Funding and Planning
Funding
With regards to funding the project, here again, the fact that the Project would be a community-led Project, and its undertaking to re-establish a lost part of our Cultural Heritage would stand us in good stead to apply for Government and Lottery funding.
The field for funding is a competitive one, but the Lost England Project with its many Community and Heritage attributes and benefits, has really worked hard to be in as favourable a position as possible when it comes to applying for some of the many types of grant funding available out there, some of which have been outlined below;
- Shared ownership and affordable homes programme £7 billion available, open until 2026.
- Heritage lottery Funding, Grants available from £250,000 to £5 Million.
- The Department for Levelling up Fund, Total fund Value £4.8 Billion over 4 years...Round 3 applications approaching.
- Community housing fund revenue programme, £4 million available for pre-development work.
- UK shared prosperity fund, £2.6 billion available for investment in communities, inc community-owned assets, rural life, and culture.
- Green heat network fund, £288 million available for low carbon heat source funding.
- Rural community energy fund £10 million available, inc stage 1 up to £40,000 for a feasibility study for a renewable energy project, and up to £100,000 for development and planning of feasible schemes.
- A further 20+ sites for renewable energy grant funding are available.
- The Prince's countryside fund, grants available to rural communities.
- Historic England regional capacity building programme, grants available for the sustainable management and development of the historic environment.
- DEFRA countryside stewardship grants are usually over 2 years for land management including; wildlife and nature, pollinators and woodland.
- Forestry commission grants covering up to 75% of the cost of planting of 500+ trees and 100+ metres of new hedgerows.
Heritage Lottery Fund
"....From Historic Buildings, our Industrial legacy and the Natural
Environment, to Collections, Traditions, Stories and more, Heritage
can be anything from the past that you value and want to pass on to
future generations...."
- The National Heritage Lottery Fund.
The National Heritage Lottery Fund is a good example of the criteria that has to be met in order for most projects to be considered for funding, they have a list of nine specific outcomes that they would like a heritage project to achieve.
As of 2022-23 they will be prioritising heritage projects that will meet
as many of these six priority outcomes as possible, they are;
- A wider range of people will be involved in heritage, (Mandatory).
- The funded organisation will be more resilient.
- People will have a greater wellbeing.
- People will have developed skills.
- The local area will be a better place to live, work or visit.
- The local economy will be boosted.
They also expect all projects to demonstrate that they are building long -term environmental sustainability and inclusion into their plans.
The other three outcomes are;
- Heritage will be in a better condition.
- Heritage will be identified and better explained.
- People will have learned about heritage, leading to a change in ideas and actions.
The Lost England Project meets quite a few of the above criteria, and if an application were to be considered, the process would be;
- Submission of an "Expression of Interest"...Usually feedback is received within 20 days.
- If successful, submission of a formal application, the deadline for which is quarterly.
- Assessment of the application within 12 weeks, following this, it will be assigned to a quarterly decision meeting.
- The applicant will be informed whether or not they are successful, if they are not successful they can submit a new application.
This together with possible funding from charitable foundations and trusts, local regional grants, private donations and crowdfunding, would all help to make the project potentially financially achievable.
Planning
With reference to planning advice, criteria, and consent the project, due to its unique and distinctive character falls a little bit between the cracks...it is neither a conventional 'new build' nor an existing 'listed' application, having said that it does satisfy many of the criteria set down by Rother District Council in its Core Strategy 2014, and its statutory consultees including Natural England, Historic England, High Weald AONB management plan and the High Weald Housing Design Guide.
Ultimately Rother will be the planning authority for any planning applications, so the project must meet their criteria for, Sustainable development, Overall Spatial Objectives, Green Technologies, Environment, and Community.
Outlined below are some of the salient points of the project, and how they meet various planning conditions, along with some invaluable passages from Government Departments.
Current planning policy that helps support the proposal
Below are two invaluable passages from government departments which would invariably support the planning process for the Lost England Project. The first is from the 'National Planning Policy Framework 2020' in its definition of Rural Exception Sites:
'Local Authorities in rural areas have the ability to take a less traditional approach to rural exception sites by including in their local plans a presumption in favour of genuine community led schemes.'.
For example:
East Cambridgeshire District Council's local plan states that:
There will be a presumption in favour of genuine community led development schemes, even on land not identified for development and including on land outside of development envelopes, i.e., Rural Exception Sites.
The second is from the Natural England Strategic Direction Document, subtitled
'Where we are Now - and the Drivers for Change'.
