Part B Development Management Policy - Draft Local Plan for Buckinghamshire (Reg 18)

2.2.1 Affordable housing is defined in the NPPF as housing for sale or rent, for those whose needs are not met by the market (including housing that provides a subsidised route to home ownership and/or is for essential local workers). This can include social rent, discounted market sales housing which is sold at a discount of at least 20% below local market value, shared ownership and rent to buy. However, the Council is committed to bringing Shared Ownership tenures forward on development sites unless exceptional circumstances can be proven. Discounted Market Sale is not an affordable tenure within Buckinghamshire, made evident by the Local Housing Needs Assessment.

2.2.2 For context, the level of affordable housing required is currently different in the legacy authority areas depending on what the requirement is in the relevant Local Plan. In the Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan (VALP), which covers the north and central areas, Policy H1 requires 25% affordable housing on developments of 11 or more dwellings, or sites of 0.3ha and above. In the Wycombe District Local Plan (WDLP), which covers the west area, Policy DM24 requires on developments of 10 or more dwellings or more than 1,000 sqm of residential floorspace that are greenfield land or last used for Class B business use or similar use to provide 48% affordable housing. For other developments of 10 or more dwellings or more than 1,000 sqm of residential floorspace they should provide 35% affordable housing. In the Core Strategy for Chiltern District, which covers the east area, Policy CS8 requires 40% affordable housing in developments of 15 dwellings or more with a stepped requirement for sites below 15 dwellings. In the South Bucks Core Strategy, which covers the south area, Policy CP3 requires sites of 5 dwellings or more, or sites of 0.16 ha and above to provide 40% affordable housing. Since some of the policies were adopted national policy has introduced a threshold for affordable housing requirements, which is currently that affordable housing requirements shouldn't usually be sought for developments under 10 dwellings.

2.2.3 NPPF paragraph 63 requires Local Planning authorities to establish the needs of those who require affordable housing (including Social Rent). The draft Buckinghamshire Local Housing Needs Assessment (LHNA) 2025 has therefore been prepared.

Requirement

2.2.4 The majority of affordable housing in Buckinghamshire is achieved by requiring developers to provide affordable homes as part of open market housing developments. To enable the council to meet the identified need, it will seek to secure 40% affordable housing with specifically 59% of Social Rent required on qualifying development sites. The draft Buckinghamshire LHNA 2025 identifies an affordable housing need of 35,552 dwellings during the Plan period. This equates to 40% of Buckinghamshire's overall housing need, whilst more affordable housing will be delivered on sites within or being released from the Green Belt to achieve the required number of affordable homes an allowance must still be made for the developments which will be below the 10-house threshold, outside of the Chilterns National Landscape, and will not deliver affordable housing. It considered that a rate of 40% on the housing sites over 10 or more dwellings, and a financial contribution towards specialist/supported housing proposed in policy HO8, will deliver the required total of affordable housing within the plan period.

2.2.5 These requirements apply to all residential schemes that include self-contained units which provide all the facilities of a single dwelling, regardless of their use class. This includes C2 or extra care units.

2.2.6 In line with the NPPF the provisions set out in the policy above will be reduced by a proportionate amount if the proposal supports vacant buildings which are being reused or redeveloped, cases where this doesn't apply are set out in footnote 30 of the NPPF.

2.2.7 Where the affordable housing policy would result in a requirement that part of an affordable home should be provided, the calculation will be rounded upwards, with social rent units taking precedence in all circumstances.

Tenure Mix

2.2.8 For the tenure mix, a tenure other than shared ownership will only be agreed in exceptional circumstances for that proportion of the mix and where evidence has been provided.

Location and Clustering

2.2.9 Affordable housing should be provided on the application site as this offers the best prospect of ensuring a mixed and balanced community. To achieve this, it will be important to avoid the affordable dwellings being overly concentrated in only a few areas of a development. Affordable homes will therefore be expected to be integrated throughout the development site.

2.2.10 Service charge affordability will be a material consideration when concerning location and clustering of affordable housing proposed on sites. While tenure blindness is crucial in ensuring cohesive mixed communities, registered providers have a preference for managing buildings that are 100% affordable. This can still achieve tenure blindness through separate entrances and cores which should be considered an acceptable design response.

