Chapter 2
Policy Context
2.1 This SPPG has been developed in the context of the following policy frameworks and advice.
The Housing (Scotland) Act 2001
2.2 The Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 requires all local authorities to carry out an assessment of housing need in their area and to produce a Local Housing Strategy (LHS) which sets out how prioritised housing needs will be met.
2.3 The first East Renfrewshire LHS was completed in April 2004 and commits the Council and its partners to introducing an affordable housing policy in recognition of the severe affordable housing shortfall identified in East Renfrewshire.
Community Planning
East Renfrewshire Corporate Strategy and East Renfrewshire Community Plan
2.4 East Renfrewshire’s current Community Plan has four priority themes:
Caring and Healthy Communities
Safe Communities
Safe Communities
Sustainable and High Quality Environment
Employment and Lifelong Learning.
2.5 The over-riding principles of the Plan is to work together to achieve social inclusion, active citizenship and sustainability with the emphasis on the outcome for local people.
2.6 Some of the housing priorities set out in the Community Plan which are relevant to this guidance are to:
Develop affordable housing for rent and for sale to meet locally identified housing needs
Increase the provision of appropriate supported and unsupported housing for people with particular needs
Improve the home energy efficiency of new, improved and existing houses.
2.7 The purpose of the East Renfrewshire Corporate Strategy is to set out the Council’s aims for the following four-year period, and the means through which they should be achieved. East Renfrewshire Council’s current Corporate Strategy states the Council’s vision as:
“To make our residents and employees proud to belong to East Renfrewshire by improving noticeably the quality of life for every local neighbourhood and community.”
2.8 Ensuring that there is a good supply of well-maintained, energy-efficient and affordable housing for both rent and purchase within family-friendly neighbourhoods is one of the key commitments of the Strategy.
2.9 The Council is committed to ensure that the Corporate Strategy is taken into account in all future plans, strategies and initiatives that take place in East Renfrewshire.
National Planning Policy
National Planning Framework
2.10 The National Planning Framework (NPF) recognises that an adequate supply of affordable housing is an important factor in promoting economic activity and social justice and closing the opportunity gap. It refers to high demand areas where cost and availability are important considerations in terms of land values and the supply of affordable housing sites. The NPF also recognises that in some areas, where there are significant numbers of social rented houses, the size, type, tenure or condition of the existing stock may no longer meet local needs and that in these areas there still may be a need for new affordable housing.
2.11 The NPF requires all local authorities to assess their housing needs and where the need for affordable housing is identified to reflect the requirements for affordable housing in the delivery mechanisms of their local housing strategies, development plans and community plans.
Scottish Planning Policy on Planning for Housing (SPP3)
2.12 SPP3 provides national policy guidance on planning for housing and recognises that the Planning system can help to support a strategy to provide affordable housing in an area. It encourages more diverse, attractive, mixed residential communities that provide tenure choice that caters for all segments of the market from affordable homes to executive housing. As with market-led housing, it states the affordable housing should, where possible, be met within the market area where the need has been identified.
2.13 The guidance also recognises the roles of both the public and private sectors in the delivery of affordable housing, stating that in some cases delivery will involve the developer making a proportion of houses available at a discount price and that in other cases public subsidy will be needed.
Planning Advice Note 74 on Affordable Housing (PAN 74)
2.14 PAN 74 contains the Scottish Executives most recent advice on affordable housing and sets out how the Planning system can support its delivery.
2.15 It recognises that local authorities have a key role in developing a locally based affordable housing policy framework and the need to ensure consistency between the Local Housing Strategy and the Development Plan. It also recognises that regional and local differences exist which require the targeted planning of new affordable housing to those areas with a shortfall, whilst considering regeneration in those areas which have a surplus. The advice highlights the need for close working with Registered Social Landlords and private developers to ensure that there is a common and shared understanding of affordable housing policy and its implications.
2.16 The Executive has set a benchmark figure of 25% for the provision of affordable housing on each new housing site, although stating that this does not preclude a developer offering to include a higher percentage or the local authority seeking to achieve a higher percentage on specific sites in exceptional circumstances. The PAN sets out the steps to support the delivery of affordable housing through Planning policy and describes various mechanisms for on-site provision.
2.17 The glossary to the PAN describes affordable housing as
“housing of a reasonable quality that is affordable to people on modest incomes. In some places the market can provide some or all of the affordable housing that is needed, but in other places it is necessary to make housing available at a cost below market value to meet an identified need with the support of public subsidy.”
Categories of affordable housing include social rented, shared ownership, shared equity, discounted low cost sale and housing without subsidy in the form of entry level housing for sale that is legally bound to be maintained as affordable units to subsequent purchasers.
