Planning Policy Guidance 3: Housing
The Government intends that everyone should have the opportunity of a decent home. They further intend that there should be greater choice of housing and that housing should not reinforce social distinctions. The housing needs of all in the community should be recognised, including those in need of affordable or special housing in both urban and rural areas. To promote more sustainable patterns of development and make better use of previously-developed land, the focus for additional housing should be existing towns and cities. New housing and residential environments should be well designed and should make a significant contribution to promoting urban renaissance and improving the quality of life.
Local planning authorities should:
- Plan to meet the housing requirements of the whole community, including those in need of affordable and special needs housing;
- Provide wider housing opportunity and choice and a better mix in the size, type and location of housing than is currently available, and seek to create mixed communities;
- Provide sufficient housing land but give priority to re-using previously-developed land within urban areas, bringing empty homes back into use and converting existing buildings, in preference to the development of greenfield sites;
- Create more sustainable patterns of development by building in ways which exploit and deliver accessibility by public transport to jobs, education and health facilities, shopping, leisure and local services;
- Make more efficient use of land by reviewing planning policies and standards;
Place the needs of people before ease of traffic movement in designing the layout of residential developments; - Seek to reduce car dependence by facilitating more walking and cycling, by improving linkages by public transport between housing, jobs, local services and local amenity, and by planning for mixed use; and
- Promote good design in new housing developments in order to create attractive, high-quality living environments in which people will choose to live.
Assessing local housing needs
Assessments of housing need, which underpin local housing strategies and local plan policies, are matters for local authorities to undertake in the light of their local circumstances. Local planning authorities should work jointly with housing departments to assess the range of needs for different types and sizes of housing across all tenures in their area. This should include affordable housing and housing to help meet the needs of specific groups - the elderly, the disabled, students and young single people, rough sleepers, the homeless and those who need hostel accommodation, key workers, travellers and occupiers of mobile homes and houseboats. Local assessments should consider not only the need for new housing but ways in which the existing stock might be better utilised to meet the needs of the community. The Department will issue further advice to assist local authorities in preparing local housing need assessments.
Delivering affordable housing
A community's need for a mix of housing types, including affordable housing, is a material planning consideration, which should be taken into account in formulating development plan policies and in deciding planning applications involving housing.
Local plan policies for affordable housing should:
- Define what the authority considers to be affordable in the local plan area in terms of the relationship between local income levels and house prices or rents for different types of households;
- Indicate how many affordable homes need to be provided throughout the plan area, including the different types of affordable housing needed by households of different characteristics, taking account of rural as well as urban needs; and
- Identify suitable areas and sites on which affordable housing is to be provided and the amount of provision which will be sought.
Maintaining A Supply Of Housing
The Government is committed to promoting more sustainable patterns of development by:
- Concentrating most additional housing development within urban areas;
Making more efficient use of land by maximising the re-use of previously-developed land and the conversion and re-use of existing buildings; - Assessing the capacity of urban areas to accommodate more housing;
- Adopting a sequential approach to the allocation of land for housing development;
- Managing the release of housing land; and
- Reviewing existing allocations of housing land in plans, and planning permissions when they come up for renewal.
Allocating and releasing land for development
In determining the order in which sites identified in accordance with the criteria set should be developed, the presumption will be that previously-developed sites (or buildings for re-use or conversion) should be developed before greenfield sites. The exception to this principle will be where previously-developed sites perform so poorly in relation to the criteria as to preclude their use for housing before a particular greenfield site.
Creating Sustainable Residential Environments
To promote more sustainable residential environments, both within and outside existing urban areas, local planning authorities should promote:
- Development that is linked to public transport;
- Mixed use development;
- A greener residential environment;
- Greater emphasis on quality and designing places for people; and
- The most efficient use of land.
Linking development with public transport
The Government places particular emphasis on the importance of integrating decisions on planning and transport in order to reduce the need for travel by car. Local planning authorities should therefore seek to exploit opportunities to locate larger housing developments around major nodes along good quality public transport corridors (both existing and those with firm proposals for improvement in local transport plans) and seek to ensure that all housing developments are accessible by a range of non-car modes. This applies to development both within and outside existing urban areas.
Rural housing - village expansion and infill
In terms of overall housing provision, only a limited amount of housing can be expected to be accommodated in expanded villages. Whilst occasionally a village could be the basis for a new settlement where, for example, the development accords with the policy of developing around major nodes in transport corridors, most proposals for additional housing will involve infill development or peripheral expansion.
Villages will only be suitable locations for accommodating significant additional housing where:
- It can be demonstrated that additional housing will support local services, such as schools or shops, which could become unviable without some modest growth. This may particularly be the case where the village has been identified as a local service centre in the development plan;
- Additional houses are needed to meet local needs, such as affordable housing, which will help secure a mixed and balanced community; and
- The development can be designed sympathetically and laid out in keeping with the character of the village using such techniques as village design statements.
The Government is concerned, however, that there should be adequate housing provision in rural areas to meet the needs of local people. Local planning authorities should therefore make sufficient land available either within or adjoining existing villages to enable these local requirements to be met. The needs of local people for affordable housing may often be best met by the exception policy.
New settlements
The Government believes that, in the right location and with the right concept, new settlements can make a contribution to meeting the need for housing. However, the cost of developing a new community from scratch, including the full range of new services and infrastructure, means that they will only infrequently be a viable option due to their scale and the time required to develop them. New settlements will not be acceptable if they will simply function as a dormitory of an existing larger settlement.
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Nov 2004