Financial contributions

2.2.11 Exceptionally, off-site provision or financial contributions in lieu of affordable housing may be considered by the council where it can be demonstrated by an applicant that on-site provision cannot be achieved. Exceptional circumstances where this might be acceptable include sites that are too small to attract a Registered Provider, it can be evidenced that Registered Providers are not willing to take on the type of affordable housing proposed, if the proposal is for C2 development that is not self contained flats, the tenure is being delivered in one block which would result in financial hardship to residents and quality standards can not be achieved to abnormally high constraints. All exceptional circumstances are examined on a case-by-case basis during the application process.

Threshold

2.2.12 Planning applications will be checked to ensure that sites have not been sub-divided to take them below the threshold. This is to ensure that applicants and sites provide the appropriate level of affordable housing contribution or affordable housing units on sites that are suitable. If this is the case each parcel of the larger site, even if it's under 10 units, will be expected to provide affordable housing on a pro-rata basis.

2.2.13 Only organisations that are registered with the Regulator of Social Housing are accepted as being registered providers (RPs). RPs own and manage affordable housing stock in Buckinghamshire. Early engagement with RPs is beneficial as this can reduce design related issues with the dwellings. The council maintains a list of RP partners that are known to be active in Buckinghamshire, which can be provided upon request. The Council will expect new affordable housing to be transfers to RPs who will own and manage their stock.

2.2.14 The allocation of affordable housing will be made in accordance with the Council's relevant allocations policy. Affordable homes are to remain affordable in perpetuity or, if this restriction is lifted, the subsidy should be recycled for alternative affordable housing provision within Buckinghamshire.

2.3 Accessible housing

2.3.1 An accessible home supports changing needs of residents from raising children through to mobility issues faced in old age or through disability. This essentially allows people to live in their home for as much of their life as possible. Such homes have design features that have been tailored to foster accessible living, helping to accommodate old age, injury, disability, pregnancy and pushchairs or enable future adaptation to accommodate this diversity of use.

2.3.2 The standards for housing to meet Building Regulations requirement M4 (2) and M4 (3) relate to the layout of self-contained homes for permanent occupancy. Meeting Building Regulations requirement M4 (2) and M4 (3) will normally be controlled through the use of a planning condition to ensure that the relevant homes are delivered to meet the standards. The Council is able to accept minor variations to the standards under exceptional circumstances. The National Planning Practice Guidance^[1] states that local plan policies for wheelchair accessible homes should only be applied to those dwellings where the local authority is responsible for allocating or nominating a person to live in that dwelling. In the interest of mixed and balanced communities, the Council would also encourage developers to build wheelchair accessible market homes.

2.4 Self and custom-build housing

2.4.1 'Self-build' is the practice of creating an individual home for yourself. The self-builder's input into this process may vary, from undertaking the actual building work to contracting it all out to an architect or building company or contracting the development of the shell of a building before completing the internal work themselves. 'Custom Build' housing is where the home is custom built to the individual's specification, as opposed to being designed and built by a construction company to a standard specification for sale. It can also be built or commissioned by individuals or groups of individuals.

2.4.2 The legal definition of self-build and custom housing contained in the Self-Build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015 (as amended by the Housing and Planning Act 2016) is 'the building or completion by individuals, associations of individual, or persons working with of for individuals or associations of individuals, of houses to be occupied as homes by those individuals… (but) does not include the building of a house on a plot acquired from a person who builds the house wholly or mainly to plans or specifications decided or offered by that person'. For the purposes of this policy, the definition will be used to determine whether or not a proposal can be considered as a self-build or custom build.

2.4.3 Under the Act, we are obliged to maintain a register of people who are seeking to acquire land to build their own home in Buckinghamshire. The Act also obliges us to give enough development permissions for serviced plots to meet the demand from the people on the register – Policy HO4 aims to help achieve this.

2.4.4 The NPPF (2024) para. 63 states that planning policies should reflect the size, type and tenure of housing needed for different groups in the community including people who wish to commission or build their own homes. Supporting the delivery of self-build or custom housebuilding can contribute to greater housing choice and potentially provide lower cost options for households than the traditional housing market. It can also result in innovative and sustainable design and construction and result in high quality, efficient homes.

2.4.5 A plot passport should be issued with every self/ custom build plot, setting out the rules for design as well as a summary of the main features to be delivered. The passports will serve as a key reference point for the purchaser, capturing relevant information from the planning permission, design code, design constraints and procedural requirements in a simple format. They must include, as a minimum:

• the plot location and size;
• back-to-back distances;
• permissible building lines;
• side spacing requirements;
• developable footprint;
• building height restrictions; and
• boundary treatments
• parking and cycle storage.

