Planning Confines - March/April 2023 Edition

Many parts of Northamptonshire have “planning confines” or “village envelope”, essentially an imaginary line around a settlement outside of which normal built developments would not be allowed. There are pros and cons. One pro is that a village is protected from “sprawl”, where development gradually pushes outwards creating bigger and bigger settlements. A related con is that most development occurs inside the confines meaning that housing density increases and important green space and breaks in the street scene are lost.

There are all sorts of exceptions to the rule. Development of agricultural buildings and other outlying properties, sites that provide for affordable housing, and community buildings may all be permitted outside the confines, subject to certain conditions.

One particular exception is selfbuild developments. The government’s guidance says “Selfbuild and custom housebuilding covers a wide spectrum, from projects where individuals are involved in building or managing the construction of their home from beginning to end, to projects where individuals commission their home, making key design and layout decisions, but the home is built ready for occupation (‘turnkey’). The Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015 (as amended by the Housing and Planning Act 2016) provides a legal definition of self-build and custom housebuilding. The Act does not distinguish between self-build and custom housebuilding and provides that both are where an individual, an association of individuals, or persons working with or for individuals or associations of individuals, build or complete houses to be occupied as homes by those individuals.” 

If you have ever watched Kevin McCloud’s Grand Designs, you might have an image of “self-build” being a family hunkered in a static caravan on-site whilst nipping out to do a bit of brick laying or roofing inbetween rain storms. You probably don’t think of “self-build” being where, for example, a developer builds a house for someone who had one cup of tea with the architect to discuss where the bathrooms might go.

A situation came to light last year in West Northamptonshire where planning permission was granted on a so-called “exception site” for a self-build development outside the village confines. It had been imagined that the application would be refused because the applicant did not have a local connection. When it was granted permission the chair of the parish meeting scrutinised the West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) planning policy. The policy clearly provides for “self-build” development for those with a “local connection”, but the definitions of those things might raise some eyebrows. The chair of the parish meeting wondered whether their village was the only place in West  Northamptonshire to expereince this issue, and whether they were the only ones surpised at the loose definitions. So Northants CALC did a survey of all parishes in West Northamptonshire to find out. We received 74 responses.

We asked, “Were you aware that development outside the village confines might be permitted if it is a “self-builder” with “local connection?”. 67% were not aware that self-build was even a potential exception.

We then asked, “Were you aware that the definition of “self-builder” includes socalled “package” companies, who find the land, design the house, build it, and then hand it over to the “self-builder” who will occupy it?” 78% were not aware of the very wide definition.

We then wanted to ask about the definition of “local connection”, which according to the policy would include someone who has a relative living in the area. That means a person living in Timbuktu who has a relative living in Brackley could apply for a self-build development in a village near Daventry on the grounds they had a “local connection” to that village. 

We asked, “Were you aware that “local connection” included e.g., anyone that has lived anywhere in West Northamptonshire for 12 months preceding their application, or anyone whose close relative has lived in West Northamptonshire for 24 months preceding their application?” 82% of responders were not aware of the definition.

92% of responders said they agreed or strongly agreed that the definitions of “selfbuilder” and “local connection” were wider than they imagined.

35% of responders said that there had already been a “self-build” application outside the village confines in their parish, so the case that was drawn to our attention is very much not an isolated incident.

It’s not that responders were against the concept of self-build per se, in fact from the additional comments received many would probably agree with national planning policy, which says that a “Self-build or custom build helps to diversify the housing market and increase consumer choice. Self-build and custom housebuilders choose the design and layout of their home and can be innovative in both its design and construction”. It is the very wide definitions that are problematic.

The opportunity for parish and town councils to make formal representations on this matter will be during the development of the new West Northamptonshire Local Plan (WNLP) and Northants CALC will feed our survey results into that process. The survey results will also be discussed at a meeting at the end of April 2023 to see whether there is anything that can be done in relation to self-build applications received before the WNLP is made.