Rural Areas Vision 2040
8.1. There is a need for some limited housing and employment development at our larger and more sustainable villages to help sustain local services and enhance or maintain the vitality of rural communities. Our vision is that by 2040:
- Housing and employment growth will have been managed to protect the character, appearance, heritage and identity of our villages;
- Our most important landscapes will have been protected or enhanced;
- We will have continued to meet local community and business needs and created sustainable housing and employment opportunity;
- We will have directed most development in our rural areas to our larger and best served villages with most opportunity for sustainable travel choices, particularly those better connected by public transport to nearby urban areas;
- Farming and rural business will have had the opportunity to thrive within the context of a more restrictive policy context for the countryside
Core Policy 86: Rural Areas Strategy
8.2. To achieve this vision we will deliver the following strategy:
Overall Spatial Strategy
- Protect the identity and character of our villages and rural areas, and avoid unplanned development in the open countryside;
- Provide for limited development to meet local community and business needs and help support the vitality of these more rural settlements and the viability of existing businesses and farms;
- Direct the development of new housing to the larger and more sustainable villages that offer a wider range of services and are more well connected to our urban areas than the smaller villages;
- Maintain the designated Green Belt but consider a limited release at Kidlington to meet local housing needs if there are exceptional circumstances to do so;
- Protect the Cotswolds National Landscape (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Rural Areas Strategy
- Development opportunities to meet identified local needs;
- Tight management of speculative development and the avoidance of comparatively less sustainable development outcomes;
- Greater emphasis on development being supported by sustainable transport and active travel opportunity;
- Greater emphasis on development being designed and supported by infrastructure to support health and well-being;
- Protection and enhancement of our environmental and heritage assets.
Question 61: Do you have any views on our aspirations for our Rural Areas?
Housing
8.3. We have housing need to meet in our rural areas with newly forming households, those unable to access the housing market or affordable housing, and those whose housing needs have changed over time.
8.4. Developing in rural areas can, relative to urban areas, often be very economically attractive to developers.
8.5. We need to carefully manage development pressures to provide for local need to be met in a way that benefits local communities, does not lead to unacceptable pressure on local infrastructure, can be supported by sustainable and active travel options and which does not cause damage to the environment that makes our rural areas attractive and distinctive.
8.6. We are suggesting that the final Plan should identify sites at our most sustainable villages to accommodate 500 additional new dwellings.
8.7. We have already had a large number of suggested sites submitted to us. We have begun our assessments, although these have not yet been finalised. This document is therefore not proposing specific sites.
8.8. A number of parishes are preparing neighbourhood plans and we will support them to identify potential housing sites within their plans, if they wish to do so.
8.9. We have also asked earlier whether any other Parish Councils are seeking a specific housing requirement for Neighbourhood Plans.
8.10. In addition we expect small site ‘windfalls’ of less than 10 dwellings (known as windfalls) to emerge for consideration against Core Policy 35 (Settlement hierarchy).
Core Policy 86: Rural Areas Strategy
In accordance with the spatial strategy and Core Policy 34: District Wide Housing Distribution, the 500 dwelling non-strategic housing requirement for the rural area will only be met by site specific allocations in this Local Plan or in a Neighbourhood Plan.
Development Policy 7: Rural Exception Sites
8.11. Most of our rural areas have high house prices and a limited supply of affordable homes. We will therefore continue to support rural exception sites that provide affordable housing to meet identified local needs. In some cases we will also need to consider whether allowing some market housing on these sites would make a scheme more viable. In these circumstances we will ensure that the inclusion of any element of open market housing must benefit the provision of rural affordable housing and must not inflate the ‘threshold land value’ (the minimum land value likely to trigger an owner to sell the land).
Development Policy 7: Rural Exception Sites
The Council will support development for small scale affordable housing schemes within or immediately adjacent to villages to meet specific, identified local housing needs that cannot be met through the development of sites allocated for housing development.
Arrangements will be secured to restrict the occupancy of he housing to ensure that it continues to meet local needs in perpetuity.
Market housing for private rent or sale will only be considered on rural exception sites when:
i. The number of market homes does not exceed 25% of the total number of homes proposed;
ii. The market housing is shown to be required to secure the viability of the proposal. Development costs must be justified;
iii. No alternative, suitable site is available to provide a rural exception site following a robust site search;
iv. The market housing ensures that no additional subsidy for the scheme is required;
v. The development has the support of the local community, and
vi. The total number of dwellings and the scale of the development is in keeping with the settlement categorisation, character and form of the village and its local landscape setting.
