PLANNING FOR HOUSING: GETTING THE EVIDENCE RIGHT Rob 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+