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Christchurch and East Dorset Housing and Affordable Housing Supplementary Planning Document

The the Housing and Affordable Housing Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) was first adopted in April 2014.  The councils have now updated this document, and consulted on a revised draft document during September 2018.

The following adopted documents are available:

The main purpose of the Housing and Affordable Housing SPD is to provide details of how policies for housing and affordable housing in our Local Plan for the combined areas of Christchurch Borough Council and East Dorset District Council will be operated.

Please note that this revised SPD still supports the existing Christchurch and East Dorset Joint Core Strategy Policies, and is not linked to the Christchurch or the East Dorset Local Plan Review consultation.

The reasons for revising the SPD are as follows:

  • to update the document in the light of new evidence studies, for example revised SHMA housing information
  • to update the document in respect of development viability information, and specifically in respect of anticipated uplift in land values. A copy of a study on this issue, produced for the Council by the District Valuation Service, is available as an appendix to the document
  • generally to reduce the amount of text in the document to make it more readable; and
  • to generally update any out of date text.

Much of the document remains unchanged from the 2014 version. 

The document was adopted by Christchurch Borough Council and East Dorset District Council at council meetings on the 10 and 11 of December 2018 respectively.

Changes to applying Core Strategy Policy LN3 (updated May 2016)

On the 19 May 2016 the Government issued updated guidance on affordable housing and tariff style contributions following the order of the Court of Appeal dated 13 May 2016. It gives legal effect to the policy previously set out in the Written Ministerial Statement of 28 November 2014.

A practice note sets out how the councils will now be applying Policy LN3 'Provision of Affordable Housing', which is covered in the Housing and Affordable Housing Supplementary Planning Document, with this updated guidance in place.

What does the document cover?

This is a joint document between Christchurch Borough Council and East Dorset District Council to support the Core Strategy. This document also replaces previous Supplementary Planning Guidance 'Affordable and Special Needs Housing and the Provision of Small Dwellings', implemented by East Dorset District Council in December 2005.

The document addresses the detailed operational and technical aspects of implementing the Core Strategy Meeting Local Needs policies that contribute to Strategic Objective 5 of the Core Strategy:

"To deliver a suitable, affordable and sustainable range of housing to provide for local needs"

In particular, the document addresses the principles and processes that will ensure the delivery of appropriate market housing and affordable housing to meet local need and demand. To ensure that future residential development contributes to mixed sustainable communities and a balanced housing market.

To ensure that policy aspirations and objectives are balanced with the critical importance of bringing forward land and viable development. The document also sets out the Councils approach to negotiation, to viability assessment and where appropriate, the calculation of offsite commuted-sum contributions.