Local Connections Housing Study (2010)
This study examines the likely effectiveness of the Core Strategy's Preferred Option Policy CP20. It considers how affordable housing sites could be best facilitated in the District's rural areas, particularly mechanisms which could assist rural housing provision.
The study concludes that there is a lack of evidence that policy CP20 would increase affordable housing provision and recommends that the policy should not be pursued. Instead, it recommends that the Core Strategy should retain a 'rural exceptions' policy for 100% affordable housing and that such a policy could be operated, subject to local needs, to allow up to 30% of units to be forms of intermediate affordable housing, to meet an identified local need. This would give more of an incentive to landowners, whilst avoiding the loss of affordable units to market housing.