Somerset Council Calls for Sites for Development Land.
Mandatory house building targets are the headline announcement in the long-awaited revised National Planning Policy Framework announced on 12 December 2024.
With immediate effect, Councils are being told to ramp up housing approvals. Since the Government consulted on changes to the planning system in September 2024, it has been widely expected that the revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) would bring about requirements for a large increase in housebuilding in order for the Government’s objective to boost economic growth to be delivered.
In practice, the changes will have the greatest effect on those local planning authorities with adopted local plans which are over five years old, or on those which have been newly prepared but where their annual housing target is substantially lower than the new figures required by the Government. In these cases, local authorities will need to demonstrate an extra year’s supply of land for housing, that is on top of an existing five-year requirement.
To coincide with the announcement, the Government has released a revised set of indicative local housing need figures for each authority area. Under these new figures, housing requirements for many local authorities have significantly changed. For example, under the previous standard method, Somerset Council had to provide 2,669 new homes annually. This figure has increased to 3,769 under the new method, an increase of over 40%. Bath and North East Somerset Council has seen an even bigger jump of 105%, with their original requirement of 717 homes more than doubling to 1,471.
Allowing development in the ‘Grey Belt’
Another expected but significant change is the introduction of the new ‘Grey Belt’, introduced to provide a clearer route to the redevelopment of brownfield land in the Green Belt. Grey Belt is defined as land within the Green Belt which comprises brownfield land which does not strongly contribute to the Green Belt’s purposes of checking sprawl, preventing the merging of towns, and preserving the special character of historic towns.
The changes set a basis for allowing development on some land in the Green Belt where previously it would have been unacceptable. Such proposals will need to meet the new ‘Golden Rules’ for development in the Green Belt, which set higher requirements for affordable housing, improvements to national or local infrastructure (such as GP surgeries or transport), and provision of new or upgraded open space, which falls within a short walk of homes of new residents.
Somerset Council announces call for development sites
In light of the significant changes introduced by the Government to increase housebuilding, it is timely that Somerset Council has recently announced a forthcoming call for sites for development land.
The Council is preparing a new Local Plan which will cover the whole of Somerset, together with a six-week consultation period when landowners and developers will be encouraged to submit land they want to develop. In addition to seeking land for housing and economic development uses, submissions for renewable energy installations and gypsy and traveller pitches are also welcomed. The consultation is due to begin in January 2025.
If you have a site you wish to submit, our team of expert chartered planning consultants and
architects here at Salmon Planning Company are happy to promote them to the Council on
your behalf. With offices in Somerset and Devon, Salmon Planning Company helps
landowners and developers throughout the South West unlock the value of their land with
both expert planning advice and in-house architectural services.
You can contact us on 01749 671500 or email info@salmonplanning.co.uk
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