Village Clusters Housing Allocations Plan - Alternative Sites & Focused Changes (Reg. 18)

The Consultation

Overall numbers and housing delivery buffer

A.30. In terms of the overall numbers to be allocated, the Council could submit a Plan which contains the minimum of 1,200 dwellings; however, should unforeseen issues arise with any of the remaining sites, this could leave the Plan unable to demonstrate that it meets the GNLP minimum requirements. A buffer not only provides more certainty that the Plan will complete the Examination process successfully, but also, once adopted, it would provide more certainty that the Plan will enable the delivery of sufficient home. As the 1,200 dwellings is a minimum requirement, the extent of a buffer is not fixed. The Council has identified the following options:

1. A buffer of circa 30 dwellings (2.5% above the minimum). This would be consistent with the previous approach in the January 2023 Regulation 19 (see Table 1 above). Whilst this approach minimises the release of greenfield land, the limitations of this approach have been demonstrated by the need to carry out an additional consultation as a result of the loss of a limited number of sites/dwellings from those previously proposed.
2. The allocation of all 13 sites that form part of this consultation. This would result in a buffer of circa 170 dwellings (14% above the minimum). This approach would be the most robust option in terms of numbers, both helping to ensure that the Plan passes Examination and also that 1200 homes will be delivered across the village clusters. It would also add further choice of sites for small and medium builders. However, the GNLP already includes a significant housing delivery buffer. Therefore, releasing significant extra land on greenfield sites is arguably disproportionate and inconsistent with the scale of housing needed and could reduce the focus on brownfield development in more urban locations.
3. The allocation of a select number of the sites in this consultation to achieve a buffer of circa 60-70 dwellings (5% - 6% above the minimum). This would reduce risk should issues arise with a further site(s), but would maintain the focus on a more concentrated group of sites, in accordance with the NPPF requirement to recognise 'the intrinsic character and beauty of the countryside'.