Shropshire Farming Talk: New housing targets to bring growth and opportunity to rural England
Many will have heard about the government’s new housing targets on the news, “300,000new homes annually”, “1.5 million homes over this Parliament”. But where will they be built and what does this mean in practice?
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New Housing Targets Across England
The government wants to encourage growth across the country and sees housebuilding as a key mechanism for generating this. Following a review of previous housing targets across England, the government have swept those away in favour of much more ambitious new targets. For most counties this means a big increase in the number of houses that need to be built, with the number of houses required to be built in Shropshire almost doubling.
Where a local authority fails to meet its housing target, this triggers a presumption in favour of sustainable development, so where a site is well located it should be approved unless an adverse effect can be evidenced. This also means that some local planning policies, including neighbourhood plans can become out of date.
Most local authorities will have found themselves unprepared for the dramatic increase inhouse building targets and many will struggle to meet this need in the short term. Shropshire Council and Herefordshire Council are among those that can no longer meet the increased housing targets, and this will need to be reflected in planning decisions going forward, and in any new planning policies and housing allocations.
Opportunity For Rural Housing Development
Local authorities will now have to revise their approach to housing development if they have a chance of meeting these new targets. Many will need to act proactively to find sites for development, some of which may have previously been ruled out. This creates a huge opportunity for local landowners and developers.
Many local authorities will carry out “call for sites” and invite landowners to put land forward to be considered for housing allocation as part of revised local plans. In the interim period, local authorities will be reliant on new sites coming forward which may not have previously been allocated so that they can boost their housing figures. Now is the ideal time to consider options for housing development, and we are encouraging landowners to explore this early on to identify the best approach for them.
If you have land which may have housing potential and would like to discuss this opportunity, please contact Owen Fry on 07384 256863 or emailowen.fry@berrys.uk.com.
