Roger Tym & Partners was commissioned in May 2007 by North Wiltshire, Kennet and West Wiltshire District Councils, together with Wiltshire County Council, to undertake a joint Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) across the three Districts. The purpose of the study is to establish whether there are sufficient, suitable sites that are currently available (or likely to become available in the foreseeable future), which could meet each District Council’s dwelling requirements as prescribed by the emerging South West Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS).
Sites were assessed in terms of their ‘suitability’, ‘availability’ and ‘achievability’ for housing development, in accordance with the CLG’s SHLAA Practice Guidance of July 2007. Page 17 of the Guidance requires that in assessing the achievability of sites, consideration be given to issues such as site preparation costs, physical constraints, phasing and build-out rates. Accordingly, the Bristol office of Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) was engaged as a sub-consultant to advise on these considerations. Early in the study, LSH produced an independent review of the local housing market, to provide a context for its assessment of sites’ achievability later in the study. LSH’s report is available as a stand alone document. (pdf 303kb) (opens in a new window).
The outputs from the SHLAA will provide each District Council with information on a range of potential housing sites - covering both greenfield and previously developed land and an indication of how their respective dwelling requirements could potentially be met. This evidence can then be used to inform the Councils’ Local Development Framework (LDF) Core Strategy and Site Allocation Development Plan Documents, although it is important to emphasise that the SHLAA does not in itself determine whether a site should be allocated for housing development (Source: Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment, Roger Tym & Partners, April 2008)
The report will be available from 12th May 2008. (pdf 563kb) (opens in a new window). The details of each site that is considered developable are available here using the search facility on the left, or you can search for the broad location of each site using the 'view sites with map' option.
Regional and Spatial Planning at Wiltshire County Council on 01225 713475 or at structureplan@wiltshire.gov.uk
Housing Land Availability Assessments are expected to be updated as part of the Annual Monitoring Report process. To be able to respond to the Local Area Agreement National Indicator 159 data should be available for March 31st each year. As such it has been decided that in Wiltshire an annual update will be carried out reflecting the situation at this date. Therefore, the next survey will be nominally undertaken at 31st March 2009.
The District Councils currently maintain an ongoing ‘call for sites’ exercise and so sites with potential for development can be submitted at any time.
If you wish to submit a site with development potential, then guidance can be found at the following links:
Kennet web site (opens in a new window)
E-mail: forward.planning@kennet.gov.uk
Telephone: 01380 734872
North Wiltshire web site (opens in a new window)
Telephone: 01249 706444
Salisbury web site (opens in a new window)
E-mail: forwardplanning@salisbury.gov.uk
Telephone: 01722 434327
West Wiltshire web site (opens in a new window)
E-mail: planningpolicy@westwiltshire.gov.uk
Telephone: 01225 776655
