Rural Housing Partnership is seeking to acquire small parcels of land outside of the settlement boundary in pre-planning condition.

 

Do you own a field, a small piece of land or even an unused paddock on the edge of a village and are frustrated with the lack of opportunity to bring your site forward for development?

 

Perhaps you have tried to get a site allocated in the local plan and been unsuccessful or told you have no chance of getting planning permission.  Whilst an adopted local plan allocates sites for housing and a “settlement boundary” drawn round the village means your land falls within the 'countryside'; there is a powerful tool in the planning system that allows you to build new homes outside of the settlement boundary without relying on the need for an allocation in the Local Plan.

 

If there is a housing need in the village, then a Rural Exception scheme could be your answer. Rural Exception Sites offer landowners a constructive route through planning that balances community need with landowner opportunity.

 

Whilst  rural exception sites are not about maximising land value, they do offer a reasonable return-particularly when land has limited development prospects. Such schemes often provide significantly lower than full residential value, but can be significantly higher than agricultural value. Planning Policy allows for 'market housing' on these sites to facilitate the affordable housing through cross subsidy. 

 

However, we understand this is not easy. We will work collaboratively with the parish council, community,  and commission an independent housing need survey if required. We utilise our in-house knowledge and experience to take developments from the land acquisition stage, through planning, construction and handover of homes to a Registered Provider. 

 

We are aware of many villages that would benefit from a rural exception site and/or are currently trying to find land that is suitable for an affordable housing scheme. 

 

If you own land outside the settlement boundary and are in a position to consider the benefit of selling a small parcel for a rural exception scheme then get in touch.

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