Weekly Column
As the Wizard of Oz said, “there’s no place like home.” In North West Norfolk, 64 per cent of households own their own home, 19 per cent rent privately, and 15.7 per cent rent from a social landlord, with 0.6 per cent in shared ownership. But what is clear from talking to constituents is that in the challenging housing market we currently face there’s a particular need for more homes to rent and buy for local people at prices they can afford.
New housing development needs to be accompanied by school places, GPs, dentists, and other infrastructure such as the A10 West Winch Housing Access Road. That was why I spoke at the Planning Inquiry against the Knight’s Hill development as I was concerned at the scale and impact on local roads – it is proceeding nonetheless and bus services should operate into the development to encourage use of public transport.
Home building in parts of Norfolk, and across the country, has stalled due to issues over legacy EU rules. The government brought forward changes to deal with this issue but despite claiming to back people’s aspirations to own their own home, Labour blocked the measure in the House of Lords.
Many constituents have raised concerns with me about the impact of holiday lets and second homes on local people’s ability to rent or buy. The government has introduced measures to help strike a balance to have sustainable local communities and support tourism with plans for further changes. The newly approved Burnham Market Neighbourhood Plan includes a principal residency test for new homes which will have to be taken into account when considering planning applications.
Such covenants already apply to some properties in parts of North West Norfolk and have been used for a development in Hunstanton. Instead of a blanket approach across the county, it’s important to recognise in different places different issues will arise and local people’s views should be listened to as part of fostering sustainable villages and coastal towns.
One of the Government schemes to help people onto the housing ladder is First Homes. This is a Ronseal policy – it is about local people and key workers buying their first home with discounts of up to 30 per cent. Planning authorities can include them as part of affordable housing and after the discount, the first sale must be at a price no higher than £250,000.
A healthy rented sector is a vital part of our housing mix and changes through the Renters Reform Bill will give tenants a better deal while supporting landlords. Renting is often a stepping stone to buying and to help people to build up a deposit I would like to see a new Help to Buy ISA which topped up people’s savings by 25 per cent up to £3,000 when buying their first home.
Decent homes, in the places people want to live, at prices people can afford, with the services to support them. That simple approach should be the focus of planners and developers with schemes judged against those objectives in West Norfolk and across the country.
First published in Lynn News, 6 October 2023
