POLICY H10 Provide an Appropriate Mix of Housing Types

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Context and reasoned justification

The National Planning Policy Framework states that Local Planning Policies should reflect the size, type and tenure of housing needed by different groups in the community. In the Waverley Local Plan Part I policy AHN3, proposals for new housing must make provision for an appropriate range of different types and sizes of housing to meet the needs of the community, reflecting the most up- to-date evidence in the West Surrey Strategic Housing Market Assessment 2015.

This borough-wide requirement needs to be applied to the specific circumstances in the Haslemere Neighbourhood Plan area. The housing consultation carried out in 2015 demonstrated an acceptance of the distribution of housing types identified for Haslemere by the Waverley Strategic Housing Market Assessment (ref Evidence list page 68) which is very similar to the data for Haslemere from the West Surrey Housing Market Assessment Waverley Addendum 2015 (Table 3 below).

 

1 bed

2 beds

3 beds

4 beds

Affordable

51.6%

26.9%

19.9%

1.6%

Market

13.7%

32.6%

34.1%

19.7%

Table 3: Haslemere Housing Needs (West Surrey Housing Market Assessment Waverley Addendum December 2015)

Haslemere has a greater need for one-bedroomed dwellings than Waverley as a whole, i.e. for properties more suitable for young singles, people starting families and residents wishing to downsize. It is evident that increasing numbers of elderly residents will wish to downsize from large houses to more modest homes and apartments (2-3 bedroomed) in Haslemere during the Plan period. If this is to be successful and truly appreciated by the downsizers, developers should be obliged to build properties closer to the centre of the town, of appropriate sizes (including modest gardens) and of internal and external quality comparable to those properties from which the buyers are downsizing.

Intent

To ensure that the mix of dwelling types and sizes required to meet the needs of current and future households in the Plan area will be achieved in relation to all larger sites of 10 or more properties and to ensure larger sites do not contain large uniform areas of the same type and size of housing which can have the effect of segregating the community.

Policy

H10.1 Developers of sites of 10 or more homes should demonstrate that their development provides an appropriate range of different types and sizes of housing to meet the needs of the community, reflecting the most up-to-date evidence of housing need for the area. This is currently in the West Surrey Strategic Housing Market Assessment Waverley Addendum December 2015. Developers are encouraged to include one and two-bedroomed dwellings to meet the needs of singles, young families and those wishing to downsize.

H10.2 Developments of fewer than 10 dwellings should not be exempt from consideration of the appropriate size of dwellings on the site. Developments that include the provision of a proportion of smaller dwellings will be favourably considered.

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