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1
A DETAILED INVESTIGATION
INTO THE
AFFORDABLE HOUSING NEEDS
OF
BELTON
Produced by
The Leicestershire Rural Housing Enabler
in conjunction with Belton Parish Council
May 2011
2
Contents
Summary ………………………………………………………………………… 3
Introduction …………………………………………………………………… 3
1. Purpose of the Survey …………………………………………………. 4
2. House Prices and existing affordable stock…………….. 6
3. Survey Results ……………………………………………………………….. 8
Household Respondents Tenure of all Residents Property Types Desirability Migration Ethnicity Percentage in Favour of Comments 4. Housing Needs Analysis ……………………………………………… 15
5. Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………. 17
6. Contacts …………………………………………………………………………. 18
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Summary
An affordable housing need survey was carried out in the
Parish of Belton in April.
The Parish Council supported the Rural Housing Enabler’s
report.
Results obtained showed there was a need for up to 9
affordable homes for local people enabling them to be
suitably housed within their community
This could be developed on a Rural Exception Site, if this
was available and subject to Parish Council and Homes &
Communities Agency support
Introduction
The Rural Housing Enabler works with Parish Councils and Local
Authorities in order to investigate the needs for affordable
homes in villages. The first step in this process is to
undertake housing need survey which will give an overview of
the current housing situation in a village, and provide detail of
the need for local affordable homes.
The Leicester and Leicestershire Strategic Housing Market
Assessment states that, “Housing need is high in most rural
areas (of the county) some 250 additional affordable homes
per year are currently needed in rural areas.”
Further information may be found at www.oakleaves.org.uk, the
website of the Leicestershire Rural Partnership.
4
During April 2011, the Rural Housing Enabler and Belton Parish
Council worked together to deliver a Housing Needs Survey
form to every household in the village.
Belton currently has a population of about 750 (2001 Census).
Since this census 21 homes have been built in the village which
may reflect the shortage of sites in the village.
There are about 300 households within the parish.
Enough survey forms (350) were produced for distribution to
each household throughout the parish with spares for others
requesting a form. 40 Survey forms were returned unused.
1. Purpose of the Survey
1.1 The survey was conducted in order to obtain clear evidence
of the housing need in the parish of Belton. This evidence
can then be used, along with evidence from other sources,
to inform Belton Parish Council and Harborough District
Council on what type and tenure of affordable housing is
required to meet local needs.
1.2 One option of meeting a village’s housing need is through the
construction of a purpose built affordable housing
development using the exception criteria set out in Planning
Policy Supplement 3 (PPS3).This is known as a Rural
Exception Site. These small sites, usually between 6 and 12
homes, are located on, but outside, the village boundary and
have two special features:
1. Priority is given to households with a strong local
connection as defined in an S106 “Local Lettings”
Agreement.
2. Homes remain affordable in perpetuity*
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* On rural exception sites there is no “Right-to-buy”
and 80% of equity in a home is maximum that can be
owned on Shared Ownership properties.
There is mention of exception site criteria in the North
West Leicestershire Local Plan. This has now been
superseded by the Local Development Framework and may
be found at www.nwleics..gov.uk.
To develop affordable rural homes by any method there
must be accurate details of affordable housing need within
the parish. The support of the Parish Council for any
subsequent affordable housing scheme is essential to the
process.
1.3 Secondly, the information can be used positively in the
planning process in that it provides a foundation on which to
negotiate planning gain opportunities with developers. In
short, it gives planners evidence which can be used to obtain
an element of local needs housing in negotiations with house
builders should such properties arise in the village.
1.4 The information obtained from such a survey is also valuable
at the local level, particularly in relation to the Parish
Council’s activities. Such information can be acted upon
locally and taken on board in the decision making process
when housing issues arrive.
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2 House Prices and Affordable Housing Stock
2.1 The Government’s objective to deliver a better balance
between housing demand and supply is not being met in rural
England. There would seem to be an increasing imbalance in
supply and demand for rural housing, in particular within
smaller rural settlements. As a consequence, affordability
is a very real issue in many parts of rural England. In the
most extreme case, average house prices are around ten
times the local average income.
2.2 As there have been very few house sales in the village over
the past few months, the approach taken is to review the
asking prices of properties on the market at present. The
following is purely illustrative. Figures are taken from
rightmove.co.uk.
Starting with the least expensive home in Belton, this is a 2
Bed town house in the Market Place with an asking price of
£122,000. There is some doubt as to this asking price being
achieved in the present financial climate.
