Affordable homes

Hambledon Parish Council has been informed that English Rural Housing Association, a not-for-profit provider of affordable homes, has acquired Orchard Farm, a property in nine acres of land off Wormley Lane.

At a parish council meeting held on October 29, attended by many residents who live close to Orchard Farm, Nick Hughes, regional development manager of ERHA, outlined a proposal to build 12 affordable homes, four open market units and the replacement or refurbishment of the existing house.

The entire site is within the Green Belt and the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Mr Hughes said that the proposal would be brought forward under Waverley Borough Council Rural Exceptions Site policies and the affordable homes would be available to local people in housing need. He indicated that land not used for housing – approximately four acres – would be gifted to the village to ensure no further development would take place.

Mr Hughes said the next step would be to produce more detailed plans and present them to the village for consultation at a date to be fixed.  It is anticipated that a planning application for the proposed development would then follow.

Residents close to Orchard Farm expressed concerns about the proposal. Hambledon Parish Council, while supporting the provision of affordable homes in principle, has given no indication of whether or not it will support the scheme. The council will be invited by Waverley, the planning authority, to comment as and when an application is submitted. The decision will be made by Waverley.

In the meantine Hambledon Parish Council has released the following background information regarding affordable housing in the village.

Background to Affordable Housing in Hambledon

Hambledon has a long-term commitment to helping identify sites for affordable housing in the village.

In 2003 HRH The Princess Royal formally opened Duncombs Cottages, Hambledon’s first such development. 

In the same year Hambledon produced a community-led Parish Plan, an initiative encouraged by central government.  This would enable villages to set out their vision for the future which is then taken into consideration before planning decisions are made.

Completed questionnaires from 270 homes – an 84 per cent response – were returned and the final document was presented at an open meeting attended by more than 100 parishioners.

One of the areas covered by the Plan was housing provision. Building more affordable housing came out top by a clear margin in response to the question: “What sort of housing accommodation do you think Hambledon needs?”

With this mandate from local people the Parish Council openly stated that it would help find suitable sites.

This was never going to be an easy task.  Most of Hambledon is within the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and all is within the Green Belt.  Despite examining a number of potential sites, nothing positive emerged.

Indeed, there have been no new homes of any kind built in Hambledon since Duncombs Cottages.

In the intervening years the Parish Plan was kept under review.  The commitment to affordable homes provision remained.

In 2010, in response to another central government initiative, Surrey Community Action asked villages across the county to undertake a Housing Needs Survey.  On its behalf, the Parish Council delivered questionnaires to all households in Hambledon.  Thirty five per cent were returned of which 72 per cent were in favour of affordable housing.  Seven local families were identified as being in housing need.

Parish Council minutes in January 2011 noted the outcome of the survey and that SCA considered the response rate as “average to good” and with a high support rate for affordable housing.

The findings of the survey were placed on the village website and summarised in the Parish Magazine.

In early 2011 officers from Surrey Community Action and Waverley Borough Council visited Hambledon to see if any land could be found that could be considered a “rural exception site” suitable for a small affordable homes development to meet identified local need.  The Parish Clerk was asked to host this visit and this was duly noted in the minutes of the council meeting at that time.

A total of 11 sites in private ownership were considered.  One of these was the nine acre Orchard Farm land off Wormley Lane.

Further inquiry revealed that 10 of the sites were unsuitable or unavailable.  However, Orchard Farm, which is in the Surrey Hills AONB, was up for sale and had been since 2009.  The site was considered as having the potential for affordable housing.  English Rural Housing Association entered into negotiations with the site owner in June 2011.  Its preference was to buy a plot within the site for six homes.

Hambledon Parish Council was informed of this development and, once again, it was noted in the minutes.

In November 2012 and on the basis of commercial confidentiality, ERHA raised the possibility of acquiring the whole site at a meeting with Waverley Borough Council, to which the Chairman and Clerk of Hambledon Parish Council were invited.  However, no specific proposal emerged and negotiations between ERHA and the land owner stalled.  Contact between both parties was maintained.

In October of last year the Chairman and Clerk of the Parish Council were informed that the owner of Orchard Farm was prepared to sell the whole site to ERHA, but not a plot within it.  ERHA was informed by Waverley that a larger development than originally envisaged might still be considered under “rural exception” policies.

Hambledon Parish Council was not a party to these discussions and the Chairman and Clerk were only kept informed as a courtesy on the basis of commercial confidentiality.

In September of this year it was confirmed that ERHA had acquired the whole of Orchard Farm and a note to this effect appeared in the October edition of the Parish Magazine. The Chairman and Clerk were invited to view the site.

The first opportunity the full Parish Council had to consider the latest developments was at its meeting on 29 October.  Nick Hughes, regional development manager of ERHA, outlined its proposal for 12 affordable homes, four open market homes which could include two bungalows to help villagers wishing to “down-size”, and the replacement or refurbishment of the existing Orchard Farm house.

People in housing need and with Hambledon connections would have first preference for the affordable homes.  The remainder of the site could be gifted to the village to ensure there is no further development in the future.

Surrey Community Action will book the Village Hall when ERHA is ready to display its proposals and to consult with the village before a planning application is submitted.

Hambledon Parish Council remains committed to the principle of providing more affordable homes.  It has not given any indications of support to the Orchard Farm proposal and will consider the scheme on its merits if and when a planning application is submitted.

Ultimately it will be Waverley Borough Council that will make this decision.

Hambledon Parish Council

12 November 2014

 

The above photgraph shows the entrance to Orchard Farm, Wormley Lane.