Housing

Rural profiling

Local communities can plan for development in their own area, including affordable housing, thanks to the introduction of neighbourhood planning and the development of local plans. Rural profiling works directly with West Suffolk rural communities and aims to empower parish and town councils (with the aid of quality data and assistance) to make informed decisions about housing need and how to address it. For further information please contact our Housing development team.

Strategy and enabling

The Housing strategy team is concerned with looking at housing needs across West Suffolk both now and projecting some twenty years ahead. The team uses data supplied by government, the census and from the housing register to assess these needs. Sometimes additional survey work is undertaken and local plans are carried out by parish councils from time to time. The information is used in conjunction with planning to see where housing of all types and tenures will be built. One of the biggest problems faced is finding suitable sites on which to build. 

'Enabling' is the strategy team working with a range of partners in the public and private sector who may be able to help us provide homes. The majority are likely to be for various forms of home ownership, allowing people to meet their aspirations. Some homes will be for rent in the social sector for those who cannot afford to buy in the housing market.

Enabling is not only about building new properties but also working with owners to bring empty properties back into use or converting unused or under-used properties into smaller units to provide more homes for people to live in. For more information please contact our Housing development team.

Read our Housing, Homelesness Reduction and Rough Sleeping Strategy

Empty properties

Returning empty properties to use is a priority for the council. We are proactively engaging with owners of empty homes to return them to use. Visit out Empty homes pages to find out more.

Gypsy and Travellers accommodation

Councils are responsible for assessing Gypsy and Traveller accommodation needs and allocating land to meet them, in the same way they do for general housing. Further information is available from our Environmental health team.