H.O.P.E (Housing Our PEople) Project
Providing rural affordable homes
Wealden District Council is working in partnership with the rural Parish Councils in the District, Action in Rural Sussex and the Countryside Agency (now known as the Commission for Rural Communities and Natural England) to tackle the problem of local people being priced out of the housing market. The partners have been working together since October 2003 on a unique project called H.O.P.E.
This project is one of the first in the country to use the proposed changes in Planning Policy Guidance Note 3 (PPG3), to allocate sites for affordable housing in Local Plans. This project formed part of Wealden's submission to become a Beacon Council. In addition, this project has received national recognition in the recent Affordable Rural Housing Commission's report.
Housing Needs Survey
During January to March 2004, a comprehensive Housing Needs Survey was sent out to every household in the 38 parishes, which was approximately 35,000 forms! 41% of households returned their forms, which gave the project team and the Parish Councils a good picture of the housing need. A snapshot of the problems are as follows:
- the average annual household income is £22,388
- the average house price of a terraced house in Wealden is currently £179,232 (Source: www.landreg.gov.uk Apr-June 2006)
- young people aged 16+ cannot afford to buy a property in the villages where they grew up
- only 210 households were on Wealden's Housing Register
- most people would prefer to remain in their own parish
- due to the gap between local household incomes and house prices most people can only afford to rent
Sites
Over the past 18 months the Council has been tirelessly working within it's rural communities to appraise potential sites and then consult with local communities. A total of 12 sites have now been allocated in the Council draft Local Plan and it is hoped that these will produce in the region of 90 new units of accommodation in rural parishes. In a rural context this is a substantial development program. |
Some rural affordable properties at Bells Yew Green in Frant |
The Council's Housing Strategy & Development Team are now working with their Housing Association partners to produce detailed designs of these schemes in advance of the first planning application being submitted Spring 2006.
This new housing will be of an extremely high design and look to incorporate local materials in the construction. In particular the Council has been exploring ways of utilising chestnut coppicing as the favoured form of timber and introducing environmental products such as solarpower or forms of water re-cycling to help keep the running costs of the houses down and produce environmentally sensitive dwellings.
Sites have been identified in the following parishes:
| Danehill | Herstmonceux |
| Mayfield | Laughton |
| Hadlow Down | Hellingly |
| Wadhurst | Alfriston |
| Frant |
In need of affordable housing
If you have a local connection to a parish and are in affordable housing need then please fill in a Housing Register application form (pdf) in order to be considered for one of the new properties.
Further Information
If you would like to know more about the HOPE project please email housing@wealden.gov.uk