Development Plan Policy
Structure Plan
2.18 Strategic Policy 6 of the Glasgow and the Clyde Valley Joint Structure Plan 2000 (GCVJSP) supports the quality of life and health of local communities and seeks to provide opportunities to provide for need and choice in each housing market area. In this respect it enables affordable housing opportunities to be brought through local plans, housing strategies and strategic housing agreements.
2.19 The GCVJSP is in tune with the NPF. It recognises that there is a limited supply of affordable housing in pressurised areas such as Newton Mearns and supports Local Plan proposals for the provision of affordable housing in such hot spots to improve tenure choice and the cost of housing. It also recognises that in certain areas, reductions in the demand for social rented housing have given rise to the need for subsidised, low cost, home ownership schemes being developed in former Council housing areas. Strategic Policy 9 of the GCVJSP allows affordable housing opportunities to be promoted through local plans.
2.20 A review of the GCVJSP has been undertaken with a view to the Plan being altered and submitted to Scottish ministers for approval early in 2006. A Consultative Draft Alteration was published in May 2005 followed by a Draft Finalised Alteration published in October 2005. The Alteration seeks to set the agenda for sustained growth in the metropolitan area. Although it concludes that there is no general shortage of affordable housing across the Structure Plan area it recognises there are local shortfalls and issues. It makes specific reference to those Councils, including East Renfrewshire, where, because of local deficiencies, improving the range and choice of affordable housing should be a Local Plan priority.
Local Plan
2.21 The East Renfrewshire Local Plan acknowledges that affordable housing is an issue throughout the area, particularly in the eastern suburbs south of Glasgow. Proposal H2 of the Local Plan specifically allocates seven sites for particular needs housing. Two of these have been developed and the remaining five sites are partially or wholly available for affordable housing purposes. Progress is being made towards the implementation of these proposals. These sites are located at:
Foundry Lane, Barrhead
Robertson Street, Barrhead (under construction)
Barrhead Road, Newton Mearns
Greenlaw Urban Expansion Area, Newton Mearns
Station Yard, Neilston (Phase 2).
2.22 The Council has embarked on the process of replacing the Local Plan and the delivery of affordable housing through the Planning process has been identified as a key issue facing the Council. It is anticipated that the replacement Local Plan will provide a comprehensive policy framework, which will identify site-specific proposals for the provision of affordable housing. This SPPG will remain in place until superseded by the Local Plan. The replacement of the Local Plan involves a lengthy process and in the meantime, supplementary planning policy guidance is needed to achieve the aims, objectives and targets of the Council’s Local Housing Strategy along with its Regeneration Plan and the Barrhead Regeneration Framework.
Housing Policy
Scottish Executive Review of Affordable Housing
2.23 In 2004, the Scottish Executive undertook a review of affordable housing in Scotland. Key outputs from this review include:
Increase in development funding for the Affordable Housing Investment Programme to be used to accelerate new supply in pressured areas and the acquisition of land by RSLs for development
Production of the new PAN on Affordable Housing (74) which outlines among other things, a benchmark of 25% for private developer contributions to affordable housing.
Local Housing Strategy
2.24 The East Renfrewshire Local Housing Strategy 2004-2009 (LHS) recognises that the housing market in East Renfrewshire is under particular pressure in relation to affordable housing. Lack of affordable housing options is identified as a major problem and so the introduction of an affordable housing policy is set at the forefront of the LHS’s Action Plan. In this respect, the first Aim of the LHS is that
“There is sufficient good quality, affordable and accessible housing across East Renfrewshire to meet the current and future needs of people living in the area.”
The first Objective of the LHS is to
“Reduce the problems faced by existing and emerging households with modest incomes in accessing suitable housing for sale and for social rent with the construction of 600 affordable houses by 2009.”
High on the LHS’s Action Plan is the need to capitalise on windfall sites for development and in this respect, Housing Associations are encouraged to bring forward windfall sites for development that conform with the terms of the Local Plan.
2.25 To demonstrate the Council’s commitment towards the delivery of affordable housing, the LHS indicates that the Council will consider the possible transfer or selling of land, primarily to housing associations, at a price consistent with the provision of affordable housing to offset the high cost of land.
2.26 Research carried out during the preparation of the LHS has highlighted that there is a serious unmet need for social rented housing. The research highlights the housing pressure across all of East Renfrewshire and particularly highlights Eastwood as the area under most pressure.
2.27 Under the terms of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, the Council has secured Pressured Area Status (PAS) for the Eastwood area of East Renfrewshire. This designation temporarily removes new and transferring tenants (from 30th September 2002) Right to Buy (RTB) within this area. The Council’s justification for PAS provides evidence that the Eastwood area is pressurised in terms of affordable housing with high levels of housing need. It is anticipated that this pressure will increase in the future and that RTB has, and would continue to, restrain the supply of affordable housing and so exacerbate housing need even further.