Surrey mum delighted to stay in home village thanks to new affordable development

Single mum Abbie Barton was living with her parents in Brockham with her young daughter for five years, as she was unable to afford to buy or rent a home in the village where she grew up.

Now she and her six-year-old daughter have settled into a two-bedroom house for affordable rent at Poland Meadow, a 17-home development recently completed on the edge of Brockham.

Abbie said: “We moved in with my parents as I just couldn’t afford to do anything else.

“I was born and grew up in the village, so I was desperate to stay here and see my daughter grow up here too.

“Moving to Poland Meadow has been life changing. It is a lovely house with a lovely community around us, and it’s nice that my daughter can go to the school I used to attend.

“I don’t drive, so it is great being close to my parents and friends, and I can walk to work. I just love it here, I don’t think I could be happy anywhere else.

“The house is warm and well insulated, we’ve got a garden and there’s an area at the front of the houses where the children can play – it feels very safe here.”

She added: “Affordable housing schemes like this are so important in rural areas because I would never be able to buy my own house in the village.

“It is so expensive around here, people really struggle to find somewhere to live.”

Meeting housing need

Poland Meadow was developed by Brockham-based almshouse charity, The Poland Trust, in partnership with Mole Valley District Council and Action with Communities in Rural England.

ACRE is a charity funded by Defra that works across 35 English counties to increase the provision of affordable housing for rural communities, through its Rural Housing Enabler (RHE) programme.

RHEs are specialist independent advisers who help rural communities consider the need for affordable housing locally, connecting them with landowners, housebuilders and planners to bring about suitable small-scale schemes.

The scheme was built in response to the Trust’s concern about the growing need for more affordable housing for the area’s younger generation.

The Trust worked closely with independent support charity Surrey Community Action to carry out a local Housing Needs Survey, as well as undertaking a public consultation in 2018.

This showed a high level of need for affordable housing, particularly for one and two-bedroom homes.

Since then, Surrey Community Action’s Rural Housing Enabler (RHE) has assisted in bringing the scheme to fruition.

The development site was secured due to the generosity of a local family who gifted the Trust a corner of a field adjoining the village, close to community amenities and transport links.

Planners also agreed that the plot, which was in the green belt, could be designated a Rural Exception Site, which is a small piece of land on the edge of the village, which planning policy allowed to be built on only to provide affordable housing for local people.

Homes were provided for the people in greatest housing need, who satisfied a local connection test.

The development includes 12 new almshouses, made up of two one-bedroom bungalows, five two-bedroom houses, one three-bedroom house and four one-bedroom flats, all of which are available at 60 per cent of market rents.

Poland Meadow also includes five plots which have been sold to local families wanting to build their own homes, with sale proceeds helping to fund development of almshouses.

These houses are subject to a permanent restriction that they can only ever be sold at 80 per cent of open market value to people who satisfy the local connection test.

The project supported local businesses by using architects and builders within the community.

Good neighbours

Abbie’s next-door neighbour, Bev Lunn, is also delighted with her new home at Poland Meadow.

Bev has long-term health issues which affect her breathing and mobility.

She was living in a privately rented bungalow in Brockham for 12 years, but struggled to afford the rent and heating bills.

She has now moved into a two-bedroom maisonette for affordable rent with her son, who cares for her, allowing her to live and sleep downstairs, while her son sleeps in the upstairs bedroom.

Bev, who was born in the nearby village of Box Hill, said: “With my health issues, it’s brilliant that I can live on one level, as the kitchen, front room, my bedroom and bathroom are all downstairs”