South Holland has a joint Local Plan with Boston Borough Council and Lincolnshire Borough Council, this being the South East Lincolnshire Local Plan 2011-2036 (adopted March 2019). It sets out that it will “shape the growth of Boston Borough and South Holland District for future generations”.
Policy 18 of the Local Plan sets out the expectations regarding affordable housing each area, this can be seen below:
As seen above, there are different requirements based on which area the development is in.
For residential schemes providing 11+ dwellings or more than 1,000m2 of internal floorspace, 20% will be sought as affordable housing in Boston Borough and 25% will be sought in South Holland. This will preferably be done on-site; however, if justified evidence is provided to the Local Authority as to why on-site affordable housing cannot be delivered, then an off-site provision or financial contribution could be accepted instead.
However, the above policy is only relevant to developments providing 11+ dwellings or more than 1,000m2 of internal floorspace. Since this Local Plan was adopted, the NPPF identifies that - major developments - those of 10+ units or 0.5 hectares or more – should also be providing affordable housing. Therefore, in South Holland, affordable housing provision may be sought on residential development schemes of 10 or more dwellings, 0.5 hectares or more or more than 1,000m2 of internal floorspace.
S106 Management recommend a site-specific viability assessment to be carried out on all developments of 10+dwellings in South Holland.
In addition, there are provisions specifically for Rural Exception Sites (schemes that otherwise would not be consented in more isolated or rural areas but for provision of more than average affordable housing (generally 50-100%). Policy 19 provides further detail on this approach to development. S106 Management have significant experience assisting applicants on justifying the precise mix of open market to affordable housing through viability assessment on rural exception sites.
