Submission from the Otter Valley Association, 16th December 2015
A. Executive Summary
• We provide information about the Otter Valley Association, its aims and its concerns about the lack of affordable homes for local families in the district.
• We list the actions we believe Parliament should take to amend the damaging effects of the current situation.
The Otter Valley Association (OVA)
1. The OVA, a civic amenity charity with approximately 1000 members, was founded to promote and conserve the environment, landscape and history of the lower Otter valley, East Devon. It was established for the public benefit in the area comprising the civil parishes of Budleigh Salterton, East Budleigh and Bicton, Otterton, Colaton Raleigh, Newton Poppleford and Harpford, (hereafter be referred to as "the area of benefit"). This area is situated entirely in the East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and all of the coastline forms part of the Jurassic World Heritage Site. The town of Budleigh Salterton is also, unusually, in the AONB. It also includes many Sites of Special Scientific Interest, numerous conservation areas and a Site of European Environmental Significance, which the local authority has a legal duty to protect against the adverse effects of the pressures of future development. The area has 30% retirees, double the national figure.
2. The area of benefit has significant environmental constraints on development, and this is reflected throughout the whole of East Devon. The Local Plan is currently stalled as East Devon District Council has not met its legal obligation for Habitat Regulations 2000.
3. The majority (86%) of local employment is in the retail, hospitality and health sectors, all of which are predominantly lower-paid. The earnings of locally employed people are 7% lower than the English average, the average house price to salary ratio is 12:1 and the average monthly rental of £687 has been calculated to be an unaffordable 44% of average earnings for a single person. East Devon is, therefore, the 8th least affordable district in England (Rowntree Foundation). Many local people cannot afford the terms and conditions of even affordable homes.
4. The beauty of the area attracts many second homeowners and retirees from across the country. The disparity between the purchasing power of the locally employed and those coming from more affluent areas either to retire or to own a second home, affects the locals in many ways. Many second-home buyers purchase a small pied- a-terre a few years before their retirement, these are exactly the homes the local youngsters bought in the past as first time buyers. Retirees and second-home owners push up the prices of housing.
5. The emerging East Devon Local Plan favours developers building large estates. The housing is expensive and, with the removal of requirements to build affordable housing due to financial constrictions, very little low-cost affordable housing is being built in the OVA’s area of benefit.
6. The East Devon Local Plan sets out to build a minimum of 17,100 houses in 18 years, whereas the demographic need is 10,500 over that time. Hence there will be more than enough building taking place but it will be unaffordable to the locals. Developers argued at the Local Plan Oral Hearing that more land was needed as EDDC was not meeting its 5 year housing target. This is not due to lack of planning permission being granted. In Otterton, Newton Poppleford and Budleigh Salterton outline planning permission was granted 3-4 years ago for approximately 150 houses and has proceeded no further.
7. Recommended Actions
1. Impose higher taxes on second homes and those unoccupied for more than 6 months.
2. Encourage small developments built by local builders.
3. Scrap the right to buy scheme with its resulting loss of rented accommodation to local families.
4. Re-introduce a minimum number of affordable houses in large developments.
5. Encourage the building of social housing through fiscal policy change. The need for social housing in the area has been endorsed in a questionnaire sent out to inhabitants in Budleigh Salterton in conjunction with a Neighbourhood Plan. In a random sample of 100 respondents, 32 highlighted the need for social housing.
16 December 2015