Much needed boost for affordable housing needs
The provision of affordable housing for Wealden’s villages has received a much-needed boost after the District’s Development Control South sub-committee resolved to approve 16 new affordable homes to be built in Herstmonceux.
The scheme will provide 12 homes at low rents which can never be sold on; and a further four two-bedroom homes available for shared ownership. These will never be able to be sold outright into private hands.
“This is a long-needed boost to the Council’s HOPe – (Housing Our People Scheme),” said Councillor Margaret Kirkpatrick, Cabinet member for Housing.
“In our last Rural Housing Needs survey, 46 households in Herstmonceux were identified as requiring some form of affordable housing, 12 of which were looking for shared ownership accommodation. Yet during last year, only nine affordable homes became available to let. There is a crying need to develop more affordable housing in this parish.
“But Herstmonceux is just one of over 40 parishes in Wealden which is facing acute problems in meeting the housing needs of local people on local wages or those who are retired. We want to work with other parishes to find suitable sites which can be utilised to create affordable housing on a permanent basis. This sort of provision is vital for the future of our villages.”
The Housing Corporation is to provide grant funding of £969,000 to help build the scheme at North Lodge, Hailsham Road , Herstmonceux.
The new homes will be built to meet the Eco Homes Very Good standard, which means they will use less water and be 25 per cent more carbon efficient than current standards. As well as the houses being more eco-friendly, this will also mean lower running costs for the occupiers.
Although part of the site is outside the village’s development boundary, an element of this had been allocated as a HOPe site within the Council’s Non-Statutory Local Plan. The other part of the site was considered under the long-standing ‘exceptions’ policy, which allows affordable housing to be constructed outside of a defined development boundary, where specific requirements can be met. Such land outside of the development boundary would not have been granted planning permission for any other form of housing development.
