Rural housing

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Rural housing where does it fit in?
Constructions of the countryside and sustainable
rural communities

• John Sturzaker
• University of Newcastle upon Tyne

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Contents

• Introduction
• Constructions of the countryside
• Embodiment of these narratives
• The influence of the CPRE and others
• Constructions of rural sustainability
• Government planning policy
• Local interpretations of national policy
• Possible outcomes

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Introduction

• ESRC project looking at the social and
  micro-spatial effects of planning policy
• Affordable housing has been an issue in rural
  areas for 30 years
• Planning policy changes frequently
• Does that imply fundamental problems with the
  planning system?
• Ongoing case studies to explore these issues

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What is constructionism?

• Social constructionism focuses on discourse as
  the vehicle through which the world is
  articulated (Gergen, 1999).
• So terms such as countryside, sustainability,
  affordable housing, etc are socially
  constructed, and hence can have different
  meanings to different people.

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Constructions of the countryside

• Two main narratives (Murdoch, 2003)
• Pastoralism, rooted in the urbanisation of the
  18th and 19th centuries. Pastoralists seek top
  protect their notion of the rural idyll.
• Modernism, embracing new development on the basis
  that the benefits of urban society should also be
  available to those who live in rural areas.

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The pastoralist lobby

• The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE)
  wants

A beautiful, tranquil and diverse countrysidewe
strive to ensure that change and development
respect the character of Englands landscapes,
enhancing the environment for the enjoyment and
benefit of all
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The modernist lobby

• The Commission for Rural Communities (CRC), has
  an aspiration that

Englands rural communities should be diverse,
thriving and sustainable, where everyone is able
to play a full part in society and where no-one
is disadvantaged.
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The influence of the CPRE 1

• Approximately 60,000 members 0.1 of the
  population of England.
• Study in 2000 found that they achieved prominence
  in five times more articles on the urban
  containment debate than any other interest group.
• Government promoting community involvement
  excellent idea in theory.
• Some interest groups have a disproportionate
  interest (Healey et al, 1988).

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The influence of the CPRE 2

• More votes in restricting development benefits
  concentrated in particular areas, whereas costs
  are more dispersed.
• Interesting tactics used by CPRE
• Already 21 miles of square countryside, an area
  larger than Southampton, are lost each year
  (CPRE, 2006)
• It would take 1,687 years to develop all the
  agricultural land in England at that rate!

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Constructions of sustainable rural communities

• The Government does not define precisely what it
  considers to be a sustainable rural community.
• Hints in planning policy guidance.
• Differing interpretations at local level.
• The CRC commissioned five thinkpieces to try
  and identify what it meant none completely
  successful.

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Government policy the planning system

• The Scott Report reported that new housing was
  essential in the countryside, but that
  agricultural land and rural amenity should be
  protected.
• Town and Country Planning Act (1947) focussed
  only on the latter.
• Planning policy has changed many times, but the
  central tenant of rural planning remains that new
  development should be strictly controlled.

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Planning Policy Guidance 3

• 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

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Planning Policy Statement 3

• Local Planning Authorities should set the
  criteria to be used for identifying broad
  locations (for development) and specific sites
  taking into account
• The need to provide housing in rural areas, not
  only in market towns and local service centres
  but also in villages in order to enhance or
  maintain their sustainability.
• BUT Housing developments (should be) in
  suitable locations, which offer a good range of
  community facilities and with good access to
  jobs, key services and infrastructure

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Planning Policy Statement 7

• New building development in the open countryside
  away from existing settlements, or outside areas
  allocated for development in development plans,
  should be strictly controlled the Government's
  overall aim is to protect the countryside for the
  sake of its intrinsic character and beauty, the
  diversity of its landscapes, heritage and
  wildlife, the wealth of its natural resources and
  so it may be enjoyed by all.

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Local interpretation of policy

• Local authorities try to define sustainable
  settlements on the basis of Government advice.
• This tends to lead to the identification of
  settlement hierarchies, with some villages
  deemed to have too few services for new housing.
• Two issues Does this approach work, and is it
  ethically sound?

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Case studies

• This project will look at five rural local
  authorities from different regions in England.
• They have two ways to generate affordable housing
  through the planning system
• Section 106 sites, a proportion of market housing
  to be affordable.
• Rural exceptions sites.

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Differing contexts, same problem

• Alnwick District, based around the town of
  Alnwick in Northumberland.
• Demand from commuters, second home owners and
  retirees.
• Harrogate Borough, in North Yorkshire.
• 20 minutes from Leeds
• Part of the Golden triangle with Leeds and
  York.
• Both have stringent affordable housing policies

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Alnwick District Council 1

• New policy in March 2005
• Seeking affordable housing on sites over 10
  units/0.33 hectare or 3 units/0.1 hectare.
• Target of 35 in main towns.
• Policy not part of the development plan, so open
  to challenge.
• 22 affordable houses built in last four years
  need of 228 in next five years.

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Alnwick District Council 2

• Settlement hierarchy
• some hamlets in which no development is
  acceptablepeople in housing need stand the best
  chance of a more sustainable, included lifestyle,
  in slightly larger settlements, where there may
  be a shop or there is a little bit more in terms
  of service base.
• Likely to be s106 sites only in the three towns
  in the District.

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Harrogate Borough Council 1

• Selective alteration to local plan in May 2005
• Part of the statutory development plan.
• Requirement for affordable housing on sites over
  15 units/0.5 hectare or 3 units/0.1 hectare.
• 50 target in use across the District since 2002.
• 150 affordable units since 2002 (43).

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Harrogate Borough Council 2

• If its good enough for housing its good enough
  for affordable housing, you just have to get the
  tenure right.
• sustainability is not a bus stopbugger that,
  its not about a bus stop. If youre talking
  rural areas, sustainability is about keeping
  local people living and working in their local
  area keeping the villages alive, keeping the
  local areas alive.

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The difference between policy and reality

• People are strategically disobedient (Shorten,
  2005).
• Real cost of motoring has fallen by 9 since
  1980, bus and rail travel 35 more expensive.
• Hypermobility of some residents mean they have
  their cake and eat it.
• Lack of affordable housing in rural settlements
  spatial exclusion.

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Conclusion

• Ethically questionable to exclude the poor from
  rural areas.
• Practically questionable as well economic and
  social arguments for widening the meaning of
  sustainability beyond the availability of bus
  stops and post offices.
• Tinkering with planning policy or providing more
  money pointless.

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I couldnt say it better myself!

• Unless planning policy is changed to put more
  emphasis on social justice, move beyond a
  symbolic cloak of national difference, and take a
  balanced view of what sustainability means, the
  planning system in rural areas is likely to
  remain a vehicle more suited to preventing
  development than to promoting affordable housing
  (Satsangi and Dunmore, 2003)