HCA welcomes Government boost for rural communities
1 December 2009
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The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) today welcomed Government measures aimed at helping sustain rural communities and maintain a supply of affordable housing.
Communities and Local Government (CLG) and the Department for Rural Affairs (DEFRA) have pledged their support for a £1m Rural Masterplanning Fund aimed at local planning authorities in rural areas who can bid for expert assistance in preparing masterplans. The Fund, to be administered by the HCA and CABE, will help councils work closely with local communities to develop masterplans. Crucially, as a learning process, it will also help identify best practice that will provide a model for rural authorities right across the country.
Through the HCA’s consultancy panel, local authorities will be able to appoint specialist consultants to carry out urban design studies or masterplans for individual sites without having to undertake an OJEU process. The HCA consultants’ panels have already been pre-qualified, and can therefore be appointed following a fast track process. This work is separate to the programme of work already being carried out by the HCA and CABE with local authorities.
Government has also put forward proposals to incentivise landowners to bring forward additional land for rural affordable housing. These measures are just some of the concrete actions to have come out of the 2008 Matthew Taylor Report on rural communities, and Implementation Plan, also recently published by Government.
HCA Chief Executive Sir Bob Kerslake said:
'We wholeheartedly welcome these measures by Government, which are a vital step in addressing the pressing housing need in rural communities. These areas face particular challenges in maintaining a decent supply of homes that are affordable for local people even on modest incomes.
We are committed to helping our local authority partners deliver sustainable developments for communities, and these initiatives will help ensure a long-term coordinated approach to continued development, and more land being brought forward for affordable housing. This will help guarentee the survival of rural communities as thriving places people can afford.'
The Agency will be assessing all bids in conjunction with CABE. The closing date for all bids is 15 January 2010.
A copy of the bidding prospectus is available at on the CLG website
Ends
The CLG/DEFRA Rural Masterplanning Fund was announced by Housing Minister John Healey and Rural Affairs Minister Dan Norris on 27th November 2009.
The £1m support will be spent over two years (2009/10 – 2010/11) and is being funded by Communities and Local Government and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Notes to editors:
The Matthew Taylor Implementation Plan is here.
Matthew Taylor, MP for Truro and St Austell, conducted a review on how land use and planning can better support rural business and deliver affordable housing. His report Living Working Countryside was published in July 2008. Please find a copy of the report here.
The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) is the single, national housing and regeneration agency for England. Our role is to create opportunity for people to live in high quality, sustainable places. We provide funding for affordable housing, bring land back into productive use and improve quality of life by raising standards for the physical and social environment.
In early 2009, the HCA funded its first Community Land Trust (CLT) at Holy Island in Northumberland, which has guarenteed a supply of affordable housing for this rural community in perpetuity.