RICS Rural Conference 2015

Wednesday 11th November 2015 Brockholes Nature Reserve, Preston

Rural Vitality

Rob Hindle BSc MRICS Director, Rural Solutions

What is vitality?

Vitality is a concept which lies at the heart of sustainable development in rural areas “To promote sustainable development in rural areas housing should be located where it will enhance or maintain the vitality of rural communities.”

NPPF Paragraph 55

Who is Rob Hindle and what does he know about Rural Vitality?

► One of England’s leading experts on the practical assessment and application of sustainable development in a rural context

► Spent 10 years prior to the publication of the Framework researching the concept of sustainability and sustainable development

► Current work involves promoting and enabling development in rural areas and has led development of a suite of evidence based reports used by promoters and developers to secure planning consent and allocations for development in rural areas

► Has given expert witness on vitality in over 20 s78 planning inquiries and 10 Local Plan Examination in Public in the last 2 years

Why do I, as a Rural Chartered Surveyor, need to know about rural vitality?

► Vitality a critical component of a sustainable community

► The test set by the Framework .. whether a proposal will enhance or maintain vitality

► So … ► What is vitality?

► How do we know whether is exists? ► How will we know if it is threatened?

► How can we demonstrate that development will either enhance or maintain vitality?

• How

Presumption in favour…

► Key facet of the Framework is presumption in favour of sustainable development

► Applies to rural as well as urban areas (see Osbourne & Truss, Rural Productivity Plan 2015)

71. Moreover, the fact that the proposals would amount to sustainable development, as defined in the NPPF, amounts to a material consideration of substantial weight which outweighs any conflict with the development plan in any event.

APP/Y2810/A/14/2228921

[Weedon Bec subject to challenge, but the principle is repeated in Norton Hales, Davenham and others]

No requirement to demonstrate need

► This presumption means that housing does not have to be required in order to be a benefit; development which enhances vitality, regardless of whether it needs to, promotes sustainable development

► This is a big change from PPS7 and many decision makers still struggle with

it ….. 61. Although the appellant’s evidence does not establish that in the absence of the proposal the village would not continue to thrive as a community, social benefits could result from incoming residents including having regard to the existing population age profile APP/H1840/A/14/2222679 Bredon ► BUT some are beginning to see the light!

64. There is no disagreement that Thaxted is a thriving community and I consider that it would be reinforced by the new housing development recently completed and under construction. Additional housing would contribute further, socially and economically to Thaxted, making it an even more thriving community and increasing custom for the existing businesses in the town. I attach great weight to this in line with the appellant’s evidence. APP/C1570/A/14/2222958 Thaxted

What is vitality?

► Vitality (in the context of Para 55) is essentially a proxy for rural sustainability

► Any assessment of vitality must include what is going on in the relevant settlement[s], who lives there and how they live their lives

► There are both social and economic elements to vitality

Vitality as a starting point

P26. In principle, therefore, there is no compelling objection to housing development in Crich. It is recognised as a sustainable location, it is a vibrant village with good services and facilities and the opportunities exist for the use of sustainable transport modes to centres elsewhere. An assessment of sustainability must also, however, test the proposed development against the specific nature and character of Crich itself. APP/M1005/A/14/2226553 Crich

How can we assess whether a place has vitality?

► Does the place in which an asset is situated have vitality ? ► Factors to consider include:

► Activity ► Services and facilities ► Connections and movement ► Economic activity ► Housing stock ► Demographic and socio-economic characteristics

► Demonstrating that a place has vitality (or a site has access to it) is an important pre-cursor to making a case for sustainable development in a rural context

How might vitality be threatened?

