Policy information sourced from the Aylesbury Local Plan
H2 Rural exception sites
In rural areas, small‐scale developments for affordable housing may exceptionally be permitted, provided that the proposal meets the following criteria:
- the number, mix, and design of dwellings is appropriate to meet local housing needs established through a housing need survey
- it is located on a site within or adjoining the existing developed footprint of the settlement*
- developments must be appropriate in scale, design and character to the locality, and
- dwellings permitted in accordance with this policy will be reserved in perpetuity for those in affordable local need with a valid local connection by planning obligation or conditions
Cross-subsidy
Where an independently assessed open book viability assessment can demonstrate that 100% affordable housing cannot be delivered on an exception site, the council may agree to a proportion of some market homes within the site, if they meet the above criteria as well as the criteria below:
- the viability assessment must show that the scale of the market housing component is essential for the delivery of the rural exception affordable housing scheme and that it is based on rural exception site land values and must not include any profit, and
- the majority of the development must be for rural exception affordable housing.
*the existing developed footprint is defined as ‘the continuous built form of the settlement, and excludes individual buildings and groups of dispersed buildings, agricultural buildings and associated land on the edge of the settlement and gardens, paddocks and other undeveloped land within the curtilage of buildings on the edge of the settlement where the land relates more to the surrounding countryside than to the built-up area of the settlement’.
Policy information sourced from the Aylesbury Local Plan