A huge amount of work has taken place in recent months including:
- Identifying all relevant national and local planning policy and other key initiatives that will provide the context and support for our new plan.
- Collating and reviewing responses to our survey of local estate agents (to which we received an unprecedented 100% response!).
- Collating responses to our survey of businesses in the parish (to which we got a respectable 60% response).
- Identifying with the Husthwaite History Society possible additions to the register of non-designated heritage assets which will be given protection under the new plan.
- Commenting in detail on the draft Ecological Assessment carried out by Wold Ecology.
- Reviewing and commenting in detail on a local housing needs assessment compiled by Government appointed consultants, AECOM. This work included obtaining very helpful comments from our liaison planning lead at North Yorkshire Council. The housing needs assessment is important evidence required to support housing policy in the new plan.
- Reviewing and commenting in detail on a first draft of the introductory sections of a Design Code for the parish, on which we are also working with AECOM consultants. Once finalised the Design Code will form part of the neighbourhood plan and will be subject to the same consultation process.
- Providing regular updates to the Parish Council.
- Preparing for a drop in event in January at which we will share our draft themes and objectives for the new plan and also the work being done for us by AECOM.
Local Estate Agent Survey
Five local estate agents were sent an online survey asking about the local housing market – both sales and rental. The online survey was supplemented by the delivery of paper copies and this resulted in returns from all five! The survey results are available here but particular points of interest include:
- The rural character of the area was the most important factor that drove sales followed by proximity to York and other market towns
- Three bed houses were the most popular for both renting and sales
- Shops and other local facilities were the most important in determining exact location within the area. For sales, off road parking was also a key amenity while having a garden was important for rentals.
- All agreed there was a shortage of smaller properties to buy in Husthwaite.
Parish Business Survey
Twenty two respondents to our parish wide survey last year identified themselves as business owners. We sent all of these a follow up survey asking for what development they might require to help them prosper in their respective business areas. We got 14 responses (a 64% response rate). The survey results are available here but particular points of interest include:
- With one exception, all felt Husthwaite was a good place to run a business
- Many mentioned community spirit and location as factors which were important to them
- Slow internet was the main disadvantage – 6 out of 14 mentioned this.
- There was not much call specifically for more parking or local housing or employees but 8 out 14 thought traffic improvements would be beneficial to businesses generally while 7 out 14 backed a community energy scheme.
Non-designated heritage Assets
Local heritage – whether buildings, monuments, sites, places, areas, historic parks and gardens or other designed landscapes – plays an essential role in building and reinforcing a sense of local character and distinctiveness in the historic environment. All plans are required to set out a positive strategy for the conservation and enjoyment of the historic environment.
Heritage assets are of two types:
- Designated heritage assets, which are largely designated nationally under the relevant legislation (listed buildings, scheduled monuments, etc.) – there are eight of these in the parish.
- Non designated heritage assets, which are locally identified as having a degree of heritage significance meriting consideration in planning decisions, but which do not meet the criteria for designated heritage assets.
The Local History Society has very kindly produced a draft ‘Local Heritage List’ for consultation. Its purpose is to celebrate the breadth of the historic environment of the parish by encompassing the full range of heritage assets that make up the historic environment and ensuring the proper recording of these. The list includes some houses within the village Conservation Area and these are already automatically treated under planning law as non-designated assets but others, such as Throstle Nest Farm, Beacon Banks and the village’s red pillar boxes do not currently have any protection.
The proposed list will be made available at the drop in event and comments are invited.
Preliminary Ecological Appraisal report
Wold Ecology carried out a desk top survey of the parish in spring 2024 followed by an on-site inspection (by drone) of the green areas in and close to the village. They produced a draft report in July and we have now sent them back some detailed comments and requests for clarification/expansion. We are awaiting the updated draft.
The report will be particularly useful in a) providing a general landscape classification for the parish, b) identifying the different habitat types in and around the village and c) evidence of species types in the same study area. As all development is now required by law to produce a net gain for biodiversity, the report will indicate where further detailed surveys might be required before any development is approved/commenced.
AECOM Housing Needs Assessment
Although there is NO requirement for a neighbourhood plan to allocate sites for housing, we are expected to identify local development requirements, and to address them in our plan where possible.
While there are a number of factors which influence the appropriate location for affordable housing e.g. transport and services, the parish wide survey indicated a strong support for more affordable housing in the village to meet local demand. This reflects a key objective of the Hambleton Plan which was to address the district-wide shortage of housing that is affordable for households on low incomes and first time buyers.
At national level planning policy on this is required to be informed by “a local housing need assessment, conducted using the standard method in national planning practice guidance”, Locality, which administers government funds to support neighbourhood planning, provides expert consultants such as AECOM to carry out these assessments.
The assessment is a desktop study which uses a variety of publicly available data to assess the current supply of low cost and social housing, the average cost of entry level housing and the average household income for the neighbourhood area. As this is a very small study area, there is not a lot of parish specific data available so the assessment is by necessity somewhat ‘broad brush’. In particular the low number of house sales each year means that it is not possible to identify a realistic average market price. Therefore, the analysis uses 2022 (where there were 8 sales across a range of property sizes) to calculate a median price of £272,500 and a lower quartile price of £226,400 (used to estimate entry level prices). The median price is in line with the current median figure for Hambleton district.
Based on an estimated average household income of £43,200 (in 2020) and a lower quartile income of £18,400, AECOM’s conclusion is that local households on average incomes are unable to purchase entry-level homes unless they have the advantage of a very large deposit. Their modelling suggests that Husthwaite could see a potential demand for an additional nine affordable home ownership dwellings over the anticipated plan period of 2025-2036. AECOM modelling suggests that there will be no significant requirement for additional affordable rental housing in the same period.
This assessment is not part of the new plan but it is important evidence that will support a housing policy that looks to facilitate the development of smaller affordable units.