A council is to challenge the Government on its guidance which limits the number of homes built on small development sites.

Richmondshire Distract Council said while the new government guidance will be treated as a material planning consideration it will continue to apply its policy of requiring affordable housing contributions from development sites – no matter what their size.

Last November, the Minister of State for Housing, Brandon Lewis MP, announced that it was lifting the burden of developer contributions on all small scale schemes, there would be no need for affordable homes to be included on sites of five houses or less.

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However the decision runs totally against the terms of the newly adopted Richmondshire Local Plan Core Strategy. It expects developers to make a contribution to affordable homes even if they are only building one house.

After taking legal advice from a leading QC, Richmondshire District Councillors voted to support their new local plan policy. They agreed that Government guidance will be taken into account as a material planning consideration when making decisions but as the District Council has evidence that contributions on small sites will not make smaller developments un-viable they are able to give their new policy more weight during their decision making process.

The Council's Corporate Director and Solicitor, Callum McKeon, said: "We are aware that we need to take Government guidance into account in our decision making but this guidance would have effectively undone an evidence based policy that has been rigorously tested through a Public Inquiry – and which was designed to improve the housing situation for those on lower incomes living in the district.

"It was vital that we tested our own legal position and we are delighted that our conclusions have been supported by one of the leading QCs in the country."

(CD/JP)