Shapps gives rural communities 'Right to Build' with new vision for village life

Housing Minister Grant Shapps this week visited Essendon, the birthplace for his vision for protecting rural villages for generations to come.

The Minister visited the local primary school, which this year had a pupil intake of less than 10. He saw the first efforts of budding architects and village planners as local schoolchildren showed him drawings of the dream houses they would want to see built in Essendon.

Mr Shapps was in the village to explain how, thanks to cutting red tape, a new right will allow people in rural villages to choose what is built in their area, helping to make sure that children who live there are protected against unwanted development in the future.

The 'Community Right to Build' will allow local people and communities across England to decide where to create new homes, shops business and facilities where they want them and where they are needed, not where local councils and central government think they should be and free from unnecessary red tape and bureaucracy.

Housing Minister Grant Shapps said: "Far from the Nimbyism that often hits the headlines, up and down the country there are entire communities willing and eager to give the go-ahead for new developments in their area.

"The countryside must be a vibrant place to live, and cannot be allowed to become a museum. I want to give communities the power to preserve their villages, which are currently struggling to survive because of a shortage of affordable homes."

Community Right to Build has the backing of celebrity builder and TV presenter Tommy Walsh. He said: "I've worked with people on community projects for many years, and in that time I've found that no one knows the needs of the community better than the people who live there.

"Whether it's building affordable housing to allow young people to remain in their village, housing for the elderly, new schools or even business developments to keep the community vibrant - if it's what the community wants, it should be made easier for them to do it.

"Any moves to cut red tape and help local people will certainly be welcomed by me."

Andy Boddington, Chairman of CPRE Shropshire, broadly welcomed the announcement and said:
“CPRE trusts local communities to make the right decisions. We would be surprised if rural communities in Shropshire voted for housing they did not need for local needs.

"Villagers treasure their local landscapes so they are unlikely to trash them with unnecessary and badly located housing development. They will be able to build community facilities as well as houses and that must be a good thing.”

“The trouble is that no one has a clue how this will work within the existing planning system. Will county planners be able to veto schemes they think are unsuitable. Will they still be able to foister development on unwilling villagers?

"We don’t yet know whether this is a eye-catching initiative or a true revolution in the way rural communities are planned.”

Midlands Rural Housing Managing Director Craig Felts said he welcomed recognition of the issue that more affordable housing is required, saying he supported any measures to increase the supply of affordable homes in rural villages to help local sustainability. However, he would wait to see the detail of the proposal and whether they are workable in practice.

Craig Felts said: “Although we have gone through a period when house prices have essentially fallen, they are still significantly more expensive in rural areas than they are in urban areas.

“Coupled with that is the fact that general salary levels are lower in rural areas, so local people are being effectively being priced out of the market and having to secure accommodation elsewhere, impacting on the sustainability of local services.”

Craig pointed out that there are already mechanisms for the delivery of affordable rural housing, which also invoke high levels of community consultation and have proved successful so far, but the issue has always been the speed of delivery and the volume involved.

Addressing the current planning process and funding issues would assist significantly in bringing forward more affordable rural homes, he said.