The south-west must make better use of planning powers to build affordable homes on greenfield sites if its housing crisis is to be addressed, according to the region’s new housing strategy.
The report, launched at the South West Regional Assembly’s affordable housing conference, said the region is a long way off meeting its regional planning guidance target of 20,200 homes, of which up to 10,000 should be affordable.

Better use of planning powers would allow the building of affordable housing earmarked for local people on village greenfield sites, it said.

Other recommendations included better use of agricultural and tied housing, the conversion of rural buildings and a density of 30-50 homes per hectare on rural brownfield sites.

Assembly chair Malcolm Hanney said: “We have high in-migration and substantial numbers of second homes and the speed at which affordable homes have been built has slowed significantly in recent years. However there are also difficulties with providing sufficient affordable housing through the current planning system and an understandable desire to avoid using our precious greenfield land. There is no single source of blame and no one agency can develop a solution.”

Source

Housing Today