Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to allow local planning authorities in rural communities to (1) set the threshold for affordable housing, and (2) decide the tenure for affordable housing.

This Government believes that meeting the housing needs of rural communities is important. We’re increasing the supply of affordable housing and investing over £12 billion in affordable housing over 5 years, the largest investment in affordable housing in a decade. This includes the new £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme, should economic conditions allow.

Since April 2010, over 190,000 affordable homes have been provided in rural local authorities in England. And between April 2015 and March 2020, 11% of new build additional Affordable Homes have been delivered in villages with a population of fewer than 3000, and we recognise the importance of these settlements for both economic and housing growth.

The Government has given councils a comprehensive range of tools to deliver a new generation of council housing and have a key role in the delivery of affordable housing:

• A package of reforms that give local authorities increased flexibility over how they can spend their Right to Buy receipts on replacement homes. This package will make it easier for authorities to fund homes using Right to Buy receipts including homes for social rent; allow authorities greater flexibility over the types of homes they provide to reflect the needs of their communities; give authorities more time to use receipts and to develop ambitious build programmes; and make sure more new build replacements are delivered instead of acquisitions, contributing to net supply.
• Government abolished the Housing Revenue Account borrowing cap in 2018, enabling local authorities to borrow for building.
• In terms of planning, national policy is clear that affordable housing contributions should not be sought for developments of fewer than 10 units. This is to ensure that a disproportionate burden of developer contributions is not placed on Small and Medium-sized builders. In designated rural areas policies may set out a lower threshold of five units or fewer.