I Got 5 On It! When a 5 year Housing Land Supply (HLS) is not all it may seem.

According to central Government guidance, “a 5 year land supply is a supply of specific deliverable sites sufficient to provide 5 years’ worth of housing (and appropriate buffer) against a housing requirement set out in adopted strategic policies, or against a local housing need figure, using the standard method, as appropriate in accordance with paragraph 73 of the National Planning Policy Framework”.

In short this means that all Local Planning Authorities must seek to identify individual sites that are able to deliver a sufficient number of homes to fulfil the need for homes within that Local Planning Authority Area, over a 5 year period.

Much emphasis is placed on 5 year HLS by both Developers and Local Planning Authorities when judging whether a planning application for residential or mixed use development should be approved or not.

For the uninitiated, if a Local Planning Authority (LPA) does not have a demonstrable 5 year HLS then the LPA (roll on the acronyms!!) is on a less stable footing when refusing planning for a proposed development.

Conversely should an LPA have a demonstrable and defensible 5 year HLS then it makes it much easier for them to refuse applications for development.

Developers specifically target those planning authorities where 5 year HLS is deficient and LPA’s do all they can to suggest that they have a demonstrable and defensible 5 year HLS.

On the face of it this is a very simple situation, you either do or you don’t, right?

Well if only that were the case, below is an outline, from a developer’s standpoint, of the reality of the situation in a lot of cases.

In recent years there has been a resurgence of LPA’s granting consent on a small number of very large sites. One could suggest that this is because it is easier to have one large planning  argument than several smaller ones and that it is a short route to a large increase in housing supply numbers and produce that magic 5 year HLS.

My observations:

An LPA has in excess of 5 year HLS due to a few very large sites that are consented.

This looks like a clear-cut case but do these sites only have outline consent? Reserved matters can take up to 3 years. What level of infrastructure is required to be implemented before construction can start? Have delays relating to this been allowed for in the LPA’s delivery forecast?

 An LPA has a few large sites under construction and are reliant on these to deliver the forecast number of completions to maintain the 5 year HLS.

Construction programs have a habit of going backwards, especially if the sales market slows. Therefore, forecast completion rates should never be taken at face value. Equally in both these situations an LPA should have a windfall allowance for small sites, if you are a developer of small to medium size developments, you may be able to take advantage of this.

An LPA has a diverse mix of sites contributing to their 5 year HLS.

Do these sites all have planning permission? I have seen many cases of sites being included in the calculation that have been or subsequently are, refused planning permission.

There are many other facets to this whole situation, and I would be delighted to hear from anyone wanting to discuss this further.

Chartfield Homes specialise in delivering planning permissions for sites in challenging locations and would be delighted to discuss any sites you feel we may be interested in.

Chartfield Consulting specialise in assisting developers, RP’s and landowners navigate their way through the challenging environment that is residential and mixed use development. We welcome any approaches from potential clients who feel we may be able to help.