to downsize or move to a more suitable housing for their needs.

It was posted to every household and had a 22% response rate.

The survey found that a total need of 9 affordable homes, 3 of which would be for older households plus 5 homes for older households who would like to downsize or move to a home more suitable for their needs.

At the time of the survey, the cheapest property for sale in the parish was a 2-bed terraced house for £340,000. To afford to buy this home, the purchaser would need a deposit of £51,000 and an income of £82,571. There were no private rental properties available. To be able to rent within a ½ mile of the village and income of £44,000 was required to rent a 2-bed house for £1100 pcm.

In 2021, to ensure there was still need, a second survey was commissioned.

This survey had a far lower response rate but the need for housing increased to 13 affordable homes for 5 single people, 3 couples, 5 families plus 6 homes for older households who would like to downsize or move to a home more suitable for their needs.

At the time of the survey, there was only one property for sale under £500,000 in the village – a 3 bed house for £470,000. The only property for rent was a 2-bed bungalow for £1750 a month.

In April 2022, the cheapest property in the Parish is a 3 bed for £625,000. The only property to rent within a mile of the village is a 4-bed property off Rushmore Hill for £2100 pcm.

There are lots of different definitions of affordable housing, and the term is used in many ways. The government defines affordable housing as broadly: “housing for sale or rent for those whose needs are not met by the market “– it then goes on to define further criteria under the heading of ‘affordable housing for rent, starter homes, discounted market sales housing and other affordable routes to home ownership.

Sevenoaks have their own local definitions of affordable housing. The Sevenoaks Core Strategy for Planning Policy dictates how many how many affordable units are developed dependent on the size of the development and then what the different tyoes of affordable houses should be.

These could be available for:

Social Rent.
Homes owned by local authorities and housing associations. Rent is below the level of rent in the private sector for the local area. Rent levels are set using a formula determined by the government.

Affordable Rent.
Home let by local authorities and housing associations to households who are eligible for social housing based on local housing register rules. No more that 80% of market rent for the local area, inclusive of service charge.

Intermediate housing.
Designed to help working households who cannot afford to buy of rent a home on the open market and are not eligible for social rented housing. Rent is charged above social rents but based on 80% of the local market rent, excluding service charge.

Affordable housing in rural areas such as Halstead are usually provided in one of 3 ways:

• Built on allocated sites for housing development in the Local Plan The development at Fort Halstead is within the current local plan. In the most recent application, there is provision for 83 homes for social/affordable rent and 44 homes for intermediate housing. These houses will be offered to those on the Sevenoaks Housing Register (In 2018 there were 755 registered households) and they may have no connection to the Parish. It is not possible to restrict affordable housing built on brownfield sites to local people in perpetuity. Home on these sites also have the Right to Buy.

  The new Local Plan is emerging, we do not yet know which sites have been assessed as suitable for inclusion but any site that is included will be subject to the affordable housing policy and number of affordable houses will depend on their size.

• Windfall sitesThese, by their very nature, are unknown and in this village will tend to be infill sites such as the new development at Hawthorndale. There is no requirement to provide affordable housing on these sites
• Rural Exception Sites (such as the proposed site) To ensure the homes remain affordable for local people in perpetuity (125 years or more), local needs housing is built on Rural Exception Sites. This is land that would not usually gain planning approval for housing, however the Rural Exception Site planning policy permits such development, provided the homes meet the in-perpetuity/ local connection criteria. In the Sevenoaks district such sites will inevitably be in Green Belt.

Halstead Parish Council met with several Housing Associations to decide who should develop this scheme. They chose English Rural as they felt their build history and ethos fit best with Halstead. A visit to the Gibbs Field development in Leigh really showed how nice these developments could be.

Once the Housing Association was appointed, the Parish Council submitted 9 sites in the village that they considered suitable for this project. 6 landowners responded that the sites were unavailable, 3 landowners indicated they would be interested. Of those 3 sites, the SDC planning team deemed 1 site suitable for this development against their criteria– the Land North of Clarks Lane.

The land in question was under an option agreement[1] with Jarvis Homes which meant that either English Rural would need to wait until this agreement had run out and speak directly to the landowner or work with Jarvis Homes. The length of the option agreement and the uncertainty that the landowner would consider English Rural meant that the Council supported continuing with the scheme alongside Jarvis Homes.

The site proposed for the development in Halstead is a Rural Exceptions Site. The 10 homes managed by English Rural will be allocated in perpetuity for households with a connection to Halstead, and if there is no interest from Halstead named surrounding villages including Badgers Mount and Knockholt. Eligibility criteria and local connection criteria are set out within a legal agreement.

There are 3 additional homes proposed in the plans which will be placed on the open market. These are modest sized 3 bed chalet homes which will be built in partnership with Jarvis Homes. The inclusion of these homes makes the development financially viable and the ongoing maintenance costs of the proposed road and drainage will be shared with Jarvis Homes.

The ten houses: 2x one-bedroom flats, 3x two-bedroom bungalows 3x two-bedroom houses, 2x three-bedroom houses will be managed by English Rural and kept in perpetuity for those with a close connection to the village. Since the online consultation, there have been thirty-nine registrations of interest in these 10 houses.

The next stage is for English Rural and Jarvis Homes to seek planning permission this Spring. This will be conducted in the usual way with a 21-day consultation open for public comment.

We understand that residents may have objections regarding the building of this development on Green Belt land. The council agree that development on green belt is a last resort but equally feel that provision should be made for those households that wish to stay in or move back to the village that they have a connection with.

The nature of a rural exceptions site means that they must meet set criteria, the first being a proven need for affordable housing for local people (a Housing Need Survey) The homes proposed must meet that need, there must be a mechanism (a Housing Association) to keep the homes below open market value and permanently available to local people and there must be a legal agreement in place to protect the homes for local people. For this reason, exceptions sites are not usually of interest to mainstream developers.

[1] An Option Agreement creates a period in which the Developer can opt to purchase the property, but it is never under an obligation to do so. At any point in that Option Period the option can be ‘exercised,’ and the property will be sold.