In our recently published article, we were particularly interested at the potential repercussions on housing targets from the government’s consultation to modify the standard method for calculating housing need. Brett Spiller, Director at Chapman Lily, commented at the time how it could prove frustrating to communities and councils that thought they were planning for a particular number of homes, only to now see things potentially change.
One such example is East Hampshire, where the Council has progressed through its Regulation 18 Issues and Options consultation at a time when the standard method indicated an annual target of around 623 homes. Under the new method, that target could be increased by nearly 50% to 932 homes per annum.
Gravesham, on the other hand, will find itself in a different situation, having reached the same Regulation 18 stage on the basis of an annual target of 655 homes. This could be slashed to 450 homes per year under the mooted method.
Commenting further on this, Brett Spiller added that ‘no doubt some communities that seek to resist development will welcome the news that housing targets could see a reduction, whereas others that have worked hard to put forward a draft strategy will feel the frustration of needing to almost restart the process. In an era when the government’s aim is to create more certainty in the planning system and speed up the process, requiring many councils to go back to square one after years of progress may end up counterproductive. Whether the government would introduce transitional arrangements remains to be seen’.
In our last article, we compared a number of local authorities and saw that the differences can be substantial. We’ve provided a few more in the table below, focusing more on the south and southeast of the country. Again, some of the differences are very significant and could have serious consequences for local authorities reaching advanced stages of plan preparation.
| Council | Annual figure with current method | Annual figure with proposed method | Difference |
| Chichester | 299 | 323 | 93 |
| Eastleigh | 694 | 885 | 191 |
| Gravesham | 655 | 405 | -250 |
| Guildford | 787 | 733 | -54 |
| Rother | 736 | 1,173 | 437 |
| Southampton | 1,002 | 832 | -170 |
| Test Valley | 550 | 813 | 263 |
| Winchester | 692 | 1,025 | 333 |
We will be keeping a keen eye on how the consultation progresses. If you would like to know how the proposed reforms might affect you, feel free to get in touch.