► Remember Taylor’s “sustainability trap”

► Demonstrated that vitality can, and often has, been threatened and eroded in rural places in the form of:-

► Loss of services ► Changes in affordability of housing ► Lack of availability and choice in housing ► Conversion of employment space to housing ► Loss of open space or facilities ► Erosion of social capital ► Demographic and social change

How development can maintain vitality

► Benefits which mitigate and address loss of vitality help to maintain vitality:-

► Expand number of people thus increasing demand for local

services ► Improve demographic profile ► Broaden range of housing stock ► Introduce affordable housing ► Bring fresh enthusiasm, skills, energy = adding social capital ► Attract new working age and economically active people

How development can maintain vitality

► 39. There would be economic benefits in terms of construction spending of around £13 million, supporting the equivalent of 65 full-time construction jobs over some 3-4 years; 113 houses would provide for around 170 economically active residents; and additional household spending would support some ten additional full-time jobs. It may be argued that that would be so for housing development anywhere in the Borough – but some of the construction jobs would likely go to people living in Crich; some of the economically active residents would work in Crich, even if at home (nowadays around 14%); and a not insignificant amount of household spending would be in Crich and would support additional jobs in the village or, at the least, support those that already exist.

► 40. There would be social benefits from the ability of the new housing to attract people at all stages of life, tending both to enhance the demographic mix and balance of the community and to at least sustain, if not enhance, the vibrancy of the village. There would also, subject to consideration of the third issue below, be benefits from the provision of affordable housing, enabling people with existing connections to stay within (or return to) the community.

APP/M1005/A/14/2226553 Crich

How development can enhance vitality?

► Development can enhance vitality by:- ► Increasing population; adds to spending power,

demand, social capacity ► Widening housing choice and affordability ► Improving demographic balance and socio-economic

mix ► Adding to the labour pool and boosting economic

capacity ► Supporting investment in additional services and

infrastructure

Development can also affect vitality?

► Undue strain on local services and facilities ► Loss of valued local sites and space ► Changing use from economic or community use ► Reducing rather than extending opportunities for people within

their communities ► Growing issue around harmful impact on social wellbeing and

consequent risk of erosion of community cohesion

► 87. Substantially increasing the number of residences in a settlement without proportionate increases in the provision of local shops, infrastructure, employment opportunities and other local services risks eroding community cohesion. This type of impact is always hard to quantify, given the difficulties of obtaining tangible evidence. This [increase of 12%] would constitute a sizeable expansion, and I accept the Parish Council’s argument that it would take the existing community some time to adapt, and may have adverse consequences for the social and cultural wellbeing of existing residents.

APP/U1105/A/13/2191905 Feniton

Evidence Counts

► Can’t just claim that vitality exists and that development will benefit it –necessary to demonstrate via evidence to the satisfaction of the design maker

► 47. When set against the benefits of recent growth, the harm alleged by the Council and Parish Council is somewhat less tangible. The Council acknowledge that the impacts are hard to quantify. The Parish Council have referred to a tipping point in the scale of development in the village. However, no evidence of strain in local services has been presented that would lead me to conclude that the addition of 45 dwellings would have significant social implications. Reference has been made to increased crime levels within the village but there is no evidence to suggest that this is linked to the new development and I can attach no weight to assertions in this regard. Therefore, whilst noting that existing residents may feel uneasy about the level of growth, that growth has been accompanied by a commensurate growth in facilities. This balance is such that no clear social harm has been identified.

APP/G1630/A/14/2223858 Stoke Orchard

► This works both ways - a claim or fear is not a valid planning issue – only substantiated evidence will do

► 55. In the absence of substantive evidence, I give limited weight to fear in itself which should not therefore be a bar to development.

APP/Y2180/A/14/2228921 Weedon Bec

Closing Remarks

► Rural Solutions has developed a proven evidence based approach to assessing rural vitality and impacts upon it (positive and negative) that development will bring

► This approach has been used to support over 120 planning applications, representations to over 25 Local Plan Examinations in Public and over 30 planning approvals across England in the last 2 years

► It has never been found wanting

► Collectively our evidence has helped out clients secure consent or allocations for over 3,000 new homes in rural areas since the publication of the Framework

THANK YOU