2.5 Houses in multiple occupation

2.5.1 Housing in multiple occupation (HMO) are flats or houses permanently occupied by more than one household, where each household does not have exclusive access to all cooking, washing and toilet facilities behind a locked front door. In planning terms, HMOs are split into two different use classes, based on the number of occupants:

• A small HMO – a shared dwelling house occupied by between three and six unrelated individuals who share basic amenities such as a kitchen or bathroom. This falls into use class C4 and permitted development rights enable a flat or house (in use class C3) to change use to use class C4 without submission of a planning application;
• A larger HMO – more than six unrelated individuals sharing basic amenities such as a kitchen or bathroom. This falls outside the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order and is categorised as sui generis.

2.5.2 Proposals for smaller HMOs (use class C4) will be considered in the same way as a proposal for C3 residential development. HMOs have an important role to play within the local housing market. They provide a range of shared accommodation, predominantly occupied by students and young professionals. However, it is acknowledged that HMOs can reduce the number of family homes and impact negatively on the character of an area and contribute to local parking problems. Furthermore, people living in HMOs often struggle to have their own private open space and this makes access to parks and public open spaces especially important to their occupants.

2.5.3 An over concentration of HMOs can result in:

• Areas with poor upkeep and maintenance of rented housing
• Dilapidation of some housing stock and housing facades (e.g. windows, doors and guttering)
• Unkempt gardens and yards, with the dumping of some unwanted white goods and furniture
• Removal of some garden hedges/fences/walls to allow tarmacking for car parking on gardens and driveways
• Predominance of loft conversions and housing extensions
• Prevalence of to-let signs, and non-removal of signs
• Seasonal depopulation, pointing to relatively high levels of population transience and turnover
• Overspill from refuse bags and wheelie bins, particularly in alleyways
• Some fly-tipping of white-goods and unwanted furniture in backs of streets of terraced housing
• Streets crammed with parked cars

2.5.4 Other authorities have adopted specific thresholds above which new HMOs are not permitted. For example, these authorities use the following thresholds:

• Milton Keynes: the number of HMOs should not exceed 35% of the total number of properties within 100m of the application property;
• Northampton: it should not result in more than 10% of the total number of HMO dwellings within 50m radius of the application site; and

2.5.5 Bedford: the total number of HMO households will not exceed 30% within 100m radius of the property. The Council will develop guidance to support the definition of over-concentration of HMOs.

2.6 Travelling communities' accommodation needs

2.6.1 The council is required to set pitch and plot targets for Gypsies and Travellers and plot targets for Travelling Showpeople, which address the likely permanent and transit site accommodation needs. It is required to identify and annually update a five-year supply of deliverable Traveller sites and to identify a supply of specific, developable sites.

2.6.2 Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers form an ethnic minority group and are legally protected from discrimination under the Equalities Act 2010, the Children and Families Act 2014 and the Human Rights Act 1998. Government guidance sets out that councils should assess and meet Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople's accommodation needs in the same way as other accommodation needs, including the identification of land for sites. The Government guidance on this is specifically set out in the Planning Policy for Traveller Sites (PPTS). This was first published in March 2012 and updated in December 2024.

2.6.3 The Gypsy and Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Accommodation Needs Assessment (2025) assessed the needs for travellers during the plan period. It sets out the following needs for Buckinghamshire, breaking it down into 5 year periods.

Table 2: Need for Gypsy and Travellers households

Table 3: Need for Travelling Showpeople households

2.6.4 The PPTS, December 2024, sets out in Annex 1 the definition of gypsies and travellers for the purposes of planning policy as:

"Persons of nomadic habit of life whatever their race or origin, including such persons who on grounds only of their own or their family's or dependants' educational or health needs or old age have ceased to travel temporarily or permanently, and all other persons with a cultural tradition of nomadism or of living in a caravan, but excluding members of an organised group of travelling showpeople or circus people travelling together as such."

2.6.5 The needs of those households who were surveyed during the GTAA and met this planning definition are captured in the PPTS Needs columns of tables 2 and 3. For the households where interviews were not untaken, their needs are captured as undetermined needs. Whilst their status has not been determined it is assumed that they are likely to meet the new planning definition.

2.7 Travelling communities' accommodation policy

2.7.1 This policy sets out a criteria-based approach to assess potential allocations and any applications for new sites or for expanding current sites within Buckinghamshire. This is required to ensure that Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople accommodation is provided in suitable locations. When considering the location of a proposed site and if it has reasonable and safe access to local services and facilities regard should be given to if there are known to be children living on the site and if so access to schools are of particular importance. The larger the site that is being proposed then the more important access to services and facilities are.

