New Policy Statement on Affordable Housing
Providing affordable housing is a national issue, and England’s National Parks are in the front line in the challenge to protect our most beautiful areas of countryside, whilst also meeting needs for affordable housing for local communities.
ENPAA has recently adopted a Position Statement on affordable housing. This recognises the National Parks as living landscapes peopled by farmers, others who manage the land and people living in rural communities. ENPAA believes that we should be ensuring that those communities that help contribute to a thriving National Park are able to live in high quality designed, affordable homes, which demonstrate the principles of sustainable development, and therefore complement the special qualities of the National Park.
National Park Authorities, though not Housing Authorities, are active in this area, and can demonstrate many examples of good practice. Government policy is to increase the volume, sustainability and quality of house building. National Parks are not the place for volume house building, or to address national shortages of affordable homes. But National Park Authorities have been at the forefront of finding alternative ways to tackle the problems – particularly for meeting local needs.
The Position Statement explains what is already being achieved; outlines the various challenges and obstacles facing National Park Authorities; and calls for supporting action from Government, the new Homes and Communities Agency; and others.
