Rural exception sites: affordable housing outside settlements

 

A rural exception site is a small site used to provide affordable housing to meet an identified local need where housing would not normally be permitted. It is deliberately an exception to the normal strategy for locating housing, not a back-door route for an ordinary market housing estate.

Policy HO10 of the August 2026 NPPF gives a clear national decision-making route for these schemes. The proposal needs evidence of local affordable-housing need, must normally be well-related to a settlement, and is subject to national scale limits unless the development plan expressly allows something different.

Done properly, rural exception sites can unlock land which has little ordinary residential hope value while delivering homes for people with a genuine connection to the local community.

 

 

What is a rural exception site?

 

The NPPF describes rural exception sites as small sites used for affordable housing in perpetuity where sites would not normally be used for housing. They are intended to address local needs, including households who are current residents or have an existing family or employment connection.

The key point is the purpose of the scheme. The affordable housing is not an incidental contribution attached to a market development; it is the reason the exception exists. Our separate guide to affordable housing planning explains the wider tenure, Section 106 and viability framework.

 

The HO10 test

 

Policy HO10 supports housing outside settlements where the proposal is a rural exception site providing affordable housing to meet identified local needs. That need should be evidenced through a local housing needs survey or suitable secondary data which is no more than five years old.

Unless the development plan says otherwise, an HO10 exception site should also:

• adjoin or be physically well-related to a settlement
• involve no more than one hectare of built development, or 5% of the size of the existing settlement, whichever is greater
• include one or more types of affordable housing

 

Can a rural exception site include market housing?

 

Yes, but HO10 does not create a general market-housing allowance. A proportion of market homes may be permitted where they are essential to enable delivery of the affordable units without grant funding.

That normally means the financial case needs to be transparent. The market element should be the amount needed to make the affordable scheme deliverable, not the starting point from which the affordable housing is negotiated down.

 

How do you prove local housing need?

 

A parish or local housing needs survey is a common source, but HO10 also allows suitable secondary evidence. Useful material can include the housing register, local authority needs evidence, affordability information and other robust evidence showing the type, size and tenure of homes required.

The evidence should do more than say that housing is expensive. It should help show who needs housing, what form of affordable housing they need and why the proposed scheme responds to that need.

 

Where can the site be?

 

The normal national expectation is that the site adjoins or is physically well-related to a settlement. That does not necessarily mean the site has to sit inside the settlement boundary; rural exception sites are specifically intended for land which would not normally be used for housing.

Access, landscape, flooding, drainage, ecology, heritage and neighbouring amenity still matter. Exception-site status does not switch off the rest of the planning system.

 

What if the land is in the Green Belt?

 

Green Belt land needs a separate check because the normal S5 countryside policy does not apply there. The August 2026 Framework includes rural exception sites among the development routes which can be not inappropriate in the Green Belt, subject to the relevant GB7 requirements.

Do not assume that satisfying HO10 alone answers the Green Belt question. The site should also be tested against our Green Belt and grey belt guidance.

 

Community-led exception sites

 

HO10 also contains a separate route for community-led development. This can overlap with rural affordable housing but it is not identical to a rural exception site. A community-led proposal is driven and controlled by a qualifying community organisation rather than being primarily a commercial development.

Both routes can be powerful, but the correct route should be identified from the beginning because the evidence and delivery structure can differ.

 

Keeping the homes affordable

 

A rural exception site is intended to provide affordable housing in perpetuity. The permission and legal agreement therefore need mechanisms which preserve affordability and eligibility for future occupiers rather than allowing the homes to drift into unrestricted market housing after first occupation.

This is normally dealt with through a Section 106 agreement.

 

Before promoting a rural exception site

 

• Obtain current evidence of local affordable-housing need
• Check the age of the evidence — HO10 refers to evidence no more than five years old
• Identify the settlement the proposal is intended to serve
• Check the one-hectare and 5% national scale tests and any different local-plan policy
• Establish the affordable tenure and dwelling mix required
• If market housing is needed, prepare delivery and viability evidence early
• Check Green Belt, flood risk, landscape, ecology, highways and heritage constraints before agreeing a land value
• Plan the Section 106 mechanism which will keep the affordable housing available in the long term

 

Relevant policy and guidance

 

• National Planning Policy Framework, August 2026 — particularly S5, HO7 and HO10
• Planning Practice Guidance: housing needs of different groups
• Planning Practice Guidance: planning obligations

 

 

Other Housing Sections

 

 

Rural Exception Sites Page Updated: 30th August 2026