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0051 2024/25
10/10/2024
Inclusive Growth and Regeneration
All wards
2024 Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA)
To approve the publication of the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment for 2024, in line with national guidance, thereby establishing the availability of land for residential purposes over the next 15 years.
To seek approval to publish the latest 2024 SHLAA, in line with the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and agree to make the document available for public inspection on the Council’s website, and agree future annual updates be approved following review by the Head of Service.
The NPPF requires local planning authorities to prepare a Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) to establish realistic assumptions about the availability, suitability and the likely economic viability of land to meet the identified need for housing over the Local Plan period. The 2024 SHLAA updates the 2017 SHLAA and 2021 partial update and has been prepared with a base date of 31 March 2024, it takes amount of updated planning consents and the progress of sites already under construction. It also includes any suitable new sites which had been proposed as part of the 2024 ‘Call for Sites’ exercise which were assessed as suitable for housing. The 2024 SHLAA also removes sites, for example, that are no longer considered to have potential to deliver housing development; sites that have since been developed; and sites that are no-longer being actively promoted by landowners or developers. The 2024 SHLAA does not include any Green Belt sites. The 2024 SHLAA has identified a 15-year housing supply of 7,933 units. This represents an additional 251 units in the Borough’s urban housing supply compared to the 2017 SHLAA that informed the now adopted St Helens Borough Local Plan. Key sites contributing to the additional supply are Elephant Lane, former Watson Street Glassworks and land at Lancots Lane. Five Year Housing Land Supply The current NPPF (December 2023) states that local planning authorities are not required to continually demonstrate a five-year housing land supply on an annual basis providing they have an adopted local plan less than 5 years old, and that the adopted plan identified at least a five-year supply of specific, deliverable sites at the time of examination. Therefore, St Helens Borough Council do not need to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply, having an updated local plan and housing land supply at that stage of 5.2 years’. However, as an update to the 2024 SHLAA, it was considered sensible to sense check housing delivery in the Borough to ensure policies in the Local Plan are working effectively. The 2024 SHLAA update identifies a 6.38 years housing land supply against the Local Plan strategic target (486 units per annum), this compares to 5.2 years supply in the 2017 SHLAA.
Publicising the latest 2024 SHLAA will provide up to date information for residents and developers of the current housing land supply within the Borough. This information is critical in the determination of planning applications, as decisions will be based on the most up to date evidence, as well as providing further data for the next Brownfield Land Register.
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Please contact Sara Manson on 01744 673276
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