Assuming a mortgage was available and a three-and-a-half
times income multiplier, if the buyer had a £20,000 deposit,
then an income of over £29,000p.a would be required to
purchase this home.
There are 2-bed homes available within a two mile radius.
The cheapest in the area, a town house property in
Shepshed, is on the market at £65,000.
2.3 Hypothetically then, to purchase an entry level property in
Belton, i.e. a terrace town house – should one be available -
an income of over £29,000p.a would be required (assumes
3.5 income multiplier). This figure assumes a deposit c.20%.
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If 100% mortgage was needed an income of over
£35,000p.a would be necessary. This may not be available.
2.4 To assist in clarifying this, the table below (Fig. 1) shows
household income per annum in the parish of Belton (Source:
CACI paycheck2007):
Figure 1 Numbers of households in which income range
Income range in £ per
annum
Number of
households in range
£0 – 10,000 20
£10,000 > 20,000 49
£20,000 > 30,000 62
£30,000 > 40,000 54
£40,000 > 50,000 41
£50,000 > 60,000 28
£60,000 > 70,000 19
£70,000 > 80,000 12
£80,000 > 90,000 8
£90,000 + 14
2.5 Bearing in mind the figures in paragraph 2.3, the table above
shows that about half the households in the parish could
comfortably afford an entry level home if they were not
already satisfactorily housed.
2.6 Existing Affordable Housing in the Parish
Information from the Leicestershire Strategic Housing
Market Assessment 2007/8 (www.blinehousing.info) states
that there are 41 ex-Local Authority rented and 9 Housing
Association homes in the Parish.
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3 Survey Results
3.1 The following sections of this report detail the responses
from the questionnaires distributed and returned during
April 2011 in the parish of Belton.
3.2 Respondents’ individual details have been kept confidential
and any identifiable attributes have not been included in the
results. Any comments that have been made may have also
been edited so as not to identify individual circumstances.
3.3 The following results are a snapshot in time and provide the
parish and North West Leicestershire District Council with
an insight into the parish in terms of current housing need,
the desirability of the village and the current level of
facilities serving the local community.
3.4 A total of 100 survey forms were received giving a return
rate of over 30%. This is better than normal response for
this type of survey, when considering that only people who
have housing need or who are interested in commenting on
local matters respond.
3.5 Household Age Range Respondents
3.5.1 (Figure 2) the largest number of replies (50%) came from
households that contained people aged 25 to 64 years old.
Households containing members between 65+ years of age
represented about 25% of replies and under 25 year olds
represented about the same.
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Figure 2 Age range people in respondent’s households
3.5.2 The Commission for Rural Communities report ‘State of the
Countryside 2010’ found that the proportion of people aged
15 – 29 in rural areas had fallen from 21% to 15% in the past
20 years. The report may be found at www.
ruralcommunities.gov.uk.
3.6 Tenure of all Respondents
The current household tenure of all respondents is given in
the table below (Figure 3). It is easy to see that
owner/occupiers were by far the largest tenure group
accounting for 80%, of which 40% had a mortgage.
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Figure 3 Tenure of respondents
3.7 Property Types
3.7.1 The table, below (Figure 4), shows that the majority of
respondents came from households in 3 bed houses (40%).
4 bed houses represented 20%
Figure 4 Property types
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3.8 Desirability
3.8.1 The following two charts detail respondents’ answers to the
desirability questions. The answers to these questions allow
us to build up a picture of life within Belton. From this we
can gain an indication of whether any affordable housing
that is subsequently provided in the village will be
sustainable, i.e. a place where people would want to live both
now and in the future.
Figure 5 Desirability of life in the Parish
3.8.2 From this first chart (Figure 5) we know that the vast
majority of residents consider that Belton has a good
reputation, is a nice place to live which has a balanced and
varied population with a friendly community
atmosphere/spirit.
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Figure 6 Some other aspects of life in the Parish
3.8.3 The second chart (Figure 6) shows that respondents
thought there was a strong indication that lack of adequate
facilities is an issue, as was lack of adequate housing. 3.9 Migration
3.9.1 The survey also asked whether respondents knew of people
who had had to leave the village because of lack of suitable
accommodation.
3.9.2 This chart (Figure 7) shows that existing residents were
aware that a high number of local people have been forced
to move out of the village in order to secure suitable
housing. However, it should be remembered that people who
have moved away may not have divulged their reasons for
doing so. The 25% figure below relates to those residents
who know of people who have had to leave the village in
order to secure suitable housing.
