Housing Development and policy

To meet the need for affordable housing on the Island the Council has to adopt strategies for new house building delivery.

These Strategies have to fit in with national and regional Housing strategies and therefore are constrained by the finance given to the Island.

Funding for new house building comes from predominantly three sources:
  • Funding from the Government National Affordable Housing Programme
  • Funding from the Isle of Wight Council
  • Houses provided by private developers through planning policies (section 106)

Funding from the Government

Funding is allocated through the Homes and Communities Agency’s National Affordable Housing Programme. More details can be found at: http://www.homesandcommunities.gov.uk

Funding from the Isle of Wight Council

Each year the Isle of Wight Council makes available capital for the delivery of affordable housing. The amount of funding is not set and is dependent on other Council priorities.

Affordable Housing provided by private developers

If a private developer wishes to build a large number of houses it is likely that they will have to provide affordable housing.
The current thresholds for the provision of affordable housing are:
  • 25 units or more in Newport
  • 15 units or more in the main towns and,
  • 10 units or more in rural settlements of less than 3,000.
If you wish to discuss either a current scheme that has a requirement to provide affordable housing, are a private developer wishing to discuss the requirements for a particular site or a member of the public wanting to discuss the provision of affordable housing in your area please contact housing services.
Telephone: 01983 821000

What is “affordable housing”?

The government recently issued a definition that the Isle of Wight Council accepts as applicable for the Island. This definition can be found at the Communities website.

What are our targets?

Our target is to build up to 190 new affordable housing units per year.

What are we doing to meet this target?

  • Working with Housing Associations to bring forward affordable housing schemes
  • Working with private developers to bring forward affordable housing schemes
  • Working with private developers to bring forward private schemes that also provide affordable housing
  • Working with national and regional agencies to ensure that funding is targeted at areas of highest need.
  • Working with our Planning Department to bring forward new planning policies for housing, affordable housing and low cost market housing

Additional actions are set out in our Housing Strategy Document 2007-2012.



Page last updated on: 21/03/2011