How West Suffolk can support villages this Rural Housing Week
07 Jul 2025

It’s national Rural Housing Week and West Suffolk Council is highlighting the ways it can support parishes in delivering affordable housing for local people.
The council has written to town and parish councils across the district detailing a package of support.
Cllr Richard O’Driscoll, Cabinet Member for Housing at West Suffolk Council said: “New and affordable housing is important to sustaining our rural communities and valuable rural services such as village halls, shops and pubs and transport. Increasing the delivery of affordable housing so that more people can genuinely afford a place to live, is a key aim of the council’s Housing, Homelessness Reduction and Rough Sleeping Strategy.”
“There are people from villages who cannot afford to stay in the communities because of a lack of sufficient affordable housing. While we are working to address some of this including through our new local plan, there are also ways we can support parishes to deliver affordable housing for people with a local connection to a village.”
Affordable housing includes shared ownership schemes and affordable rent which is 80 per cent of market rents, and social rent which is 45 per cent of market rents.
West Suffolk Council currently has more than 2,500 households on its Home-Link register for affordable housing in West Suffolk including over 900 in urgent or high need.
West Suffolk Council’s strategic housing team can support parish councils in delivering rural exception sites - small developments of affordable housing outside of the normal settlement boundary that are specifically to house people with a local connection to the village.
The council has already helped bring forward Rural Exception Sites in Beck Row, Clare, Freckenham, Great Barton, Icklingham, and Worlington.
The first step towards this is through a housing needs survey. Two other parish councils have recently commissioned this work in partnership with Community Action Suffolk and are now considering the next steps for their village, including options of a Rural Exception Site and community led housing developments.
West Suffolk can also support community led housing developments brought forward by local people to create affordable homes and strong communities. More information advice, guidance and support is available from The Community Land Trust website.
And parish councils can also shape housing growth in their area including affordable housing delivery, through the creation of a Neighbourhood Plan which then comes to West Suffolk Council to adopt and use as part of its consideration of planning applications.
The Freckenham Neighbourhood Plan, Great Barton Neighbourhood Plan, Hargrave Neighbourhood Plan, Newmarket Neighbourhood Plan and Worlington Neighbourhood Plan have all been shaped and adopted. Another 11 parishes have started work on Neighbourhood Plans.
Town and parish councils who want to find out more about how they can help deliver rural affordable housing for their community, should contact the Strategic Housing Team by emailing. housing.development@westsuffolk.gov.uk They can also find out more on our Rural Housing webpage.
West Suffolk Council will be joining Community Action Suffolk for its Strengthening Communities event which is being held as part of Rural Housing Week. It takes place this Thursday (10 July) and is targeted at residents, parish councillors, landowners, and housing providers. Details can be found on the Community Action Suffolk website.
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