Affordable Housing in My Village - Who Needs It?

The Rural Housing Enabler's job is to facilitate affordable housing in the rural areas of Cheshire East.

How do we do this?

By working closely with Parish Councils, local people, housing associations, planners and many other groups, explaining what affordable housing is, and ensuring that all sides receive the most benefit from affordable housing.

Depending on the particular area most houses in a rural setting in Cheshire cannot be afforded by a young average wage earner. For example, a nurse earning £20,000 - £25,000 wouldn't be able to get a mortgage for a house / apartment valued at £160,000.

Affordable housing which can be rented, shared ownership or by covenant (price capped at percentage) sets the amount that a person needs to raise at an affordable level. 

For more information about affordable housing, please use the links below:

• Why do we need affordable housing? - The main arguments for and against affordable housing in rural areas.
• How affordable housing works - Information about rented, shared ownership, covenant and mixed, as well as eligibility.

Types of Housing

In theory this could mean any type of housing. but in reality the accommodation would not normally be bigger than 3 bedroom properties.

They can be apartments, houses or bungalows, but whatever they are they will be subject to strict planning permission (as any buildings are) and will be compatible with the area. In other words, a 10 storey block of flats will not be allowed to be built in a small village.

They can be existing buildings that can be converted, brown site development or non-developed land that would not conversely affect the community, such as an infill site. In addition the number of houses that are built should be compatible with the size of the community.

Housing Needs Surveys

A number of local housing needs surveys have been completed. The resulting reports can be downloaded below along with the questionnaires that were circulated in each area.

• Plumley report (PDF, 110KB)  which was based on responses to the Plumley questionnaire (PDF, 166KB) 
• Audlem report (PDF, 95KB)  which was based on responses to the  Audlem questionnaire (PDF, 28KB) 
• Congleton & Macclesfield report (PDF, 128KB)  which was based on responses to the Congleton & Macclesfield questionnaire (PDF, 142KB) 
• Southern Rural Area report (PDF, 356KB) which was based on responses to the Southern Rural Area questionnaire (PDF, 82KB). 
• Pickmere and Tabley report (PDF, 328KB) which was based on responses to the Pickmere and Tabley parished questionnaire (PDF, 82KB) 
• Sutton Area Report (PDF,402KB) which was based on responses to the Sutton Rural Area questionnaire (PDF, 61.4KB)

Contact us

We are always on the lookout for suitable sites for rural affordable housing. If you know of any such sites please contact us.
We would be very happy to come and talk to any local community group about the issues relating to affordable housing in your rural area.