(Secretary of State for
Housing, Communities and Local Government): I am today
publishing a consultation on updates to national planning policy
and guidance. This consultation proposes changes to the standard
method for calculating local housing need, to ensure consistency
with the objective of delivering 300,000 homes per year, on
average by the mid-2020s whilst providing the clarity that
communities need. The consultation also proposes clarifications
of national planning policy on housing land supply, the
definition of deliverable sites and appropriate assessment for
habitats sites.
Our reforms are enabling local planning authorities to plan for
the right homes in the right places, in a way that is open,
transparent and sustainable for local communities. A key part of
this is a standard method for assessing housing need. This has
been introduced to ensure a consistent starting point when
understanding how many homes are needed in each local area.
Recent changes to one of the statistical datasets the standard
method relies on has led to confusion and uncertainty in some
areas about how many homes are needed. This consultation
therefore proposes changes to the standard method to ensure
consistency with the objective of building more homes, whilst
ensuring local authorities have the clarity they need to produce
local plans.
This consultation is open until 7 December, and I will inform the
House of the outcome of the consultation as appropriate.