2.7.2 It is important to identify sites that are sustainable economically, socially and environmentally; have access to services, facilities and potential sources of employment; and which will promote inclusive communities, but which will not be out of scale with or dominate nearby settled communities. When considering whether a proposed Gypsy and Traveller site would dominate settled communities, regard will be given to existing Gypsy and Traveller sites outside Buckinghamshire boundary but still in close proximity to the settled community. As set out in the national planning guidance there is no presumption that a temporary grant of planning permission should be made permanent.

2.7.3 For Gypsy and Traveller pitches previous guidance^[2] has recommended that, as a general guide, an average family pitch must be capable of accommodating an amenity building, a large trailer (a static caravan or park home) and touring caravan, parking space for two vehicles and a small garden area. Although there is no guidance on the size of a pitch, the GTAA recommend an average pitch size of 320m2. It is important however to allow for a variety of sized pitches to accommodate different family's needs and to help contribute toward affordability.

2.7.4 For Travelling Showpeople a plot is a space occupied by one household and often includes space to store and maintain equipment. There is no recent standard on plot size, however The Showmen's Guild^[3] recommends an average plot size of 2,000m2. This guidance is old and does not take into account changes in practices amongst Travelling Showpeople. Flexibility in plot size will allow for different family make up, businesses use and affordability.

2.8 Specialist Housing

2.8.1 As set out in paragraph 63 of the NPPF local planning authorities should plan for a mix of housing to meet the needs of different groups in the community, including older people, students and people with disabilities. The draft Buckinghamshire LHNA 2025 for Buckinghamshire shows that the population of people aged 75 or over is projected to increase by 38,000, which is nearly 30% of the total population. Therefore there is likely to be a significant need for housing which will be able to meet the needs of older people. The draft Buckinghamshire LHNA 2025 identified the demand for this housing as:

Table 4: mix of specialist housing by tenure

2.8.2 The housing needs of older people cross over the C2 and C3 use classes and take a variety of forms. The types of accommodation set out above are mostly provided through the private sector, particularly those in use class C3. However, Buckinghamshire Council may commission services to provide an element of C2 care. Other options to meet this need include:

• making specific allocations to meet this need, not enough suitable sites may have been promoted for this use so sites promoted for other uses could be considered
• requiring developments over a certain size to provide an element of older person accommodation
• require a financial contribution from development towards this, similar to if affordable housing is provided off site and
• having criteria set out in policy to assess schemes led by the market.

2.8.3 The draft Buckinghamshire LHNA 2025 sets out a need for an additional 130 units of supported housing for people with a mental health need and an additional 405 units of accommodation for people with a learning disability or autism. It concludes that housing for students is likely to have a very limited impact on the general needs housing stock in Buckinghamshire.

2.8.4 Homes provided to meet specialist accommodation needs should be of good quality to prevent a worsening of heath and wellbeing

2.9 Rural exception sites

2.9.1 This policy supports Rural Exception Sites to deliver affordable housing in locations which would not otherwise be permitted through the development plan.

2.9.2 This policy supports additional affordable homes on sites of a proportionate size to the settlement they are and in areas where there is an identified need and policy criteria are met.

2.9.3 The required housing needs survey submitted by applicants will need to demonstrate the extent of the housing need arising from people with a local connection. The applicant will need to agree the methodology for this with Local Planning Authority at an early stage in seeking planning permission. The local housing needs survey will have due regard to the Local Planning Authority's latest evidence on local housing needs. It will also enable a Registered Providers to identify and bring forward Exception Sites. Rural Housing Enablers (or a council recognised equivalent) may be commissioned to undertake a survey by a community group, parish council, local authority, Registered Provider, landowner, or private developer.

2.9.4 The survey should be initiated in consultation with the local community. The geographical extent of the survey should be agreed with the Local Planning Authority. It is essential to publicise a forthcoming Housing Needs Survey to ensure engagement across the whole of the relevant community including, where appropriate, those who work locally. To be up to date this Survey should be no more than 3 years old at the time of submission of a planning application for the development. The Survey will be used to justify the necessity of the release of the site and also to ensure that the housing proposed broadly meets the identified need and that this need cannot be met on a more suitable site that would otherwise accord with policy. The applicant should assess local plan and neighbourhood plan allocations or planning applications to establish there is no such alternative suitable sites and use a Rural Housing Enabler (or a council recognised equivalent) and evidence of this will need to be provided to the Local Planning Authority.

