CIVIC chiefs in Winchester plan to scrap a rule excusing developers from building affordable homes on small sites.

It is one of several proposals in the city council’s 20-year strategy for the district, which was debated today(November 12).

Councillors were also urged to avoid a blanket ban on new homes and businesses in the countryside to keep the rural economy going.

The city authority has to produce a plan to make room for at least 12,000 homes by 2026, which Westminster says are needed in the district.

The council is proposing that 40 per cent of them should be affordable. It already operates the quota on schemes of 15 homes or more in urban areas, and five and above on rural sites.

The authority now plans to ditch the clause so that all schemes include affordable homes, or money to build them elsewhere in the district.