HIFAR Policy Document

1) The Existing Situation

?         40% of houses on Arran are holiday/second homes

?         Isle of Arran Homes has 270 people on its waiting list

?         At least 150 people in need of housing are NOT on that list

?         The average house price on Arran is £200,000

?         The average wage on Arran is less than £20,000 p.a.

2) Need

At least 200 homes are required to be built on Arran NOW.

HIFAR is committed to ensuring that these houses, in meeting the need for affordable accommodation, also satisfy the needs of the island in general i.e. To be attractive, ecological and located in groups in areas that do not detract from the beauty of this holiday island.

3) HIFAR

“Housing Initiative for Arran Residents”

HIFAR exists for one purpose: to facilitate the provision of affordable, attractive, sustainable housing for Arran residents. Such provision must  remain affordable in perpetuity. A paradigm shift must occur in respect to “the property ladder”. For any dwelling provided by any housing body to be affordable to future occupiers, it must not be allowed to be sold on the open market. The Rural Housing Burden provides a vehicle for this to happen. This burden, when incorporated into a contract of sale (either built house or land) will require the occupier to sell the property back to the housing body and for that body to purchase it. The price will be “derived” by a valuer as to its replacement cost - not its market value. This is essential and, although purchasers are being advised against committing to such a contract, this is in light of the prevalence in the UK for home ownership and the belief that a house is as much an investment in the future as secure accommodation for the present. Prospective occupiers must be aware that HIFAR is providing housing on the basis of affordability in perpetuity and will not allow its properties to become part of the general housing market.

This burden should be applied to any property for at least 20 years of any occupancy.

4) “Arran Residents”

Definition: Any individual or family with a provable affiliation with Arran.

?         Born here

?         Have close family ties

?         Have lived permanently on Arran for at least 5 years

?         Have a proven offer of work or business opportunity with qualifications to fulfil such a position

5) Planning / Building practice

a) All new build, regardless of provider.

?         A mixture of styles, size, materials and locations

?         Use of low-cost public land e.g. Forestry, to immediately reduce the building cost

?         Revision of planning concepts, avoiding high density settlements, road systems, street lighting and sewerage systems and favouring natural sewerage systems (reedbed, septic tank), solar-powered lighting (in-house and community) and heating, wind and biomass power supplies.

b) Self-build

For decades a tradition on Arran was for people to build their own houses, with the assistance of family and friends, on land owned by the family or purchased from neighbours / friends at low cost. In less than a generation, this tradition has been curtailed by the escalation of land prices and the strangulatory planning regulations introduced by an urban-oriented council. With this option removed, such people have been forced to enrol on the "social housing" register (an estimated 30% of  registrants fall into this category). 

HIFAR regards as essential the relaxation of planning regulations to allow landowners to build on their own land, for offspring or residents fulfilling HIFAR’s criteria. Such building must be legally restricted in line with Clause 75, to preclude sale on the open market for at least 20 years. This will remove a significant number from the housing list, with little or no public funding required.

c) Renovation

Owners of derelict / unoccupied properties must be approached, with the offer of funding assistance, to renovate these properties (estimated at between 70 and 100 on Arran) into the rented sector at affordable rates, with said rates being maintained at affordable levels for at least 25 years.

d) Holiday / second homes

The proportion of “lived in” properties within existing village boundaries must be re-balanced. In places such as Corrie and Lochranza, this proportion is presently 50-50, resulting in “ghost town” conditions for more than half of the year. A figure of 80-20 in favour of permanently occupied houses must be attained, by relaxing the village boundary definitions and by building small groups (4 - 6 houses) in several locations within these boundaries. NOTE: this must happen within the village, to prevent  a “ghetto” mentality from prevailing, with “real villagers” becoming marginalized to the outskirts.

e) Land

?         The appropriation of public land, specifically for Arran from the Forestry Commission, at low cost for the building of small groups of dwellings in an ecological manner.

?         Consultation with landowners, specifically farmers, to release land at affordable prices for the building of low-cost housing, such housing to remain affordable in perpetuity.

?         Regulation to cap speculative development on newly-released land i.e. A strict, legally enforceable limit to high value builds on any given site.

Summary

HIFAR wants Arran to continue as a balanced community with everyone who lives here having access to decent housing.

At the present rate of development it is important to look ahead and guard against the possibility of the island becoming a stage-set for the well-off and holiday home owners while the work and services for the island are carried out by low paid, migrant labour who could never live here and therefore could never have a stake in the community.

We need, through planning change and policy change, to break the strangle hold of high land and building costs, making full use of new opportunities in house design, sustainability and setting.

We need to make it easier for people who need social housing as well as people with resources of their own who wish to use them towards housing themselves but cannot because the cost of housing has outstripped what even reasonably well paid people can afford.

HIFAR wants to make a contribution to Arran’s future and understands the necessity of doing this in collaboration with other key organisations on the island.