MM41.

The proportion of plots to be made available should be specified.

This policy seems unclear. What proportion is deemed acceptable to be made available? A policy that is more supportive of self/custom build would be more appropriate.

p104 LP08 We are concerned about the removal of conditions to protect landscape, biodiversity, historic environment and residential amenity and conditions to minimise climate change. These may be covered elsewhere in the document but if not legitimately linked to LP11 this leaves the LPA open to legal challenge on matters of great importance to communities.

Pigeon suggests that the wording to Policy LP08 is therefore amended as follows:

1. The Councils will support proposals for self-build/custom-build housing or proposals that make a proportion of serviced dwelling plots available for sale to self-builders or custom builders, on appropriate sites, either within or adjacent to settlement boundaries, subject to compliance with all other relevant policies in this Plan.

Pigeon continues to support the inclusion of a policy which addresses self-build and custom-build housing and that as modified the policy removes unnecessary wording and instead relies on schemes being in accordance with the relevant policies within the Plan.

Pigeon would however encourage the Councils to go further with the modifications to this policy in order to meet the ‘variety of land and locational requirements’ (paragraph 13.24 of the JLP) of those on the register and demonstrate how their needs will be proactively met and delivered through the application of this policy.

As advocated at the examination, Pigeon considers that the Policy lacks certainty, and it is unclear how it has been informed by evidence. This continues to be the case with the modifications with no further evidence provided as to how the above will be achieved. The critical barriers to self-build and custom-build have historically included access to suitable plots of land to build upon. Therefore, Pigeon suggests that a more proactive approach is required to support self-build and custom-build on the edge of villages beyond settlement envelopes subject to making site specific judgements on a case-by-case basis.

In the supporting wording to the policy at paragraph 13.24, the JLP makes reference to there being 164 people on the self-build register, as of April 2018. Given the significant amount of time that has passed since the Plan was written, it is important to update the reference here to April 2023. In this regard, it is expected that the number of people on the register will have also likely increased in the last 5 years. Therefore, the availability of updated, supporting evidence is of material significance to the drafting and resultant soundness of this policy.

As such, the Council should adopt a proactive approach to promote proposals for a single group of self-build / custom build homes provided they are within proximity of a key rural service centre. This would allow for a proportionate level of development outside of the settlement boundary on sites which are sustainable and deliverable and can make a meaningful contribution to the supply of housing.

For this proposal to be fully supported, the LPA will need to ensure that the determination as to the definition of self-build and custom-build is clarified and adhered to.