Local government in the UK is at a turning point. The government is pushing to streamline services and transfer more power to larger strategic authorities, replacing the current system where county and district councils share responsibilities.
This devolution by default presents both possibilities and risks for rural regions, particularly for affordable housing. It could enable a more strategic and consistent approach to building homes that are affordable for local people. Yet with rapid change across government, and with rural perspectives often sidelined, there is a possibility that rural communities may be overlooked as these reforms take place.
The affordable housing crisis in the countryside is long established. House prices are almost nine times local incomes, rural social housing waiting lists are up 30%, and rural homelessness has risen 40% since 2019. These figures show that in many ways the crisis is worsening faster in rural areas than in cities, yet national policy debate continues to be shaped by an urban and metropolitan focus.
Recognising this risk – and that, without change, devolution could compound it – the Rural Housing Network (RHN) commissioned the Countryside and Community Research Institute at the University of Gloucestershire to examine how devolution affects affordable rural housing provision. The research aimed to set out the challenges and identify practical ways to overcome them.
Ensuring people can afford a home where they live and work is vital to keeping villages alive. Rural areas have an important role to play in overall policy success, including growth, productivity, environmental and climate resilience, food security and public health. Effective devolved and national policymaking depends on recognising how urban and rural areas depend on and relate to each other.
The challenge of rural housing needs
A significant body of evidence shows the housing challenge facing the countryside, particularly for lower- and middle-income households. Buying and renting are typically more expensive in rural areas, compounded by limited new development and underinvestment in affordable housing supply.
Publicly available data highlights that only 4,750 affordable homes were built in smaller rural communities between 2019 and 2020. This is equivalent to just 9% of rural housing stock, compared with 17% in urban areas.
The consequences include pressure on local services and reduced economic productivity, because when people cannot afford to live near their work, employers struggle to recruit and retain staff and local economies cannot function as effectively.
Without sufficient safeguards, devolution could compound these challenges. Since 2017, English city regions have benefitted from greater powers – only now are rural and mixed rural-urban areas gaining access to similar opportunities – particularly greater autonomy over strategic planning decisions and investment.
The research commissioned by the RHN explores how devolution is reshaping rural housing challenges. The risk is not devolution itself, but the fact that decisions may shift to larger strategic authorities whose priorities are often shaped by urban growth, population scale and transport patterns. Without clear safeguards, that can make it easier for the smaller, dispersed needs of rural communities to be overlooked.
Three case studies reflect different areas of the country and various stages of devolution. Each example demonstrates how positive strategies can be adopted to integrate rural affordable housing into key decision-making as well as illustrating some of the risks and challenges if rural needs are overlooked.
York and North Yorkshire case study
Devolution stage: An established mayoral combined authority.
Research oversight: An example that shows how affordable rural housing advocates and networks can influence and be part of devolved aims and strategy. Aided by the leadership and interest of the mayor.
Good practice and lessons learnt: The mayor has helped connect the combined authority, rural housing partners and Homes England to support building houses.
This example shows that mayoral leadership, supported by local councillors, helps embed rural needs in the region's strategic plan, including a dedicated building pipeline.
An established rural housing partnership helped shape early thinking by demonstrating successful provision and setting out ambitions for the emerging devolved strategy.
Devon and Torbay case study
Devolution stage: An emerging non-mayoral combined county authority, bringing upper-tier councils together under a devolved arrangement.
Research oversight: The largely rural nature of the area means that rural considerations are present by default. Planning was helped considerably by the evidence and work collated by the Devon Housing Commission report, which included data on rural housing needs, and a ready-made stakeholder network who believed rural housing provision should be a focus.
Good practice and lessons learnt: At least half of the £16m in early devolution housing funding is to be directed towards rural areas.
A well-established enabling service and support network led to sustained attention on rural housing as devolution progressed. This underlines the value of early collaboration and openness from leaders and dealmakers.
Gloucestershire case study
Devolution stage: No mayoral deal in place but consultant-led devolution discussions are happening.
Research oversight: Unlike in the previous two case studies, the area has a more mixed urban make-up. In early discussions housing was low on the agenda, and the absence of a strong rural housing delivery record or credible partnership with developers has made it harder to prioritise rural housing needs.
Good practice and lessons learnt: The absence of rural representation shows the need for specific safeguards in the devolution process. Unless something significantly changes, Gloucestershire risks illustrating how rural needs and communities could be marginalised.
How does devolution affect the opportunities and risks for rural housing?
English devolution aims to pass powers to regional and local levels on the basis that decisions will be more responsive and effective. But for rural communities, the risk is that decisions are often made at the scale of large strategic authorities, where priorities tend to be shaped by bigger towns and cities, larger populations and major transport corridors.
Unless rural needs are built in deliberately, villages and small towns could find themselves with less visibility and influence, creating uncertainty and a postcode lottery in building affordable housing. Without a conscious effort from leaders and partners, opportunities to make a generational change to the supply of affordable rural housing risk being missed.
On the other hand, done well, devolution could increase the supply of affordable rural housing. Tools such as spatial development frameworks and strategic place partnerships can help combined authorities plan and invest more effectively. This could be strengthened if the revised National Planning Policy Framework supports policy changes that enable affordable development in the countryside and if these are reflected in local plans and housing strategies.
With rural awareness built into this strategic approach, it could open up new possibilities and accelerate progress on affordable housing in smaller communities.
If not handled properly, rural housing could be disregarded in new devolution plans, since there is no legal requirement to consider the needs of rural areas. Outcomes will depend on choices made by local leaders, including whether strategic planning focuses on larger urban solutions at the expense of smaller-scale rural development.
'Unless rural needs are built in deliberately, villages and small towns can find themselves with less visibility and influence'
Making devolution work for rural housing: The way forward
The research findings lead to a series of practical recommendations. If implemented, these recommendations would both safeguard the needs of rural communities and add value to the overall success of devolution in practice, as follows.
- Embed rural areas in the overall governance of devolution by including a 'rural duty' in emerging legislation and appointing a rural champion at combined authority level, creating accountability and a mechanism on which rural communities could rely.
- Incorporate explicit, parish-level rural targets based on robust housing-needs data to drive building and investment.
- Create and support rural delivery partnerships to provide the experience and practical support for rural communities to engage in the local plan-making process.
- Strengthen and standardise rural planning mechanisms such as rural exception sites in local plans.
Alongside a thoughtful approach that understands and accommodates local rural circumstances, these recommendations can offer unique potential to boost rural communities while making a significant contribution to housing supply.
How can RICS members get involved?
Housing, planning and surveying professionals, alongside rural partners and advocates, have a role to play in working collectively to ensure that central and local government sit up and pay attention to rural needs. If that can be achieved, then devolution is a historic opportunity for people in rural areas to get the affordable homes they need.
RICS members and supporters can use their political networks and leverage, engaging with local councillors, MPs and mayors to ensure that the needs of rural communities and people are understood.
Your day-to-day conversations with planning and housing officers are an opportunity to better understand and influence devolution, crucially by sharing firsthand knowledge and experiences from rural work.
And you can engage with local and neighbourhood plans as they emerge in your area, offering your input and expertise as part of the consultation process. These collective actions could have significant national impact and safeguard rural communities up and down the country as devolution is rolled out.
Martin Collett is chief executive of English Rural Housing Association
Patrick Merton-Jones is external affairs manager at National Housing Federation
Related competencies include: Housing management and policy, Housing strategy and provision
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