Mole Valley adopted their Core Strategy back in October 2009; it “has the principle of sustainable development at its heart and goes beyond just land use planning”.
Policy CS 4 of the Core Strategy sets out the expectations regarding affordable housing in the district, this can be seen below:
As seen above, there are different requirements based on the number of dwellings proposed in a development, and also some different ways of delivering what is needed.
For developments of 1-9 dwellings, the expectation is that a financial contribution equivalent to 20% will be provided rather than on-site units. It is often assumed that development under 10 units does not qualify for affordable housing contributions – however local authorities can request contributions on smaller sites based on need, so this is worth bearing in mind.
Developments of 10-14 dwellings will be expected to have 30% of the units on-site as affordable and sites of 15+ dwellings will have 40% affordable housing.
Policy CS 4 states that sites of 10 or more gross dwellings will have their affordable housing provision on-site rather than providing it another way. 1–9-unit sites will pay a commuted sum and this will be used to provide affordable housing elsewhere in the district.
In February 2022, the Future Mole Valley (Local Plan2020-2037) was submitted for independent examination; therefore, it is likely that this policy may change in the foreseeable future, provided the new plan is found sound. New policy H3 states:
Please note, H3 is a draft policy – while it is reasonably likely to be adopted following examination by the Inspectorate, it may be amended before adoption. Keep up-to-date with the latest developments on our blog.
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