Tuesday 21 April 2015
Media enquiry from the Guernsey Press
Dear Holly
As discussed below is some questions for Deputy Burford following our Page 1 today:
Leading developers, builders and architects have said the house building will grind to a halt, putting hundreds of jobs at risk, if the draft Island Development Plan is adopted.
Their worries stem from the proposal that between 20% and 30% of developments of five buildings or more would have to be affordable housing.
The consultation representation letter was signed by 19 companies, warning that half of the 2,000 homes they have built would never have gone ahead if the new plan was in place. The letter also said that the proposals were based on out-of-date UK ideas, which have already been shown to choke developments. They have since been relaxed or removed to reduce the problem.
- As Environment Minister, how does Deputy Burford respond to these claims?
- Given the amount of hard work that the department put into the draft plan, how does it feel with claims that the proposals are based on out-of-date UK ideas?
- Is Deputy Burford confident that this plan is the right approach for the future?
- Any other comments.
As mentioned if it is possible to get a response by 3.30pm today it would be much appreciated as it is for tomorrow's paper.
Kind regards,
Nicola Gibbons
News Reporter
Environment Department Response:
The Initial Representations period for the draft Island Development Plan has now closed and it is understood that a representation has been made along the lines described in the Press Article today. This representation along with the Environment Department's response will be considered by the Independent Planning Inspectors dealing with the Public Inquiry into the draft Island Development Plan in due course.
Affordable housing is comprised of Social housing and Intermediate housing. In general terms Social housing is owned and controlled by the Housing Department or a registered Housing Association and is generally reserved for households on low incomes. Intermediate Housing includes specialised housing (i.e. supported or extra-care housing), partial ownership housing or similar schemes mainly for households that do not qualify for social housing but cannot meet the full cost of renting or buying appropriate housing on the private market. The draft Island Development Plan seeks to increase the supply of both these forms of affordable housing and in this way contribute to improving housing affordability on Guernsey.
To achieve this, the draft Island Development Plan requires proposals of five or more dwellings to provide a proportion of the site for affordable housing. The proportion of the site to be provided ranges from 20% to 30%, depending on the size of the proposal. Where the provision of land is not feasible, the Department will consider the provision of completed units or off-site provision. It is important to note that if the relevant policy of the Island Development Plan would result in it not being viable to proceed with a housing development, the affordable housing requirement may be reduced; in these circumstances the Department will consider the circumstances of the particular proposal and will require the percentage of affordable housing provision which is viable for the site. This provision has been included to ensure that housing schemes only contribute as much affordable housing as they can afford so that the policy does not have a detrimental effect on housing construction overall.
It is anticipated that developers will factor in the costs of providing affordable housing into their development finance and the price they pay for a site so that it will be land owners' expectations on land value that will be affected rather than a cost to the developer.
The Department has developed a detailed and comprehensive body of evidence to support the approach to affordable housing in the draft Island Development Plan. The Department has also issued draft supplementary planning guidance to assist developers in working with the draft Island Development Plan in this regard. Housing affordability continues to be a long term issue on Guernsey; in comparison to the UK Local Authorities Guernsey ranks alongside the least affordable places in which to live. The Island Development Plan makes an important contribution to increasing the supply of housing, including affordable housing, and seeks to address the challenge of ensuring that households that would not otherwise be able to afford a property appropriate to their needs can do so, and that appropriate housing is available to meet all of the Island community's housing needs. As done through the recent initial representations consultations, the Department welcomes and encourages all parties to make a reasoned contribution to the preparation of the Island Development Plan to ensure its success for all Islanders.
It should be noted that existing planning permissions for housing development will not be affected by the draft Island Development Plan. Currently there are planning permissions for over 700 dwellings; this equates to just over two years supply of housing for the Island. The Environment Department is required to maintain a minimum two-year supply of housing permissions which it has achieved since 2002.
Note on UK affordable housing policy:
UK planning policy is not applicable to Guernsey. The Department has not sought to duplicate UK policy or policies from other jurisdictions and has instead developed a Guernsey-specific evidence base and a Guernsey-specific approach to affordable housing. It should also be noted that there is a wide variety, if not hundreds of affordable housing policies in the UK which, as with the Environment Department's approach, are tailored to local circumstances within which they operate.
As a comparison to Guernsey, in recent years the UK planning system has been comprehensively overhauled by the UK Conservative Government. Despite these fundamental changes, affordable housing policies that require private housing schemes to contribute a proportion of affordable housing remain a mainstay of UK national and Local Authority housing policy. In some UK Local Authorities the affordable housing requirement is as high as 50%. As with the Environment Department's approach, it is important that affordable housing policy is sufficiently flexible to take account of changing market conditions over time. Affordable housing policies in UK Local Authorities have in many cases been amended in light of changed economic circumstances to ensure overall housing development continues. House building in the UK has recently started to increase, and affordable housing supply continues to form an essential part of that supply.
