New powers to build more affordable homes in rural villages and hamlets in Derbyshire

Derbyshire Dales District Council first discussed the aim to obtain the new powers last January and it has now disclosed that this request was successful, coming into force in December.

Until this successful bid, the council was only able to ask developers building 10 homes or more to include affordable housing as part of their proposed schemes.

However, the authority will now be able to request affordable housing be included in smaller schemes, of five homes or more, which should result in more being built.

The council was facing an issue in which developers in rural parts of the Dales were typically submitting schemes of less than 10 homes, due to the cost of building on sites where little infrastructure exists.

This meant that villages and hamlets in the Dales were not seeing many or any affordable homes being built.

Councillors have previously discussed how this issue has led to young people and families leaving their place of birth in order to find a home, leaving villages and hamlets with a much older population and schools in those areas with far fewer children.

Under the new powers, all parishes in the Dales – excluding Ashbourne, Darley Dale, Matlock Bath, Matlock, Northwood and Tinkersley, Tansley, and Wirksworth – will now have “rural area designation” under Section 157 of the Housing Act 1985.

The new powers would not affect areas in the Peak District National Park, where the district council does not oversee planning policies.

Council officials had outlined that existing affordable housing schemes were not fit to provide homes in rural areas of the Dales due to the cost of building making it an unviable plan for developers.

They outline that of the affordable homes provided by developers in these area, 80 per cent should be social and affordable rented accommodation, while the rest should be “intermediate housing (such as shared ownership) or discount starter homes”.

Documents published by the district council detail that the same rural housing designations were also granted to the Sevenoaks in Kent and Wyre Forest in Worcestershire.