In many rural areas of Wales there are particular issues facing local communities in seeking to increase the supply of affordable housing, as well as in terms of housing's role in supporting the longer-term sustainability of smaller rural settlements. Local planning policies are critical in this respect, but so is an understanding of issues around the economics of housing on rural exceptions sites and assessing development viability. Planning Policy Wales provides a means of identifying affordable housing exception sites, defined as small sites, located within or adjoining existing settlements, to provide affordable housing to meet local needs. These sites are ‘exceptions’ and would not otherwise be allocated in a development plan. Through a policy review of Local Development Plans, the use of a survey of Local Planning Authorities in Wales, a series of national stakeholder interviews, and documentary analysis of key case studies, this research explores how widely rural exception site policy is used across Wales, it’s effectiveness, variation in use and interpretation, as well as how similar policies are used in other parts of the UK. In doing so the research identifies best practice in the use of rural exception site policy and develops a series of recommendations for improvement
