Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council has published a Housing Land Supply position statement.

The update sets out the supply of new homes expected to be built over the next four years (2024/25 to 2027/28) against the housing requirements for the area.

It confirms that BCP Council can only demonstrate 1.6 years’ worth of supply against a four year housing land supply requirement, writes KPPC planning director Adam Bennett.

“This sounds like a hefty shortfall, but when you put it into real numbers, the council confirm that of the 13,276 homes required over the next four years, they can only justify a supply of 5,198. This means a shortfall of over 8,000 homes (8,078).

“The position is however even worse than this. The council are taking advantage of the National Planning Policy position at Paragraph 226 of the NPPF, which when the new NPPF is released by our incumbent Government, will be duly scrapped, which allows councils that have progressed a Local Plan to an advanced stage to be subject to a lower standard in terms of demonstrating a deliverable housing land supply, comprising four-years’ worth of supply rather than the typical five-years’.

“When we measure the housing that the council considers it can deliver against a five-year requirement, the council would only be able to deliver the same 5,198 homes against a housing need of 16,595 homes, a shortfall of 11,397 homes.

“This is a dire position and evidences both how out of date the council’s Local Planning Policy position is, and moreover that local needs for both market and affordable housing are simply not being met.

“There is a need for a material step change in BCP Council’s plan area, through release of undeveloped greenfield land within the green belt at the north and east of the conurbation, and moreover through a structured approach to the delivery of brownfield development sites both within and outside of the urban area and a structured development framework strategy for urban regeneration sites within the existing built up area to deliver higher density housing and new modern sustainable communities.

“It is clear that the planning strategy for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole needs to develop, and the Submission Local Plan that is currently with the Planning Inspectorate for examination is not the answer.

“It is far from aspirational and simply put makes no plan at all to meet local housing needs. The current strategy is failing local people and will not deliver the level of growth that is desperately needed.”

Please contact us to find out more about what this means for your plans, project or business.

ENDS