Research published today shows how National Park Authorities have been actively addressing the problem of providing affordable and supported housing to meet the needs of their communities, despite the tension which can exist between National Park Authorities’ responsibilities to protect the landscape and their duty to foster the economic and social welfare of their communities.
Up to 175,000 people live in homes within national parks, which contain some of the country’s most beautiful and valued countryside. These communities face significant housing pressures, due to the shortage of affordable housing, very high housing market prices compared to local wages, and the damaging effects of sales of registered social landlord stock under Right to Buy and Right to Acquire policies.
The research report is called The Provision of Affordable and Supported Housing in England’s National Parks. It is being published today by the Commission for Rural Communities (CRC) and the Housing Corporation (HC). It calls for National Park Authorities to pay much greater attention to their duty to foster the economic and social welfare of local communities and it applied more rigorously.
Planning policies in national parks are generally restrictive, but most national park authorities allow small developments of affordable housing, where they can be shown to meet proven local need. Many NPAs have been working with partners to develop innovative ways of addressing the problems. Both the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks have a policy to secure new developments for local occupancy. The Peak District National Park carried out a number of public consultations to develop their emerging Local Development Framework.
The importance of joint working in national parks, where planning and housing responsibilities lie within different authorities, is emphasised in the report and the researchers identified some good examples of successful collaborative working between national park authorities, local housing authorities and housing associations. In particular, national parks attach a great deal of importance to the role of Rural Housing Enablers (RHEs) in the Parks, which is shown to produce positive results, encouraging collaborative working between partnerships and working within communities.
Prior to the launch of the research, the CRC and the HC, held a joint seminar with the English National Park Authorities Association and a range of enablers and providers of affordable housing in National Parks. The seminar was extremely positive with discussion around key issues facing organisations working to provide affordable housing in national park areas such as: ensuring properties are kept affordable in perpetuity; making the best use of available housing stock; integrating sustainable constructive and conservation purposes for new developments; spreading best practice; targeting of housing corporation funding; and the growing burden of proving
housing need. The CRC will facilitate annual seminars to build on these
discussions and report on progress on joint solutions to identified barriers in the report. Dr Stuart Burgess Chairman of the Countryside Agency (the CRC’s parent
body) and Rural Advocate said “As the millions of us who visit national parks each year know, they are some of our most beautiful and treasured landscapes. We all agree that these landscapes need proper protection, but we should not forget that the communities within the parks are their
lifeblood. So, this means making sure that those people who live and work
in the parks have access to housing that is affordable to them. National Park Authorities are doing a great deal to make this happen and we will continue to work with them to ensure good practice is shared and developed further.”
Jon Rouse, Housing Corporation Chief Executive said: “Affordable housing in national parks is a successful product. It looks good and local people recognise the impact and positive effect of affordable housing on sustaining their community. More affordable housing is needed for local people with low incomes whose ability to find somewhere to live has been steadily eroded by rising house prices, second and holiday homes and by increases in retirement, commuting and the ability to work at home. The overall policy of restraint in the Parks should not be at the expense of a duty of fostering social and economic well being. We should use this report as a focus to plan how we go about achieving the affordable housing that our Parks need.”
