Affordable Housing Needs Survey in Chipperfield October 2020

We at Chipperfield Parish Council seek to safeguard the future sustainability and viability of our community.

Many people living and working in our community struggle to access affordable and suitable housing. The Parish Council is working with Community Development Action Hertfordshire (CDA) and Dacorum BC to look at the current housing need in the Parish. We are reviewing whether there is demand for affordable housing for people with a strong connection to Chipperfield (through residency, family ties or employment) who cannot access the housing that they need locally. This could be the young, single people, families with young children, the elderly, or simply people struggling to make ends meet.

As a small community, we need to understand local people’s housing needs properly. We can use the information you give us to decide if a development of affordable housing is needed and also what type of housing should be provided. We need each household to complete one Housing Needs Survey questionnaire.

Your part in this exercise is crucial, regardless of whether or not you need alternative housing because a high response rate improves the accuracy of the survey result.

Please read the information that you have been sent and follow the instructions given. Please answer ALL questions if you believe that you, or someone else in your household, may need affordable housing.

ANY INFORMATION YOU SUPPLY WILL BE TREATED IN THE STRICTEST CONFIDENCE. Information given as part of the Housing Needs Survey will only be seen by CDA and will be made anonymous and presented in a compiled format to the Parish Council and other partners.

The questionnaire is being distributed to local households and can also be completed by friends and family who currently live elsewhere but who have a strong connection to the Parish and would wish to live in the area. Additional forms can be obtained from CDA Herts, tel. 01992 289060or the survey can be completed online.

Go towww.cdaherts.org.uk/rural-housing and follow the links.

The deadline for completion is 31 October 2020.

An affordable housing project could be provided if the need for affordable housing is confirmed (potentially restricted to local people unable to rent or buy on the open market). Depending on results, this could include housing for rent or shared ownership.

Any development would only go forward after consultation and planning approval, using an appropriate site. I urge you to complete the survey even if there is no requirement in your extended household as all the data will be used to formulate any future plans should there be a decision to progress with such a scheme. I thank you in anticipation of your response and for your co-operation.

Cllr Kevan Cassidy

Chairman, Chipperfield Parish Council