Development Policy 8: New Dwellings in the Countryside
8.12. National guidance states that rural housing should be located where it will enhance or maintain the vitality of rural communities. Development of isolated homes in the countryside should generally be avoided. There are some exceptions, for example, where there is an essential need for a rural worker, or where the design is of exceptional quality.
8.13. We also recognise that it may be beneficial to permit the replacement of a dwelling in the open countryside, for example where an existing dwelling is unfit or substandard. There may also be opportunities to improve the quality of local environments through the re-development of some brownfield sites.
8.14. Where planning permission is given for a rural worker in the open countryside we will impose an appropriate occupancy condition Such conditions will only be removed if it can clearly be demonstrated that there is no need for a rural worker’s dwelling in the locality.
8.15. Planning applications will need to provide sufficient details to enable an assessment of the size, nature and viability of the existing or proposed enterprise together with details of the number and tenure of existing dwellings related to the holding or estate. Where there is any doubt that a dwelling is required for the proper functioning of an enterprise, or where a new business is being proposed, it will be necessary to supply adequate financial information to demonstrate that the proposals are sound (covering a three-year period).
8.16. Our preference is that new dwellings should be through the conversion of existing rural buildings, to use land efficiently and reduce impacts on the countryside. Where a new build dwelling is proposed we will normally expect them to reflect the local vernacular and be closely related to existing buildings in the interest of protecting the appearance and open character of the countryside.
Development Policy 8: New Dwellings in the Countryside
The Council will permit the development of an agricultural worker’s dwelling if there is an essential need for a rural worker to live permanently at or near their place of work in the countryside.
Dwellings beyond the built up limits of settlements which are not essential for rural workers will not be permitted unless one or more of the following apply:
i. The development would represent the optimal viable use of a heritage asset or would be appropriate small scale development that secures the future of associated heritage assets;
ii. The development would re-use redundant or disused buildings;
iii. The development would involve the one for one replacement of an existing dwelling;
iv. The development would involve the subdivision of an existing residential dwelling, and
v. The development is for an individual dwelling where the design is of exceptional quality, in that it:
- Is truly outstanding, reflecting the highest standards in architecture, and would help to raise standards of design more generally in rural areas, and
- Would significantly enhance its immediate setting, and be sensitive to the defining characteristics of the local area.
Development Policy 9: Conversion of a Rural Building to a Dwelling
8.17. The conversion of rural buildings to dwellings will help contribute towards meeting the district’s housing needs and can allow farms to diversify and remain economically viable. However, it is also important that employment opportunities continue to be provided in our rural areas and that farms continue to thrive.
8.18. Many conversions of farm buildings to dwellings do not need planning permission, but where they do we will prioritise employment re-use over residential conversion to promote the diversification of the rural economy.
8.19. Permitted development rights may be removed to ensure there is no further inappropriate alteration to the form, character and setting of the dwelling.
Development Policy 9: Conversion of a Rural Building to a Dwelling
The conversion of a rural building to a dwelling will be permitted provided that:
i. The applicant has made every reasonable attempt to secure suitable employment re-use;
ii. The building’s form, bulk and general design is in keeping with its surroundings;
iii. The building is of permanent and substantial construction, evidenced through a structural engineers report appropriate to the building;
iv. In the case of a building beyond the built-up limits of a village, conversion can be achieved without major rebuilding or major extension and without inappropriate alteration to its form and character;
v. The proposal would not harm the special character and interest of a heritage asset or its setting;
vi. The proposal would not cause significant harm to the character of the countryside or the immediate setting of the building, and
vii. There are no significant transport, highways and noise impacts.
Question 62: Do you support our preliminary proposals for housing in our rural areas?
Question 63: Are there any potential rural housing sites you wish to suggest?
The Economy
8.20. We recognise that our rural economy is diverse and provides benefits to our rural communities. We will continue to support the sustainable economic growth of our rural businesses, including farming. Proposals for employment development on unallocated sites will be considered against Core Policy 27.
8.21. In addition, we want to identify a number of smaller employment sites in our rural areas. Work is ongoing to identify suitable sites.