PLANNING FOR HOUSING: GETTING THE EVIDENCE RIGHTRob Jarman

Head of Planning & Development

Maidstone Borough Council

3 key questions…

• Government aims to boost significantly the supply of housing land. To do this we need to know…

• Q:What is the demand for housing in our area?• A:Strategic Housing Market Assessment

• Q: What is the total potential supply of housing in our area?

• A: Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment

• Q: What is the pipeline supply of housing in our area• A: housing trajectory & 5 year supply calculation

Strategic Housing Market Assessments

• Assesses the overall demand for market & affordable housing in an area over the Local Plan timeframe

• NPPF: ‘objectively assessed need’. Step change from ‘re-distributive’ Structure/Regional Plans.

• Based on housing market areas. Benefits of joint commissioning.

• Technical piece of evidence requiring specialist demographic and market expertise

Strategic Housing Market Assessments #2

• Starting point is ONS/CLG population and household projections

• Test key components of the data – migration patterns; household formation rates; vacancy rates

• Also benchmark against an economic-led scenario. Will there be the labour force that the economy needs?

• SHMA can also reveal affordable housing needs and care/nursing home needs (C2).

Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment

• To identify candidate housing sites which are suitable, available and viable ‘to meet the identified need for housing over the plan period’ (NPPF para 159)

• Call for Sites – landowners (incl. public sector), developers, agents. Also proactive approaches to owners of brownfield sites.

• Combine with employment/G&T sites assessments

Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment #2

• Site assessments. Make use of statutory consultees and DM expertise

• Consider constraints, scope for mitigation and suitable development densities

• Output is a schedule of suitable sites

5 year housing land supply

• Need to be able to demonstrate a 5 year supply of deliverable housing sites (with pp)

• Without it ‘relevant policies for the supply of housing should not be considered up to date’ (NPPF paragraph 49)

• Requirement calculation is based on the housing target in the Local Plan (may not be the same as OAN) plus 5/20% buffer

Housing Trajectory

• Is the programme for housing delivery for the whole of the Local Plan period

• Includes completions, houses with planning permission, sites allocated in the Local Plan and, for the later years, broad locations where housing will be delivered

• Can also include a windfall allowance on unidentified sites for years 6+