Project: Factors in the effective delivery of rural exception sites (RES) in England

Research published February 2024

Lead researchers & institutions:

Prof Nick Gallent, Dr Andrew Purves and Dr Iqbal Hamiduddin at the Bartlett School of Planning, UCL*

* RTPI-accredited planning school

Funders

Commissioned by the Rural Housing Network, the research was funded by English Rural Housing Association, Hastoe Housing Association, Trent & Dove Housing Association, and the National Housing Federation.

Note:  Findings and recommendations reflect the views of the researchers at the time of writing and are not necessarily the views of the RTPI

Key takeaways:

The report lists factors that are essential to helping RES succeed in delivering more affordable rural homes especially in smaller villages, including:

• high level political support in local authorities;
• close working with communities to build evidence and support for projects;
• building long term delivery partnerships;
• cross-subsidy arrangements that support delivery and affordability;
• mixed funding models, including direct council build;
• supportive planning and spatial development strategies.

Summary

In recent decades housing has become less affordable in many rural parts of England than in larger towns and cities. This has been due to more people choosing to move from cities to rural areas, and to environmental protections that restrict building in rural areas. These pressures can be especially acute in smaller villages, leading to lower housing affordability especially for local people who work in the rural economy and whose wages are lower. Good quality, affordable housing is vital to ensure that rural places stay vibrant and fully-functioning with all the services that local communities need.

To help solve this problem, Rural Exception Sites (RES) were introduced as a national policy in 1991. RES are small plots in rural areas designated for small-scale affordable housing development, typically on land otherwise restricted from housing use such as National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. They are usually found on the edge of small existing settlements with populations of 3000 people or less.

But RES face persistent challenges which means far fewer affordable homes are being delivered in rural places than could be. This study asked: How should prospective RES schemes maximise their chances of success?

The project was guided by questions about the planning resources needed to support RES and the local factors that shape outcomes.

Interviewees agreed on four key success factors:

• building and sustaining community support for a project;
• partnering a land owner who is willing to sell land at a price that will allow affordable homes to be built;
• having ‘higher political support’ within the local authority; and
• working with an ‘honest broker’ (often an independent RHE or LA-based enabler) who will champion a project and keep it moving.

The study identified several barriers to the widespread adoption of RES, including:

• a general lack of awareness and understanding,
• reluctance from local landowners, and
• opposition from local councils.

Recommendations include:

For LAs:

• clear messaging in support of affordable housing and its vital importance to rural communities at authority level, backed up by proactive planning and funding policies;

For LAs and Government:

• dedicated funding for rural housing enabling within local authorities plus consistent national and local funding to the independent Rural Housing Enabling network.

For Government/Homes England:

• Issuing of national guidance to RES partners on viability, cross-subsidy, incentives, and land values – forming part of a broader RES (or ‘rural affordable housing’) toolkit. 

For Homes England:

• Resourcing to rural authorities to reflect the challenges of working with multiple under-resourced partners, and incentives for RPs to extend their reach into under-served rural areas. 

For Homes England and partner groups:

• advice on mixed funding packages including in a RES (or RAH) toolkit (extending to linked subsidy schemes), and work with Homes England to support RES in under-served areas;
• a RES (or RAH) toolkit addressing practices and engagements, including via social media, that help win support for rural housing projects, whilst illustrating good practice in evidence gathering.

For Government:

• NPPF to give clearer support to RES, stressing its value to rural communities and economies. NPPF to reference a future RES (or RAH) toolkit and underscore the sustainability arguments for a dispersed development approach in many rural areas. 

Full reference

Gallent, N., Purves, A. and Hamiduddin, I. (2024) Factors in the effective delivery of rural exception sites in England.

Related outputs

1. Gallent, N., Stirling, P., Purves, A. and Hamiduddin, I. (2026) Land price and the viability of delivering affordable housing on ‘rural exception sites’ in England, in Town Planning Review (forthcoming)
2. Gallent, N., Stirling, P., Purves, A. and Hamiduddin, I. (2024) Enabling the delivery of rural affordable housing in England, in Journal of Rural Studies, 111, 103433
3. Gallent, N. and Purves, A. (2024) Do rural planning authorities have the resources to support affordable housing delivery? In Town and Country Planning, 93, 4, pp. 242-245