In the South-west, the one thing everyone knows is that the region desperately needs affordable homes. What they can’t agree on is where to build them. So will the new spatial strategy please any of the people, any of the time?

Variety is the spice of the South-west – from the national parks in Devon and Cornwall to inner cities further north and east, from the economic powerhouse of Bristol to deprived ex-tin mining towns such as Redruth in Cornwall. The one thing all these places have in common, however, is a lack of affordable homes.

Giving them all what they need is the job of the regional spatial strategy, the area’s blueprint for housing growth, which is out for consultation. It offers three suggestions, the pros and cons of each illustrating the range of needs across the region and the quandaries policy-makers face if they are to succeed in pleasing all of the people, all of the time.

The three options are: keeping the 11 areas of housing growth in the current strategy (Plymouth, Torbay, Exeter, Taunton, Bath, Weston-super-Mare, Bournemouth, Bristol, Swindon, Gloucester and Cheltenham); concentrating growth in the main cities; or spreading new homes more widely between cities, towns and countryside areas.

The second option risks starving smaller towns of growth while the third option could spread growth so widely as to increase commuting and reduce competitiveness.

Phil Deacon, the Housing Corporation’s head of investment for the South-west, sums up the dilemma: “If we’re going to deal in a sustainable fashion with the major household growth that’s set to come to the region, we have to deal with it through major urban areas and sustainable market towns where facilities are in place. Otherwise, it creates pressure on transport. But there has to be a recognition of demand in rural locations.”

The supply of housing in rural areas is of particular concern to Andy Moore, chief executive of Penwith Housing Association in Cornwall. He fears that to concentrate growth in urban areas would mean rural communities losing out on the affordable homes they need.

Countryside house prices in this part of the world are high (in North Cornwall houses cost more than six times the average income), fuelled by people from wealthier regions relocating or buying second homes, while wages are among the lowest in the country. As a result, the South-west’s coastal and rural towns are unaffordable for many people born there.

Moore fears that if housing growth is concentrated in the cities, developments outside those conurbations will be restricted to sites so small that they will fall under the threshold at which developers are required to contribute affordable homes through planning gain. Under that system, planning permission is given in return for the developer agreeing to provide affordable homes or other community facilities.

Moore says: “Where there are development constraints there should be additional funding to recognise that we cannot get planning gain subsidy into them.” He adds that market towns play an important role in making rural areas economically viable so growth within them is important. Unfortunately, it is just these towns that have been the relative losers in the current funding spilt.

The region’s towns and cities admit some extra growth is needed in the countryside but naturally favour the strategy that sends most of the growth their way, as prices are pushed up by high-earning newcomers and the popularity of buy-to-let schemes. In Bristol, for example, developers want to build luxury flats and large houses, leaving the more affordable end of the market languishing.

If we try to please everyone, we will please no one. That’s what happened in the Communities Plan

David Harrison, Teign Housing

David Warburton, area director for the South-west at regeneration quango English Partnerships, advocates building homes in cities in order to reduce commuting. Rural hubs, he proposes, should be made into self-sustaining places, again cutting back on travelling. By way of illustration, he mentions a scheme in Weston-super-Mare on which EP is working. “Weston is in decline and becoming a commuter settlement for Bristol: 70% of people commute from Weston and that is huge,” he explains. English Partnerships hopes the £10m, mixed-use development on an old RAF site in Weston will help make the town self-sustaining and reduce commuting.

The fourth way

Some of the region’s housing experts want to scrap the strategy’s three options and go for a different solution. David Harrison, former assistant director of investment in the eastern region at the Housing Corporation, now chief executive of Teign Housing in Devon, believes growth should be centred round the region’s major road and rail links – from Cheltenham to Plymouth and around the M5, for example.

“It’s transport infrastructure that drives growth,” he says. “The current proposals try to satisfy too many conflicting interests.

“If we try to please everyone we will please no one. That is what happened in the Communities Plan.”

There are certainly plenty of different groups to please. In all different types of area – poor, rich, urban and rural – houses are too expensive for people on low earnings.

Meanwhile, the region’s housing experts have until 26 November to put forward their views on the regional spatial strategy. Most have picked an option they are reasonably happy with and they will be able to negotiate over the details before the final version is published next autumn.

Then, the South-west will find out whether all its conflicting needs have been satisfied.

Homes on the range

The South-west is home to two national parks, Dartmoor and Exmoor, and borders on a third to the east, the New Forest. The national parks are planning authorities and have used their powers to make housing more affordable for local people.

Exmoor’s latest house price survey found prices in the park (pictured above) rose by £44,000 last year. An average home costs £344,000 – far beyond the reach of local people, who earn £17,000 on average. The resulting migration of young residents to other towns has had a drastic effect on the local economy.

“We are losing people between the ages of 18 and 30. We will have nobody to run the fabric of the community, like postman, plumbers and electricians,” says Chris France, head of planning and community at Exmoor National Park Authority. “A lot of villages can’t put a cricket team together because there are no young people.”

To push down house prices for locals, the authority hit on the idea of restricting new homes, or those made by the conversion of buildings such as barns, to 90 m2 – effectively, two to three bedrooms – and only allowing local people who could not afford an alternative house to buy them.

The scheme has the effect of pushing down the prices that housebuilders are prepared to pay for sites. “That reduces values by about 40%,” says France. A similar scheme in the Peak District has produced several hundred homes; Exmoor aims for 400 through the project by 2011.

