NIMBY’s holding back rural communities, survey finds
A survey of more than 1,000 people living in rural England and Wales has found that a lack of affordable homes in the countryside is the most pressing issue facing their communities.
It’s a finding that will not come as a big surprise, particularly to families hoping their children might be able to find a home they can afford in the area where they grew up. It will also chime with key workers in rural areas who need somewhere to live.
The survey, by the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) and polling specialists, Survation, also found that the main barrier to getting more rural homes built comes from “NIMBYs” – the not-in-my-back-yard brigade who protest and campaign against development.
So far, so gloomy.
But the fact that a substantial number of country dwellers – up to 60%, the survey found – said the rural housing crisis is the first or second most pressing issue facing their communities, while opposition from NIMBYs is hampering progress gives a clue to the solution to this crisis.
It tells landowners and developers that the need for more affordable housing is proven – and that by winning over existing rural communities to the idea of building the right homes, at the right price, in the right place - they can help meet the shortfall.
Planning authorities are legally obliged to consult with neighbouring residents and community groups, including parish councils, when an application for new homes is submitted. Their views will, inevitably, have an impact on the final decision on planning permission.
Early engagement with communities, even before a planning application has been formally submitted, is advisable. Communities which feel they have been involved in the planning process and have been listened to are far less likely to play the NIMBY card.
Harnessing support from the people who have already identified a desperate need for more affordable homes in their community is the best way to bring forward a development that will win support from local planners.
In a conversation with Leigh Rix, consultant with RIXRURAL, KOR’s Managing Director Annette Richman stresses the value of early engagement with communities that might be hostile to planning proposals.
“We have found that where we are involved, that the outcome is that planning consent is granted sooner” she says, on KOR’s podcast, Estate Matters.
“The problem is if you are not in charge of the communication from the outset, these schemes rumble on and very often generate campaign groups, negative press,” Annette adds. “What could be achieved in a year could take eight years or more. Whatever the costs of investing in communications from the outset, the benefits are in actually being able to get your project over the line sooner.”
The CLA believes the solution to the rural housing crisis lies with a small number of homes spread relatively thinly across a large number of villages. President Victoria Vyvyan says: “No one wants to concrete over the countryside, least of all us, but for decades governments of all colours have treated it as a museum, risking the sustainability of communities and failing to generate the conditions necessary for growth.”
Providing they can win over the NIMBYs, the landowners and developers can make a difference in their communities and help to solve the biggest problem facing rural areas.
Rural estates and landowners who have built good relationships with their communities are best placed to achieve success and gain planning permission for the rural homes a majority agree are needed.
The message must be that it’s never too soon to start investing in reputational capital, building bridges, not barriers – because you never know when you might need to win over a NIMBY.