2.9.5 On Rural Exception Sites, the council will support a small number of open market sale homes. This is to ensure the site can be commercially viable to develop. This will be only once an open book viability assessment demonstrates that 100% affordable housing cannot be delivered on a Rural Exception Site. Due to affordability issues within Buckinghamshire, there is strong preference to deliver 100% affordable housing sites.

2.9.6 Viability appraisals are sensitive to minor changes in the figures used to calculate viability and to variations in methodology. The council will assess the Viability Appraisal to ensure that the maximum viable level of contribution to planning obligations are received. An editable electronic version of the viability model should be made available to the council, or anybody acting on its behalf, to enable a robust review of the submission. The council should also be provided with all the assumptions and calculations included in the appraisal. Where possible, applicants should seek to maximise the level of public subsidy available from Homes England (or subsequent bodies) to deliver the maximum level of affordable housing on site.

2.9.7 Only those households who meet the council's Allocations' Policy for affordable housing will be able to occupy rented (social and affordable rented) affordable housing on Rural Exception Sites. Applicants must be registered with Bucks Home Choice (or subsequent system) before they can be nominated for a social or affordable rented property. Where more applicants than vacancies exist, the council will allocate dwellings in accordance with our current Housing Allocations Policy (or as replaced). Eligibility criteria for homeownership properties will accord with national requirements.

2.9.8 This policy supports Rural Exception Sites in locations not otherwise supported in the Local Plan. It does not however support isolated development away from existing settlements, services and facilities. The site should have access to a range of local services and facilities proportional to the size of the proposed development and the settlement it is within or adjacent to. Access to such services and facilities from the development should be, or be capable of being, safe and convenient.

2.9.9 Rural Exception Sites can include (subject to meeting all policy criteria) proposals for rural workers working within food production to maintain the rural economy.

2.9.10 The Local Planning Authority requires a planning obligation to ensure that the homes provided meet a local need, and that satisfactory arrangements are made to ensure that the affordable housing remains affordable housing in perpetuity.

2.9.11 The council will prepare a Technical Note to advise further on the delivery of Affordable Housing developments including Rural Exception Sites.

2.10 Windfall policy

2.10.1 The Local Plan will allocate sites over a certain size of threshold to meet the majority of the development needs of Buckinghamshire, while some homes will be delivered on smaller unallocated sites. This figure will be supported by the Council's evidence on windfall. This policy provides guidance on the appropriateness of sites to come forward to meet the identified windfall supply.

2.10.2 In general, windfall sites will be smaller than the threshold above which the Local Plan will allocate sites, as suitable sites larger than this threshold have been allocated through the Local Plan. The NPPF, at paragraph 73, sets out the important contribution small and medium sized sites can make to housing delivery. The policy provides guidance on the appropriate scale of sites within individual settlements, this is intended to ensure windfall sites reflect the level of infrastructure, services and facilities that existing settlements have. Appropriate infrastructure referred to in criteria g includes utilities such as water, sewerage and electricity, healthcare facility contributions, school contributions, greenspace, leisure facilities and retail units.

2.10.3 In exceptional cases exceeding the thresholds set out in criteria c might be justified outside of the plan making process if a scheme offers particular benefits to the community. Benefits could include the reuse of a vacant brownfield site, the provision of community facilities or preservation of a historic building or asset.

2.11 Residential Annexes

2.11.1 A residential annexe is accommodation that is ancillary to the main dwelling, within the residential curtilage and which provides additional accommodation for members of the same family, for example older relatives who require support or older children seeking a degree of independence, or others with a demonstrable link to the host dwelling including for domestic staff accommodation.

2.11.2 An annexe can be created through an extension to an existing dwelling, the conversion of an existing outbuilding or through construction of a new detached building. An extension is normally the most appropriate as it better integrates the annexe into the dwelling for the use of shared facilities and for access, as well as normally minimising the impact on the surrounding area. The next most appropriate would be the conversion of an existing building, while if neither of these are possible then a new building for the annexe may be acceptable. Annexes as a new building are more likely to be appropriate in the built-up area rather than the open countryside.

2.11.3 A statement providing justification for why the proposed annexe is required and how the intended occupant(s) is/ are connected to the main dwelling must be provided by the applicant. The statement should also provide justification for the proposed floor area for the annexe, which should be the minimum level of accommodation required to support the needs of the occupant(s) and also indicate what the functional relationship of the annexe to the main dwelling would be.