13
The author has conducted more than 80 of these surveys in
parishes in Leicestershire and would point out that this is
the highest figure obtained so far. This could indicate a
severe underlying problem with affordable housing in the
Parish.
Figure 7 Respondents aware of households leaving for need of
an affordable home
3.10 Ethnicity
3.10.1 Nearly all respondents were white and British. This does
support the recent Countryside Agency Report which found
that rural settlements had lower levels of Black and
Minority Ethnic (BME) residents than that of urban centres.
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3.11 Percentage in Favour of Small Development Figure 8
3.11.1 The chart above (Figure 8) shows that about 60% of
respondents were in favour of a small development of
affordable homes for local people.
3.12 Comments
3.12.1 Below are some of the comments made by respondents
about the village. The housing related comments are given
first, followed by general comments.
Housing related comments
We need affordable/low cost homes, for both young and
old so they can stay in the village (31 comments)
Build affordable starter homes for young families. (7
comments)
15
General comments
The village needs a larger general store/Post office (46
comments)
Better public transport would really help (35 comments)
We need a traditional village pub (6 comments)
Faster broadband, road safety measures and medical
facilities were also mentioned
4 Housing Need Analysis
4.1 Out of the 100 returns, 91 were from households who felt
that they were adequately housed and would not be looking
to move to alternative accommodation within the next 3
years. These respondents completed a form primarily to
offer their support/objection towards a local needs housing
development as well as give their comments regarding the
desirability of Belton. These were therefore discounted
from the rest of the analysis.
.
4.2 Accordingly, as far as the requirement for affordable
housing is concerned, there were 9 returns detailing a
housing need.
4.3 Assessment of need was done anonymously so that data was
kept secure. Information was also taken into consideration
regarding those on the housing waiting list for the parish.
4.4 The following table (Figure 9) lists the need of respondents.
The first category was households in definite need of
housing within the next three years. Details of individual
residents are kept but have not been divulged in this report
so that their anonymity can be preserved.
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Figure 9
Need/Time period
No/Type of Home Tenure Household
Next 3 years
4x 2 Bed Homes Rent Young adults
3 x 3 Bed Home Shared Ownership
Young Families
1 x 2 Bed Bungalow
Rent
Elderly
1x 2 Bed Bungalow
Shared
ownership
Elderly
4.5 Further evidence from North West Leicestershire District
Council’s Housing Waiting List Summer 2010:-
There were 55 qualifying households on the waiting list for
affordable housing in the village requiring:-
30 x 2 Bed Homes
23 x 3 Bed Homes
2 x Flats
It was not possible to establish which, if any, of these
households had a strong connection to the Parish, but it
does serve to emphasize the fact that there is robust
demand for affordable housing in the Parish.
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5 Conclusion
5.1 The Rural Housing Enabler, in partnership with Belton Parish
Council and North West Leicestershire District Council, has
conducted a detailed study of the affordable housing need
of the village. This study has not only investigated the
actual housing need of Belton residents but has also
ascertained residents’ views with regard to living in the
village, as well as identifying local support for a development
to meet local needs.
5.2 Concentrating on those who need homes within the next 3
years the need emerging from the village survey is as
follows:
4 x 2 Bed Homes
3 x 3 Bed Home
2 x 2 Bed Bungalows
5.3 Having regard to the results of the village needs survey; the
suggestion is that a development of up to 9 new homes in
Belton, on a rural exception site, would be suitable at
present.
Type and tenure would be suggested as follows:
RENT
SHARED OWNERSHIP
4 x 2 Bed Homes
1 x 2 Bed Bungalow
1 x 2 Bed Bungalow
3 x 3 Bed Homes
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5.4 This development of up to a maximum of 9 homes will meet
the current housing need for those who, being in housing
need and wishing to stay within the parish of Belton are
unable to secure a suitable affordable home.
5.5 The findings of this survey were that 60% of respondents
were in favour of a small development of affordable homes
for local people.
5.6 Belton Parish Council supported this report in their minutes
6 Contacts
The Leicestershire & Rutland Rural Housing Enabler
Richard Windley
Unit 19
Whitwick Business Centre
Stenson Road
Coalville
Leics
LE67 4JP
Tel: 01530 276546
Clerk to Belton Parish Council
Sarah Codd
Tel: 01530 41230