In its summing up paragraph:
'Finally, although many people in England gain huge value from their engagement with the natural environment, we need to do more to build connection with the population as a whole, and to develop higher levels of public goodwill and understanding than the natural environment currently enjoys. We must find and promote wider opportunities for people to engage with the natural environment, both through physical access and through education and virtual experiences. Ultimately, any approach to conservation will only be successful when it starts from a real public consensus on the value of the natural environment for both its intrinsic value and its value to people and the economy'.
Rother Core Strategy 2014
This provides the framework for the scale and distribution of development and sets the overall vision for future land use up to 2028.
Policy Context
2.1 The core strategy for Rother District Council must be in line with National planning policies unless there are reasons justifying a local exception.
Policy ....A presumption in favour of sustainable development
This consists of three overarching objectives which are interdependent, they are: Economic, Social, and environmental.
,
How The Project Delivers Sustainable Development
Economy
The project will help build a stronger local economy by:
- Providing many and varied opportunities for employment
- Providing small business opportunities
- Sourcing materials and labour as locally as possible to build the project, there may be some exceptions to this regarding specialist materials and knowledge
- Helping locally through its social enterprise initiative
- Providing an outlet for local suppliers and producers
How the planning system supports the Economic objectives of the project.
...' By ensuring that sufficient land of the right type is available in the right places to support growth, innovation and improved productivity '
Social
The project will help build a stronger and varied social community by:
- Engaging and employing residents across all age ranges
- Providing a range of 12 affordable rental homes
- Providing social meeting points i.e a new village pub, a new combined shop and tearoom, and village events in the open fields in and around the project
- An opportunity for the community to engage in the 'farming year' and provide a unique setting for demonstrations and activities
- Providing a unique setting for both mental and physical wellbeing, which is available to all
How the planning system supports the social objectives of the project
...' by ensuring that a sufficient number of homes can be provided to meet the needs of current and future generations, and by fostering well designed beautiful safe places with accessible services and open spaces that reflect current and future needs and support communities health, social and cultural wellbeing.
Environment
- Including 12 new initiatives designed to increase biodiversity gains on the site
- Embracing environmentally friendly renewable technology without impacting on the aesthetics of both the landscape or the buildings i.e: vertical collectors for ground source heat pumps and a secluded solar panel area supplying electricity to the two groups of stables
- Exhibition fields designed to be worked in the traditional way highlighting our historic relationship with the land
- It is hoped that the model of traditional construction could be based around
- ' The Breathable Home' including foam glass insulation and limecrete for floor slab construction, locally sourced lime mortars, renders, and plasters, traditionally made restoration bricks and clay tiles, the inclusion of reclaimed oak, bricks, and roof tiles, and sheep's wool insulation which has excellent thermal and sound qualities
How the planning system supports the environmental objectives of the project
...' to protect and enhance our natural built and historic environment including making effective use of the land, improving biodiversity, using natural resources prudently, minimising waste, and pollution and mitigating and adapting to climate change including moving to a low carbon economy '.
Rother Core Strategy 2014
The Spatial Vision for Rother in 2028
...' The countryside continues to be protected for its intrinsic value as well as being more accessible and economically active, while change is carefully managed to respect its character'...
...' there is a strong commitment to a more sustainable, low carbon future and adapting to climate change. There is a strong stewardship of environmental resources and conservation of the areas outstanding environmental and cultural assets'...
Overall Spatial Objectives
The project falls within the remit of the above in the following areas:
i, To guide sustainable development and help build more sustainable communities with a balance between homes and jobs.
ii, To maintain and enhance the character of settlements, the relationship between them, and with their landscape settings.
v, To promote vital mixed communities in rural areas, whilst also giving particular attention to the distinctive characteristics of the High Weald AONB and the intrinsic value of the surrounding countryside.
Housing
7.22 A range of factors need to be balanced to determine the most appropriate scale of residential development, with 'drivers' for growth in the one hand including demographic projections and housing market pressures, and supply constraints notably environmental designations and infrastructure availability on the other..' critical in balancing these is the vision that local communities have for their area'.
7.43 Rural communities in particular are keen to ensure that development in villages contributes to their character and sustainability of services, as well as meets local needs ( such as affordable housing, play areas, and community halls, etc) hence, development in rural areas should be set at a level which allows for limited growth, reflecting individual settlements needs, opportunities and service provision.
At the same time, the housing provisions seek to maximise the contribution that the villages can make to sustainable growth without prejudicing their individual character and amenities, as well as those of their shared, for the most part, AONB landscape setting.
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