NORTH NORFOLK AFFORDABLE HOUSING STRATEGY WINS PRESTIGIOUS PLANNING EXCELLENCE AWARD

A Norfolk housing association’s strategy to meet the shortage of affordable housing in north Norfolk has won a Planning Excellence Award from the Royal Town Planning Institute.

Broadland Housing Association’s North Norfolk District Wide Affordable Housing Strategy, which has delivered 61 new affordable homes in five rural locations across the district, carried off the 2020 Planning Excellence Award for the East of England.

The award recognises the ‘ingenuity’ of Broadland’s strategy, which capitalised on an opportunity from changes to national policy to create the five mixed tenure schemes in Binham, Trunch, Erpingham, Edgefield and Great Ryburgh. 

The five schemes were linked by one single Section 106 Agreement, with the sale of market homes subsidising the delivery of the affordable housing.

Broadland Housing’s executive development director Andrew Savage said, “Our strategy is helping to meet the acute shortage of affordable housing in north Norfolk.  We have worked closely with partners at North Norfolk District Council and local parish councils to create vibrant, sustainable rural communities.

“Through our strategy, people with family or employment connections in north Norfolk have been able to rent or buy high quality, well-designed, affordable homes in places where they would otherwise have been priced out of.

“We are deeply grateful for our partnership work with North Norfolk District Council, without whose enthusiasm and diligence we would not have been able to create implement this strategy.”

Greg Hayman, North Norfolk District Council’s portfolio holder for Housing and Benefits, said, “I congratulate the team at Broadland Housing on their award for this well deserved scheme and would like to also thank the team here at NNDC whose collaborative approach helped shape the outcome.

“It is vital that affordable housing should be of a quality that make the residents and community feel proud. It's also vital that villages continue to thrive with sustainable populations.”

In each of the five north Norfolk locations, Broadland Housing worked with local architects Ingleton Wood to create a range of house designs which complement the local rural landscape.  The homes have been traditionally constructed by local builders, using authentic local building materials such as flint.

“The quality of the scheme planning has helped us to instil a strong sense of pride and community from the outset,” said Mr Savage. 

“It has also encouraged mixed, inclusive communities.  There is no visible difference between the social rent and open market homes, reducing the stigma which can sometimes be associated with affordable housing

“We want to thank all our partners, Bidwells, Ingleton Wood, Hudson’s, Rossi Long RG Carter, Wellington Construction and H Smith Honingham, without whose help we would not have been able to deliver these amazing new homes in rural Norfolk.”

The RTPI Planning Excellence Awards aim to highlight exceptional examples of how planning and planners have a ‘positive impact on our quality of life in creating exceptional places and protecting our environment’.