Rural exception housing schemes

Find out more about rural exception sites, view examples in North Norfolk, and if you have land we could use, we are keen to hear from you.

As a rural district, the Council is keen to see small, well-designed affordable housing developments built in our villages. These are know as rural exception sites. An exception site can provide homes for local people to be able to live near their families or work.

Using our local plan planning policy, 'Affordable Housing in the Countryside', the Council works with local housing associations to help them build affordable homes for those with a local connection to the immediate area. Working with the support of our local communities, these new affordable homes meet high building standards and are sometimes combined with a smaller number of market homes. 

Examples of rural exception sites in the district

Recent examples of these sites are Hindringham and Northrepps, where 17 affordable homes have been built by Broadland Housing Association. 

Northrepps

The following video shows a new housing development in Northrepps on a rural exception site, which features 19 carbon-neutral homes and a mixture of rented and shared ownership homes. These homes are for people with a local connection to the area. 

New tenants

Supermarket workers Claire and Robert, along with their two children aged ten and six, were the first to move into the new development in Northrepps.

"The fact that it is so energy efficient means we don't have to worry about big energy bills, and we know we can stay warm in the winter without worrying about whether we can afford to heat our home.

This area is our home, but it's now so difficult to find suitable accommodation which is affordable, even though we both work. We now have a lovely family home where we can bring up our family in security."

Claire, new tenant

Hindringham

“These rural exception sites are delivering much needed, high-quality housing for North Norfolk, which is affordable and prioritized for local people.

We’re working hard to deliver more of these developments across North Norfolk to help our local communities with more available housing, which is high quality, energy efficient and attractive.

More rural exception sites are planned throughout North Norfolk; Broadland Housing Association has already started building new affordable homes in the villages of Salthouse and West Beckham, to bring new homes for our local communities.

Anna Clarke, Community Housing Enabler

The homes on these schemes are protected as affordable housing forever as the tenants cannot buy their property, for example, through the Right to Acquire. For any shared ownership property, the maximum share you can buy is 80% of the property’s total value.

Useful links

Broadland Housing unveils 19 carbon zero homes in Northrepps

NNDC parish boundaries map (PDF)