Standard method and constraints in five plans

The Planning for the Future White Paper proposes establishing housing requirements that factor in land constraints. This blog analyses how this could work and what the effect of the proposal would be on local planning authorities across England. The best way to arrive at a housing requirement would be to have a consistent method for assessing the capacity of urban and non-urban land in authorities, rather than simply focussing on calculating the number of land constraints. The principal study in understanding whether an authority has the land supply to meet its housing need is the SHLAA (strategic housing land availability assessment). The SHLAA is limited in that Government guidance focusses on identifying and assessing sites rather than looking broadly at growth opportunities and capacity. Therefore, new guidance is needed to require authorities to assess the capacity of land over the next 10, 20, 30 years to help arrive at robust, binding housing requirements. You can read Robert's blog in full here - the views expressed are personal.