Coastal towns and villages will benefit from the Government’s plans, announced in the Housing Green Paper ‘Homes for the future: more affordable, more sustainable’. We are providing at least £8 billion over the next three years to invest in the supply of housing, including an increase in affordable housing, initially through the Housing Corporation and then through the new homes agency. This is an increase of £3 billion compared to the previous three years and will help to deliver at least 70,000 more affordable homes a year by 2010-11. All areas, urban, rural and coastal will benefit from these resources.
Planning Policy Statement (PPS)3 for Housing encourages local and regional planning bodies to take more account of affordability when determining how many new homes are needed in their area. PPS3 includes stronger policies on affordable housing. The new definition of affordable housing will concentrate public funding and planning contributions on genuinely affordable housing. In addition, local authorities will be able to require developer contributions to affordable housing on smaller sites where it is viable.
Planning and housing policies at the local level should be based upon an up-to-date housing needs assessment for a particular area. The findings of the assessment will inform decisions on the level of housing provision and its distribution in local development frameworks and policies on affordable housing and housing mix. It will also allow local authorities to consider the housing demands and needs of specific groups of people including families with children, older people and disabled people, as well as the precise nature and location of the area, such as coastal towns and villages.