On the face of it Ashford Borough Council appears to demonstrate that it can meet its five-year housing land supply targets. However, dig a little deeper and the information as presented is misleading and does not give a true and accurate picture of the actual housing land supply position for the area.
Ashford Borough Council’s figures fail to take into account the fact that the Council has an out-of-date Core Strategy, with a new local plan unlikely to be adopted before 2016 at the earliest. Its latest Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) also fails to take account of the latest 2012 Household projections.
This came to light whilst we were working on a residential project in the area. Plainview Planning provided full planning consultancy services on the project and in the process interrogated Ashford Borough Council’s housing supply information.
It is our view that Ashford Borough Council can only demonstrate a 2.3 year housing land supply and our analysis was recently accepted by a Planning Inspector during an appeal for housing in Charing, Kent. The Inspector concluded that Ashford Borough Council cannot demonstrate a 5-year housing land supply and that their housing policies are currently out of date.
Plainview Planning are actively sourcing potential development sites in the Ashford and wider Kent area and Ashford Borough Council’s lack of a proven housing land supply presents a key opportunity for landowners to get involved.
We regularly promote land as potential strategic development sites and submit planning applications on behalf of landowners and developers. We offer a variety of services and packages; from standard planning consultancy arrangements to land promotion agreements where we would take on some of the initial risk.
If you feel that you may have land suitable for housing development in this area and would like expert advice on the best way to seek a favourable planning outcome, please contact us at info@plainview.co.uk to discuss ways in which we could assist.