From tin mines to sports cars

In the far south of the region, the three linked towns of Camborne, Poole and Redruth are trying to turn their fortunes around. The area was devastated by the closure of the tin mines and engineering plants in the 1990s and, as one of the Europe’s least prosperous areas, has been receiving Objective One funding – given to regions with less than 75% of EU average GDP – since 2000.

The area’s urban regeneration company, CPR Regeneration, is tasked with pumping life back into the local economy. CPR, with English Partnerships, has bought up derelict industrial sites. One is an old compressed-air plant in Camborne: in its heyday, it employed 4000 people. It will be redeveloped for housing and small businesses. A 400-unit housing estate is also planned for this area.

CPR is also encouraging manufacturers to relocate to the region to make use of the engineering skills of local people. It has already convinced one firm that makes sports car components to move from the South-east. “We are the best-placed area for economic development because the A30 is here and we have 60% of the developable brown land in Cornwall,” explains CPR’s chief executive, Tim Williams.

There is also to be a leisure centre on a former tin mine at Crofty. The project, called Spyrys, will include an indoor surfing pool. “There are 5 million tourists coming to Cornwall every year,” says Williams. “We want to be part of the booming Cornish tourist experience.”

In the north of the region, two urban regeneration companies are facing different challenges. New Swindon and Gloucester Heritage are trying to revive their respective town centres: Swindon has fallen victim to the American-style “doughnut” model of development, where offices have moved out of town, followed by retail and amenities, leaving the town centre somewhat run down. Gloucester’s town centre has also fallen out of fashion. Its impressive medieval structures are spoiled by newer buildings that have fallen into decay.

Bristol on the rise and England’s Barcelona

Bristol and Plymouth are two of the South-west’s biggest cities. Bristol is tackling the twin challenges of inner-city deprivation in some wards and overheating housing market in others. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the South-west, Plymouth is giving itself a radical facelift.
Bristol has found that economic success can present its own problems. House prices are pushed up as people move to the city from outside. There are also areas of inner-city deprivation, such as St Paul’s and Barton Hill, which are the focus of regeneration projects.

Bristol is home to hundreds of old prefabs and concrete houses, all of which are heading past their sell-by date. In response, the council has struck a deal worth about £100m with housebuilder Bovis to demolish most of the prefabs and replace them with new brick bungalows and houses. Under the deal, Bovis can build 450 homes for sale without paying for the plots providing they also build 400 council homes free of charge.

There are about 40 right-to-buy homeowners whose homes need to be knocked down under the plans. The council has pledged to give them money or a new on-the-site home to buy or rent as compensation. Although this promise has allayed the fears of many homeowners, some are still opposed to the demolition.

Over in Plymouth, regeneration is also happening apace. Rather like Camborne, the city is reviving sites associated with its past industries. In Plymouth’s case, this means regeneration of former Ministry of Defence property. “Plymouth has the opportunity for MoD disposals. The MoD is a big landowner and we are trying to take on sites that particularly appropriate for redevelopment,” says Clive Turner, director of housing. Renowned Barcelona architect David MacKay has drawn up a blueprint for Plymouth linking the city centre to the town’s waterfront. Housing plays a big role in the plans with 2000 new properties to be built. Mackay’s vision could increase the town’s population to 650,000 over 10 years.

The city is also working with nearby South Hams council on a new settlement in Sherford. South Hams is far more expensive than Plymouth and commuting has an impact on both districts.

A new study into housing markets in the South-west, by consultant DTZ Pieda, has recommended more of these joint developments. It found that the boundaries of some of the housing markets in the region do not match the borders of the local authorities.

As a consequence, local authorities will have to work together on developments and on meeting housing needs. This could mean joint housing registers, an option being discussed by some Dorset authorities.

South-west: the stats

  • Population 4.98 million – projected to rise to 5.01 million by 2006
  • Unemployment 3.8% – national average 5.0%
  • 2.12 million homes of which 75% are owner occupied, 7% rented from local authority, 11% are privately rented, and 7% rented through RSLs
  • Households receiving benefits (any benefit): 68% – national average 69%
  • Vandalism, burglary, and vehicle thefts (2002-2003): 3,125 per 10,000 households – national average 3,428 per 10,000 households

Who’s who in the south-west

Andrew Wiles, field director for the South-west, Housing Corporation
Wiles got the job as field director after Jon Rouse’s shake-up of the corporation’s structure in September. Formerly the director of regulation and best value for the South, he has worked in housing for about 25 years with registered social landlords and councils.

David Warburton, area director, English Partnerships
Warburton joined English Partnerships as head of sustainable communities in 2002.

A chartered town planner, he previously worked for the Prince’s Foundation as director of development and regeneration. He has also worked for developer Lovell and Cheshire county council.

David Trethewey, director of strategy and local government, South-west Regional Assembly
Trethewey is seconded to the regional assembly from Bath and North East Somerset council, where he was head of housing and supported living. He is responsible for integrating regional strategies, housing and transport, he also leads on policy work for the South-west local government association.

Ian Piper, head of regeneration and policy, South-west Regional Development Agency
Ian Piper joined the South-west Regional Development Agency in November 1999.
Piper previously worked with the London Docklands Development Corporation and developers Alfred McAlpine, YJ Lovell and Wimpey. Between 1990 and 1998, he was a freelance economic development consultant working with English Partnerships, Tipton City Challenge and the Black Country Development Corporation.

Andy Moore, chair of the National Housing Federation in the South-west
Chief executive of Penwith Housing Association for the past decade, Moore has worked in housing for 25 years. He previously worked for the Rural Housing Trust and East Midlands Housing Association. Moore is also chair of West Cornwall Together, the local strategic partnership for Penwith and Kerrier districts.

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Housing Today